Fall Camping in the Catskills: Echo Lake/Overlook/Indian Head

Trip Dates: Oct. 21-23, 2011
Quick Notes:  Great little lake to camp by, about 6 miles from center of Woodstock, NY.  Hike in has ~2400' elevation gain, but on smooth trails. Make sure you hang your food bag; critters abound!

For my second trip, I decided to head into the mountains, specifically the Catskills.  First, I ordered a set of trail maps from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference (http://www.nynjtc.org/); this is a group that does the vast majority of trail maintenance in the NY/NJ area, and their maps are excellent.  The maps show the locations of all lean-to's, campsites and water sources, as well as all the trails (including blaze colors); these maps designed to be suitable for navigation by compass, with clearly marked are elevation contours and guidelines for magnetic north.  Looking through these, I found that that the trailhead for the Overlook trail is just ~2.5 miles from the center of Woodstock, which you can reach by bus (Pine Hill Trailways, out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan).  Echo Lake was marked as a spot with both a lean-to and other primitive campsites, 4 miles from the trailhead, and so I decided that would be my target.

I left on Friday afternoon, taking the bus from Manhattan up to Woodstock (about a 2 1/2 hr ride).  The bus got into Woodstock around 6:40pm; sunset was a bit after 6, so this was just towards the end of twilight.  It was a roadside hike (in the dark) up to the trail head, but there were almost no cars so it wasn't too bad.  It's about a 1200' elevation gain on this portion, with probably 750' or so in the last mile, so it is definitely a hike;  I hit the trailhead pretty much dead on 7:30pm.  The first 2 miles of the trail follow an old carriage road, making for a very smooth path, although there is another 1200' elevation gain on this portion.  The end of the carriage road is at an old abandoned hotel.  When seeing it on the return (in daylight, see picture below) it was pretty interesting, but I must say, finding it unexpectedly while alone at night in the woods was a little spooky.  There is also a big communications tower there, whose red light can be a good way to know you're getting close. 

The ruins of the Hotel at Overlook Mountain (during the day).

After the turnoff to the peak of Overlook Mountain (just past the ruins), the trail becomes just that, a big change from the road, and also switches over to being mostly downhill or flat.  Although it's much more of a trail, and sometimes was a bit muddy and wet, it was still an easy path to follow, even with just a flashlight to show the way;  there wasn't even a need to look for blaze markers, since the path of the trail was obvious.  After about a mile and a half, I hit the turn off to Echo Lake;  this is a yellow blazed (as opposed to the blue of the Overlook trail) that cuts off to the left (when heading north on Overlook).  The path down to Echo Lake is a good 750' drop over about a half mile; at times the path was fairly wet (almost being a small creek at times), but was always very easy to follow and the footing was perfectly fine.  Near the bottom of the trail, you come quite close to a larger creek, that you hear rather than see, and then the path doglegs to the left;  a few hundred yards after that, you're at the lake.  I arrived just after 9, making it a bit less than a 2 1/2 hr hike overall, and that was in the dark. 

When I arrived Friday night, I had the lake completely to myself.  I set up camp in a nice grassy spot a bit past the lean-to, next to a small creek emptying into the lake and with a nice little firepit.  I was pretty tired, so rather than try to gather firewood, I just fired up my camp stove for a pot of tea and called it an early night.  Before going to bed, I contemplated hanging my food from a tree, but because it was late and dark (and I was dead tired) I decided not too; of course I didn't want any critters trying to get into my tent for a snack, so I just put all the food into my daypack and left it next to the firepit.  All I can say is, I shouldn't have been so lazy!  I heard a bit of noise during the night, but was hopeful it wasn't anything causing too trouble; then woke up to find that my daypack was missing. 

While berating myself for not doing what I knew I should have, I started a spiral out from my camp to see if I could track anything down.  Luckily, I found the pack intact maybe a hundred or so yards from my tent.  It was a bit wet and muddy (not surprising, considering that it was on the other side of two small, and in places muddy, streams.  Amazingly, though, there were no tears in the pack, and everything inside was A-OK.  I had all the food in ziplock bags, so even the trip through the stream didn't cause any damage.  Needless to say, I was pretty damn relieved to find it, since if I hadn't, I would have had to hike back out to Woodstock, either to come back with replacement food, or to call it quits for the weekend.  I didn't see any obvious tracks, so I'm still not sure what kind of animal was to blame.  The pack wasn't that light, and it was moved quite a ways, so it must have been fairly big;  I wouldn't be too surprised if it was a bear, but it also may have just been a good-sized raccoon.  The next night I hung the pack from a tree, and there were no issues.

While the morning was a little chilly, I didn't bother with a morning fire, but just fired up the camp stove again for tea and oatmeal.  I did, however, spend a bit of time collecting wood from the area so that I'd have everything set for the evening.  There wasn't any supply of cut firewood (and I'm quite sure there isn't ever), but there was a lot of deadfall to collect.  The thicker pieces that I could find were all a lot longer than I wanted, so I was glad I had brought my hatchet along;  I spent maybe another half hour in the morning chopping up branches into firewood-sized chunks. 

