Windy Peaks

Hiking the Trails of Greene County

by Amy Lubinski, October 28, 2008

In 1819, Asher Brown Durand created his most famous painting, Kindred Spirits, depicting fellow Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole and poet William Cullen Bryant standing on a rocky promontory in the Catskill Mountains. Then and now, the same region that inspired authors and artists alike is an ideal expanse for anyone to hike.

November is an excellent month to explore the mountain trails of Greene County. After all, it’s too chilly for the recreational activities you enjoyed in the summer, but not snowy enough for the festivities of winter. In November, all that huffing and puffing up a hiking trail will keep you warm enough to see expansive views of waterfalls, neighboring mountains, and in some cases, even several states bordering New York.

If you’re not sure where to start your hiking adventures, consider joining a hiking or outdoors club, such as the Catskill Mountain Club, created by Chris Olney and Aaron Bennett in 2004, the centennial anniversary of the Catskill Park. Hiking is only one of the club’s recreational activities—the others being camping, fishing, hunting, canoeing, kayaking, biking, and climbing. With approximately 700 members devoted to the outdoors, you’re more than likely to find a hiking buddy who’s willing to explore Greene County with you. Anyone can join, and members are invited to lead hiking or other outdoor events, typically scheduled twice a month. And the most appealing fact yet—there are no dues. “Our group is much more diverse than most other similar groups because typically, 20-to-30-year olds aren’t going to spend $30 on a membership,” Bennett explained.

If joining a club isn’t your prerogative, there’s certainly no shortage of mountains or trails to hike in Greene County that are easy to start with. Chair members of the Catskill 3500 Club as well as guidebook authors of Catskill Day Hikes for All Seasons, Carol and David White, suggest many easy hikes in Greene County, including several to the Catskill Mountain House site. Hikes centered around the site of the once famous hotel near Palenville (which catered to the elite, including several presidents in its heyday in the 1800s) tend to be fairly popular because not only are the routes great for novice hikers, they also provide a look back in time, Carol White explains. White, who compiled and edited Catskill Peak Experiences: Mountaineering Tales of Endurance, Survival, Exploration and Adventure from the Catskill 3500 Club, describes a hike that begins at the mountain house as, “a broad path, much of it on flat bedrock, that passes old foundations and two stone posts.” White continues by explaining that, very shortly into the hike, there is “an open expanse [that] featured this enormous hotel with 13 Corinthian columns, built almost up to the cliffside.”