INDIANHEAD MOUNTAIN - #2 winter summit hike - On Saturday, January 18th we took our 2nd winter 35'r hike in Greene County New York. Indianhead Mountain is the most eastern peak of the Devils Path Range and may contain the longest drop of any Catskill Mountain trails:
Indianhead-
We made our way to the trailhead at the end of Prediger road after a short detour in the wrong direction. It had been over two years since we visited this portion of the Devils Path and I confused this hike with the Twin Mountain hike. My mind was telling me the trail we needed was at the Mink Hollow parking lot but after a quick glance at the map we were back on track.
The trail-head was packed, well over a dozen cars, truck and SUV's filled the parking lot. We took a short time to scan the kiosk and then made our way into the woods. The trail started out very rocky and the rock did not let up until we were on top of Indianhead. The first split was not are up the trail and we made a right heading for Jimmy Dolan notch.
The trail steadily steepens until we came upon the notch. The foot traffic was unreal. A group of three passed the sign located in the notch heading for Twin just before we reached then. They ditched their trekking poles at the notch because they proved almost useless in the ice.
We took to the trail in the oppose direction and a very short distance out of the notch came the climb. The ice was constant. We ran into the ice coming up into the notch but now with very steep climbs it became a struggle to gain altitude. Fortunately, the summit was only half mile away. It took some time and a lot more effort but soon we traveled past the summit and well on our way to Sherman's Lookout.
We had made our way down the eastern slopes of Indianhead and came onto a prominence overlooking nothing but cloud and fog. This is when the decision was made to turn back. The Lookout trail drops steeply off to the right of the overlook and would be dangerous in the summer but with the ice and snow it would be near impossible. With the idea of hiking a loop crushed we made our way back to the summit.
After a short snack and a run in with a huge group of twenty we made our way back to the trailhead. We pushed hard to the finish but the ice had tried us out and the parking lot seemed farther than when we left it but ultimately we reached the van. We through our gear in the back and went to our favorite after hike location, the Peking for soup.
Indianhead Mountain:
Elevation: 3573 ft.
Location: Platte Clove, New York
Range: Catskill Mountains
Coordinates: 42.1162° N, 74.1146° W
Topo Map: USGS Woodstock
30th Highest in the Catskill Range
Directions to the trailhead:
From Rt. 23 in Tannersville take County Rt. 16, or Bloomer rd to Platte Clove Road. Take a right onto Prediger Road and follow it to the end. A DEC managed trailhead parking lot is located at the end.
Map Set:
NY/NJ Trail Map 141; Ninth Edition 2010
www.nynjjtc.org/
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7 сен 2024
