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Hiking the Long Path
BY Pauline Uchmanowicz Photos by Dion Ogust

Made famous by the exploits of Rip Van Winkle, the scenic beauty and seductive power of the Catskills has lured backpackers to its mountainous trails for generations. Outing clubs that sprang up in the region more than half a century ago are still going strong, as I learned from Al DeMaria, longtime member of the Mid-Hudson chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club (adk).

Founded in 1922 to protect and preserve New York state’s forests, parks, and waterways, the original adk later expanded to include statewide chapters. The organization’s Mid-Hudson branch formed during the 1940s, an offshoot of the Dutchess County Trail Club, a nucleus of people, mostly Vassar College faculty members and close friends, who embarked on weekend walks and tea hikes. The Mid-Hudson chapter’s territory today encompasses the Catskills, the Shawangunk Mountains, the Hudson River’s middle section, and portions of the Appalachian Trail, including Harriman-Bear Mountain State Park (where the first section of the trail was completed in 1923) and Sterling Forest.

Last month, upon deciding to partake in an adk event, I phoned Al DeMaria, who was leading a strenuous hike in the Catskills up and over Indian Head Mountain ( 3,373 feet). Quizzing me on my ability and gear, he subtly suggested that the sneakers I planned to wear wouldn’t cut it. For my first leg of the trek he sent me to New Paltz Outfitters, where I purchased a sturdy pair of hiking shoes, grateful in the end for following the leader’s sage advice.

At 8:30am sharp on a crisp Saturday morning, I met DeMaria and fellow adk’er Gay Barton (a former Girl Scout leader) at the red caboose near the Route 28 traffic circle in Kingston. Both wore loose, lightweight clothing and DeMaria sported a baseball cap. As we carpooled together up the Thruway toward Saugerties, the two outdoor enthusiasts described their additional memberships in both the Catskill Club 3500' and the Adirondack 46ers. Each has earned winter as well as summer patches for scaling all 37 high peaks of the Catskills and 46 of the Adirondacks (above 4,000 feet). As DeMaria explained, the hiking clubs, under the supervision of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, maintain most of the trails meandering through these terrains. “They go in with handsaws and trim and remove downed trees,” he said. He himself looks after a trailhead west of the Catskills that extends to Balsam Lake.

Exiting at Saugerties, we traveled along Route 212 toward Woodstock, turning right onto Blue Mountain Road (Ulster County Route 35) in the hamlet of Centerville and then taking a left fork onto Ulster County Route 33, which eventually turns into a narrow access lane called Prediger Road. Open from April through November, it climbs a sharp incline that borders a steep shale embankment, dropping to a gorge below. Around a hairpin turn we arrived at a parking lot at the base of the Indian Head Wilderness Area, anchored by Overlook Mountain on one side and Platte Cove Preserve on the other. adk members Dave and Marion Baldauf joined us there; Dave was celebrating his 75th birthday.

“Hiking is good for the elderly. You can hike well into old age because it’s slow movement,” claimed DeMaria, walking pole in hand as we made our way to the trailhead for an eight-mile hike that would include 1,700 feet of vertical climbing. At 68, he’s sill nimble and swift—not to mention a talkative film and opera buff, making for a good companion on the journey ahead. Raised in the Bronx, he joined an outing club at cuny during the 1950s. “In those days there was a passenger train on the west side of the Hudson and we’d take it to just below Bear Mountain in Harriman Park. I got into cave exploring and rock climbing,” he said. A retired suny New Paltz mathematics professor, he’s been upstate since the early '70s.

Crossing a bubbling brook over mossy rocks with the gentle hiss of a distant waterfall audible, we followed turquoise trail markers and joined part of the Long Path, a 340-mile hiking trail that begins on the western side of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey. Following the Palisades Escarpment to the hilly farm country in Orange County, it winds along the Shawangunk Ridge and through the Catskills to the quiet forests of the Schoharie Valley, eventually ending at the cliffs of John Boyd Thatcher State Park. Hiking the Long Path, we passed bluestone quarries and tramped across huge rock slabs underfoot. Crossing a painted yellow boundary onto state land we arrived at a junction where three trails diverge. Stepping onto the Devil’s Path, named for its steep and rocky surface, we headed for the clouds.

I had to exert myself to keep up with DeMaria, though we periodically paused as the Baldaufs brought up the rear. As if becalmed on a sailboat at sea, I spent those moments of leisure absorbing the splendor of the surroundings. Barton occasionally stooped to collect edible fiddleheads while Marion identified flora. We passed purple trillium, yellow violets, trout lilies, and Dutchman’s breeches, which resemble tiny trousers cuffed at the ankles. Along the way, the bases of uprooted trees formed red, clay-like walls. The temperate mountain air, holding at around sixty degrees, favored our ascent.
“Perfect weather for hiking is when your chocolate-covered granola bar doesn’t melt or freeze,” Barton remarked.

On a scenic overlook, we paused to take in Kaaterskill High Peak and Roundtop; the Bruderhof’s Hutterian Brethren (a former resort) is the only visible human landmark interrupting the thick woodland that stretches clear to the Hudson, where the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge comes into view. Nearing our highest elevation, the trail turned to a rusted pine-needle path as the scent of evergreens filled our nostrils. “The Bear Climbed over the Mountain” echoed in my head as we reached a gentle stretch of rolling landscape, birch trees cropping up all around.

The final vertical climb, technically challenging and somewhat treacherous, now loomed. Strong roots and branches provided us with natural handholds. Just below the last stretch to the summit we rested on a ledge for brunch, afforded spectacular views of the Hudson and Ashokan Reservoir as turkey vultures swooped by. The gold dome of the Buddhist monastery in Woodstock glistened in the foreground. Time stilled. Then we rose to begin our final ascent.

Traversing a rock face at the most difficult part of the climb, we next crossed mucky terrain over a manmade log path, patches of snow appearing through the vegetation. After two false alarms, we made the summit, difficult to discern as no open area allows a view. Dave’s trusty altimeter ultimately marked the highest altitude. But our victory was short-lived, the rocky descent of Devil’s Path mocking as we pushed down toward the mountain base.

At last we came to a relatively flat meadow sprinkled with wild flowers. A junction with a cluster of signs pointed us back toward Prediger Road. Leaving the Devil’s Path, we followed blue markers, crossing a stream and encountering five other hikers, the only ones we saw all day. Crossing a final footbridge, we returned to flat, cultivated land. Tired but happy, our total travel time was approximately six hours.

To contact the Mid-Hudson Chapter Adirondack Mountain Club you may call 236-4291, or write PO Box 3674, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603. For membership information, contact Sue Mackson at 471-9892, or at susiem@juno.com. For a schedule of activities, visit the adk Web site at www.midhudsonadk.org.