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A popular out and back hike with about 2000 ft elevation gain and exceptional views of the eastern Catskills. My guess is the parking lot gets full pretty early in peak season weekends.
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Nice and straightforward stretch of uphill hiking to slide mountain. Only a few scrambles that were mildly challenging with 25lb packs. Descent heading east on Slide Cornell Wittenberg (Red) trail is VERY steep and rocky… difficult with camping gear for sure!! Our plan was to continue to the primitive campsite btwn Slide and Cornell and we came to a point about where we couldn’t find a single trail marker or obvious way down a really precarious rock wall without sliding down 25+ feet to what was MAAAAYYYYBE??? the continuation of the Red trail. Not cool. DEC needs to consider marking this spot clearly bc there were four or five ways to slide down, but all were nearly 90° and basically smooth. It was already 5:30pm, that point is well above 3500ft so we couldn’t set up camp, the springs were dry, and we were starting to run low on water. Immediately had to backtrack 2miles to get back to 3500ft just to sleep. If you’re going to do this stretch, you should absolutely be prepared. I’d do this again if I knew there was an obvious trail marker pointing us down without chance of injury, but I’d certainly not be carrying gear on my back.
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The hike in via the direct route was pretty easy.
Coming out and down the other side was a bit trickier and much wetter.
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Steep, rocky some icy spots. Plane crash. Easy hike from Friday to Balsam Cap. Foggy day and warm.
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The hike out to panther mountain on a beautiful November day doesn’t disappoint. Panoramic views from giant ledge along the way and a good rocky catskill climb to 3700ft among the sweet scented balsam, lichen covered ledge and silhouettes of all the surrounding mountains.
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We went to Balsam Mountain and then this. The Giant Ledge is a rocky climb but the trail is very well maintained and the views on the top are far better than that of the Balsam.
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Nice day, sunny and 42 degrees. Slushy on the way back down, spikes were helpful.
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Nice day, sunny and 42 degrees. Slushy on the way back down, spikes were helpful.
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Excellent winter hike. Spikes up to great ledge. 1st time snowshoes to Panther
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Was dreading this hike a bit since I heard it’s the toughest bushwhack in the Catskills 35, but it isn’t bad at all IF you stay on the worn path! We veered off a bit on the way up to Balsam Cap but other than that found this one very enjoyable. Clocked in at under 4 hours, 7.15mi. Good views at both Friday and just before the Balsam Cap peak. Bring bug spray!
(Note: we didn’t start the recording until ~1 mi in, so the distance & elevation is more than this shows)
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Long and steep but very quiet and rarely hiked. Lots of wildlife. The scenic view at 3250 is excellent. And the north side of Panther’s summit is rich Catskills fun.
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Challenging bushwhack hike. This route cuts over to the site of a B-25 bomber crash site before heading up to Friday.
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Challenging but very fun hike. Moderately steep 3.4 miles to Wittenberg summit with epic 180 degree+ views. Continuing another mile or so to Cornell you must traverse a fairly tight scramble known as the Cornell Crack. I had no trouble but others in my party had reservations, so I dropped a rope to give them some assurance on the way up. Our dog also needed a boost up; it was harder for her on the way down. Cornell has very limited views. After the return trip down to Woodland Valley we had a nice birthday celebration in the parking lot. Note that parking at the state park is $6 per car. Bathrooms and water available there.
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