The rest of Saturday, I headed back up to the Overlook trail, and then continued northbound on it, aiming to intersect with Devil's Path, which I would then take up to the peak of Indian Head Mountain.  En route I found a couple of places where I could see why the path had become a creek bed; the crossing of the stream had been blocked (most likely by hurricane Irene, which had been through a month earlier) and shifted the flow along the trail.  At a couple of the worst spots, I stopped for a bit to do some minor trial maintenance, re-establishing the flow where it was meant to be going.  This is one such stream:

An errant stream: Upstream view of a creek that was should have crossed the path.

An errant stream:  The blockage of branches and leaves (on the right hand side of the photo) have caused the creek to head down the path, rather than across it.  I spend about half an hour clearing out the blockage and trying to restore the original flow.

A non-longer errant stream:  The same creek on my return trip that afternoon.  The stream was flowing nicely across the path, and most of the water running down the trail had dried up.

Along the Overlook trail, between the Echo Lake turnoff and the shelter at Cold Kill, there is a turnoff to Codfish point, which is an absolute must see!  I just noticed a trail off to the right, marked by a stone bench, and decided to take a stroll up to see what was there.  The side trail takes you to a point with just stunning views over the Hudson Valley; even more impressive, there are two big stone chairs and a firepit that have been built right out on the ledge.  I imagine that being there to catch an early morning sunrise, with a fire to keep you warm, would just phenomenal.  In post-trip reading, I've noted that very near this turn off, but on the other side of the trail, there should be an un-maintained trail that leads up to the peak of Plattekill Mountain; something to keep in mind for my next trip.

This stone bench marks the spur trail that lead to Codfish Point;  it's only a hundred yards or so until you reach the overhang.

The view from Codfish Point.

 A bit over two miles from the Echo Lake/Overlook junction, a wooden bridge crosses Cold Kill; a lean-to and firepit is located here as well, in another nice-looking camping spot.  I didn't explore around this area much, but it looked like there were a few sites that would be good for pitching a tent as well.  Cold Kill is a moderately-sized creek, and at this point runs over a number of small cascades.  As another note for the next trip, if you carefully follow Cold Kill downstream, you apparently can reach a point where the stream hits a hundred foot or more drop off into what's known as the Black Chasm.  I didn't do so, and the only blurbs I've found about it emphasize the risk, so take care!

Just past the shelter, the Overlook trail hits Devil's Path.  I took the right hand trail, which heads more or less directly up to the peak of Indian Head Mountain.  This climbs something like 1300' feet in just over 2 miles, and is definitely not a beginner's trail.  While I didn't encounter anything too bad, there are quite a few places where you need to scramble up quite a steep, rocky path, and maybe two or three spots that border on climbing. None of them them come close to needing ropes or other equipment, but some arm strength will be needed.  I did, however, meet two women who took a pair of dogs over the peak with them (although they were going the other direction, where the two worst spots are big jumps rather the climbs).  While there are few very nice viewpoints along the trail, the peak of Indian Head isn't anything special, and isn't (at least as far as I could tell) even marked.  I stopped for lunch just the other side of the peak (or to be more precise, just the other side of the 3500' marker on the downhill side, at which point I was sure that I had passed the peak (3573').

I considered hitting one more peak (Twin Mountain would have added 2.3 miles, and given me a second 3500-club peak), but I decided not to overdo it, and instead just took a loop back to Overlook.  This path went down Jimmy Dolan Notch (a drop of about 1250' in 1.5 miles) and then along the last portion of Devil's Path (mostly flat), back to the intersection with Overlook.  The trip down Jimmy Dolan I spent chatting with a Scout troup leader out of PA, who was the one that told me that the ruins at Overlook were an old hotel;  he also informed me that the creek that empties from Echo Lake is one of the few waterways in the Catskills that does not feed into the NYC reservoir system. 

I made it back to Echo Lake with almost an hour left till sunset, and so had plenty of time to get a nice fire going.  My earlier foraging for wood was well worth it, as there were a few other folks at the lake that night, and everyone was looking for the same.  The next morning I packed up and headed out the same way I had come in.  At the junction to Overlook Mountain, I left my pack at the trail marker and took the half mile spur up to the peak; I had a nice lunch sitting on an overhang looking out over the Ashokan Reservoir.  The downhill trip from Overlook back to the trailhead, and then into to Woodstock, was a lot easier than the trip up, probably as much due to it being in daylight as it being downhill.  Leaving the peak at 12:30pm,, I reached the village center at around 1:45pm, right on time for my bus back to the city.

View of Ashokan Reservoir from Overlook Mountain.

An interesting rock formation along Overlook Trail.

Beach Camping on Fire Island

Trip Dates: Sep. 2-5, 2011.
Quick notes:  Beautiful beach camping with less than 2 miles of walking needed for access.  No fresh water available in camping area, and fires are not allowed!

