Besides suggesting someplace interesting to go, another reason for this presentation was to suggest to the older venture kids that when we did things, we did them well and for a purpose. With everyone’s time consumed with homework, troop activities, sports, jobs, and whatever else, I was trying to coach them into putting a lot of effort into the trip selection and planning so all the extra effort expended on venturing was worth it.

kaaterskill-hike-latest.ppt

If you like the idea of this hike and want to go, let me mention just a few more things - when you drive up Rt.23A, you’ll know you’ve reached the trailhead when you do a sharp hairpin turn right at a beautiful waterfall (Bastion Falls). Park up the road a bit, there is a small parking lot on the left. You’ll have to be extremely careful walking down the road. When you walk up the trail after the first waterfall, don’t stop at the next one you see and think you’ve reached it. Keep going. The high falls are spectacular. If you feel so inclined, hike up the left side of the falls. If you look carefully, you’ll find some engravings chiseled in the wall. One is to ‘Vite the wonder dog’ who tragically jumped to his death back in the 1800’s. At the top, there are hundreds of names and dates chiseled into the stone. No such thing as leave no trace back then, but you know what…it’s actually kind of cool to see.  North Lake State Park is near the top of the falls if you want a civilized place to camp.

A good book telling the story of the area is “The Catskill Mountain House” by Roland VanZandt. 

A few years ago, I found the old stage coach trail up the mountain and mountain biked up and down with friends. A pretty cool trip you might want to consider. You can search for “Rip’s Rock.”

Here’s another art related doc I found later on Asher Durand. It has somewhat of the same hike concept as I had…

durand_resources.pdf

View five vintage Kaaterskill Falls postcards after the jump -