Slide and Hunter 1/6/07

[bignslow]

Drove down Saturday morning early to be at the trailhead by 9:30. Started off with slide from the Slide mountain trailhead.

Due to the recent rains the stream crossing right by the trailhead was quite high and was difficult to cross without getting wet. After crossing the stream the climb began somewhat steeply. However after a little while we climbed onto a road grade that was acutally quite pleasant. From the junction with the woods road to the summit of slide was a pleasant walk along an easy grade. The rain that was expected for the day never showed and we enjoyed the hike in late spring/early summer apparel. There was no sign of ice or snow anywhere on slide mountain. We got a few peeks of views along the hike but got socked in once we got to the summit. Round trip time for slide was 3-3.5 hours. It was over 2 hours up and a fast descent down.

After hiking back down to the car we drove to the Hunter mountain becker hollow trailhead. We felt pretty good after hiking slide and were ready to hike Hunter.

We started off from the becker hollow trailhead under sunny skies at approx 2pm (we knew we would be hiking down in the dark). About 1/3 of the way up we bonked out and our 2 hr ascent turned into a 3 hr ascent. The steepness of Hunter was a stark comparison to slide and the vertical rate was killing us. We hiked all the way up the becker hollow trail to the 2nd trail junction then hiked the ridge to the fire tower where it was very windy. We climbed the fire tower (which was swaying quite a bit in the wind), took some pictures and began the climb down. There was no snow or ice on Hunter Mountain. Hunter took us about 5 hours round trip, 3 hours up, 2 down (due to steepness).

Overall my first 2 Catskill hikes were very enjoyable and i'm looking forward to heading down there more often.:tup:

[mountainmeijin]

Interesting combination. Getting the two biggest ones done early. Glad you like them though. Slide from the west side is wonderful little short hike and a beautiful winter hike (this weather is really depressing...) Slide is more fun from the long way around, though, anyway. Good hike to warm up on. I recall doing a Rusk-Hunter-SW loop back in early November and enjoying a veritable wintry wonderland of snow and ice all the way through...don't know what the heck's going on here. Are you still planning on a Burroughs traverse later on? Keep your fingers crossed...it's a glorious place after a fresh snowfall.

[bignslow]

I'm intersted in doing my 35 and 115, my friends aren't really thinking about anything other than the 115 so we just did slide/hunter to get them done. The lack of easy camping options and unknown winter conditions made me reconsider the boroughs range hike. We were going to spot a car and do it as a thru hike from the slide mountain TH (less elevation gain). I actually read on summitpost that the Becker Hollow trail is one of the harder ascents in the catskills is this somewhat correct?

It is a tough choice for me, 4 hour drive to the dacks or 3 hours to the catskills.

[Mark Schaefer]

Glad you enjoyed your first Catskill hikes. It has become quite popular for hikers working on the 115 to pair these two summits on the same day.

I actually read on summitpost that the Becker Hollow trail is one of the harder ascents in the catskills is this somewhat correct? The climbing section of the Becker Hollow trail is probably the steepest (just under 2 mile, 2000' gain) trail climb of that length in the Catskills. The first half of the climb follows an old bark road (from the tannery days) which is relentless. The climb up Plateau on the Devil's Path from Stony Clove is comparable, but shorter with less elevation. There are trail climbs, such as the southern approach to Peekamoose, with have more elevation gain, but spread out over longer distances.

There are some bushwhack ascents on eastern escarpments that might be considered harder, such as the eastern approaches to Balsam Cap and Friday.

[mountainmeijin]

Becker Hollow...I think that it's just a bit of an exception in the Catskills for being a relatively constant grade for it's ascent. In my experience, trails like that tend to be more tiring than the usual staircase formation that a lot of the Catskill trails have. Hunter is, in my opinion, most fun from the Devil's Path at the end of Spruceton Road. If I were to make a recommendation, I would say go for Indian Head and Twin. Both are small as high peaks go, but have numerous beautiful views and are fun hikes. Start from Prediger Road, follow the Devil's Path loop around up Indian Head and over to the north (true) summit of Twin, backtrack down to the col and take the Jimmy Dolan trail back toward Prediger Road. Probably one of the best dayhikes you can do in the Cats. Hope you'll come visit us again soon.