here
are a number of beautiful roads throughout the Catskills.
This section of Catskill High Peaks is aimed at helping
you navigate them in an orderly fashion.
Surrounded by mountains
and beside the rushing waters of Esopus Creek, State
Route 28 - once known as the Onteora Trail leads you
to the turn off for Phoenicia. Mountain surrounded,
Phoenicia is at the southern portal of the picaresque
Stony Clove and next to the gateway of the sylvan
Woodland Valley. Phoenicia is the summer rendezvous
of trout fishermen and hikers.
The Stony Clove is worth
a trip. To explore the awesome depths of this cleft
between Plateau Mountains on the east and Hunter Mountain
on the west, turn north on Route 214. For several
miles the road borders the Bush Kill. You may picnic
at the Devil's Tombstone Public Campsite maintained
by the DEC. Beyond the Clove's northern portal, the
road joins Route 23A for Tannersville and Haines Falls
on the east, Hunter, Lexington and Prattsville on
the west.
A mile beyond Phoenicia,
from Route 28, there's a road turning left into the
Woodland Valley. Follow it for five miles to its end
and you will find a region of rare natural charm.
The Woodland Creek flows beside the road, and all
about is the forest with mountains rising aloft. At
the end of the Valley is a public campsite where you
may picnic. From this point the ascents to the Slide
Mountain Trails are found. Of Woodland Valley, John
Burroughs wrote: "Of all the retreats I have found
among the Catskills there is no other that possesses
quite so many charms for me as this Valley. It is
so wild, so quiet and has such superb mountain views."
Returning to the Onteora
Trail, turn west. At the village of Allaben you'll
see the waters gushing from the mouth of the Shandaken
Tunnel. This tunnel was the engineering feat of the
1920's as it passes underground for 18 miles, in some
places it is over 1000 feet deep, to the Schoharie
Reservoir at Gilboa.
Several miles west of
the tunnel you will find the scenic Deep Notch drive
over Route 42. Pass along Bushnellsville Creek and
the lovely West Kill under the brow of Halcott Mountain
on the left and Balsam Mountain on the right, each
towering over 3,000 feet above. At Lexington, connection
is made with Route 23 A for Prattsville to the left
and Hunter to the right. From Prattsville you can
continue to the Schoharie Reservoir at Gilboa and
see the origin of the waters at Allaben.
Turning right to Hunter
you will find yourself on Route 23 A, also known as
the Rip Van Winkle Trail. The Schoharie Creek winds
along next to the road. Through Tannersville you'll
come to Haines Falls and just past this old village
the road will begin a sharp descent. To the right
is a parking area. Park your car and follow the signs
to Kaaterskill Falls.
If you turn left toward
Prattsville, you will find the junction of Route 23
about 10 miles further. Turn Right onto Route 23 and
follow the old Mohican Trail along the Batavia Kill.
Pass Red Falls, a crashing red waterfall, and continue
to Windham. Windham is a picturesque little town,
best known for the ski center located there, and continue
driving to East Windham for a spectacular view towards
New England.
If you continue straight
to Prattsville past the junction of Route 23, you
will immediately find a parking area for Pratt's Rock.
Mr. Pratt was a bit of an eccentric who buried his
horses and dogs here, with inscribed tombstones. In
the Village of Prattsville, on the main street, there
is a very interesting museum, the Zaddock Pratt House.
Gilboa
The Schoharie Reservoir
and Gilboa Dam are north of the Catskill Park, a few
miles from Prattsville. Contractors excavating for
the Dam unearthed a prehistoric fossil forest, the
oldest known in the world. Hundreds of stumps and
branches having fernlike foliage were disclosed. These
tree ferns were the ancestors of our trees of today.
Geologists believe that this forest grew in the Devonian
period of the earth's formation about two hundred
and fifty million years ago. Specimens have been donated
to natural history museums throughout the world.
Gilboa Dam impounds 20
billion gallons of water from Schoharie Creek, reversing
its flow northward toward the Mohawk River and sending
it south through the tunnel at Allaben. Roads leading
to Gilboa include Routes 23 to Route 30 in Grand Gorge.
Turn right at the sign for Gilboa and travel several
miles to the parking area overlooking the Gilboa Dam.
Back to the Onteora Trail,
the road climbs beyond Shandaken up the Esopus Valley
until you see a sign on the left pointing to;
Big Indian
Turning here for side
trip into the heart of nature, you enter a region
of real natural charm. The Esopus rushes beside the
road. Above, Belleayre, Eagle and Big Indian Mountains
tower on the west, Panther on the east, each well
over 3000 feet and ahead is the towering height of
Slide Mountain at 4,204'. Continue south for as long
as you like, but stop to take a look at the well-known
Frost Valley YMCA.
Up the
Divide
Continuing on the Onteora
Trail, the highway ascends to Pine Hill. Beyond this
little village, the climb ends at Highmount, at Belleayre
Mountain Ski Center. From Highmount the grads are
downward. Through Fleischmann's and Arkville to Margaretville,
the Bush Kill flows beside the way. At Margaretville
the East Branch of the Delaware River is joined. This
busy town is an important crossroads. One of the most
charming roads in the Catskills, Route 30 leads north
from Margaretville along the East Branch of the Delaware
River past Halcottville, through Roxbury to Grand
Gorge.
John
Burroughs Memorial Field
A mile north of the pretty
town of Roxbury, Hardscrabble Road diverges westward
and climbs over the shoulder of Old Clump Mountain
to Woodchuck Lodge, the birthplace of one of America's
greatest naturalists. A footpath leads from the parking
area to a huge sandstone boulder. Burroughs spent
house sitting on this rock, gazing at an amphitheater
of mountains. Burroughs is buried near this rock.
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