For my first trip, on Labour Day weekend, I went down to Fire Island on the South Shore of Long Island.  Fire Island is a 32-mile long barrier island, less than a half-mile across at the widest and not more than a few hundred yards wide in places.   The south shore is entirely beach, pounded by large rollers coming in off the Atlantic.  The north side consists of dunes held in place in most places by dune grasses and scrub, but with largest trees in a few places.  Almost the entire length of the island is a designated National Seashore, with the sole exception of the western tip, which is Robert Moses State Park;  the eastern tip consist of Smith Point County Park (Suffolk County).  Along the island there are a number of small residential communities, interspersed between the public parklands; there are also four staffed visitors centers, spaced fairly evenly along the island.

Between the two easternmost visitors centers (Watch Hill and Fire Island Wilderness) lies the Otis Pike National Wilderness;  this is a 7-mile stretch of undeveloped dunes, broken only by a very small community (Bellport Beach) at roughly the midpoint of the wilderness.  Wilderness camping is permitted in the majority of this area; you just need to be a mile and a half in from the visitor centers, and not too close to Bellport Beach.  While there is no fee, you do need to register at one of the visitor's centers, because they regulate the number of campers allowed at any time.  The Watch Hill Visitor Center is accessible by a ferry that leaves from Patchogue, just a couple of blocks from the Patchogue L.I.R.R. station, making it easily accessible from the city.  The Fire Island Wilderness Visitor Center is right beside the entrance to Smith Point County Park, and thus has bridge access from Mastic Beach.  There is a local bus (Suffolk County Bus 7E) that runs from the Mastic-Shirley L.I.R.R. station, which allows transfer from other bus routes (such as the S71 from Stony Brook University);  the 7E only runs across the bridge to the park in the summer, but will drop you off just on the north side of the bridge (about a one mile walk) the rest of the year.

I entered through the east end, at the Fire Island Wilderness Visitor Center; when in you come in across the bridge on William Floyd Parkway, the visitor center is just to your right, while the Smith Point County Park campground and beach are to your left.  I arrived around 3pm on Friday afternoon, and was surprised to find that I was getting the first camping permit they had issued.  I then hiked west along the beach:  the beach area immediately around the center was fairly busy, but became much less crowded after even 5 minutes of walking.  From roughly a half-mile in, and stretching for another mile or so, is an officially designated "clothing optional" beach; I wasn't aware of this, and so was a little surprised at the first naked guy walking through the surf that I passed.  There we quite a number of people in that stretch, although it was far from crowded.  For those looking for a nude beach, it seemed like a very low-key, friendly sort of area, quite mixed in terms of gender. A few people (some of those who were strolling, as well as a sunbathing couple) stopped me to chat about where I was headed to camp.  There is a sign marking the point at which you are allowed to camp, and I kept on for maybe 1/4 or 1/2 mile passed that, to a place where there was a big blow out.  Overall, it was about an hour hike; it's hard to keep up a strong pace on sand.

I expect that the blowout had been caused by hurricane Irene, which had passed through just a week before, but the result was a beautifully smooth region of sand just north of the primary dune, easily accessible through a large break in the dune.  I considered setting up right on the beach, but opted instead for a flatter surface and the wind protection from the dune.  There were deer tracks all over the place, and shortly after getting my tent set up a mother with two younger ones came within 15 yards or so; over the weekend I saw quite a few more, including a few bucks with beautiful antlers. 

I stayed three nights, giving me two full days to explore and enjoy the area; the beach is just gorgeous, and there is nothing quite like the sound of pounding surf as you fall asleep, but there isn't much around other than just the beach.  The surf is pretty rough, and so I wouldn't suggest swimming unless you are a very strong swimmer, and accompanied by another;  I only waded out about waist deep, and still managed to get bowled over by one of the breakers.   On Saturday I walked eastwards along the beach, back past the Visitor Center and the Smith County Park beach and campground;  the public beach there was a zoo, with people sitting literally just a few feet from one another, most with their beach chairs, umbrellas, and coolers.  The beach there is supervised, so there were lots of kids splashing around in the surf.  While I was there, I checked out the campground at the county park, and was very glad I didn't consider camping there!  Located on the north side of the island, most of this "campground" is just a long parking lot for RV's;  the spots aren't even separated by trees or anything, just one RV beside the next.  I kept on walking, and again, by the time I was 10 minutes out from the main entrance, the beach was empty again.  Overall I think I walked about 5 or 6 miles from my campsite, sat to each lunch and read for a while, then walked back.  On the way back, I refilled my water bottles at the Visitor Center, as there is no fresh water in the camping area.

The next day I mostly stayed around my camp, enjoying the beach, sun and a couple of books, although I did take a stroll back to the visitor center for another refill of water.  I had a 3.5 L supply (two 750 mL metal water bottles plus a 2.0L bladder), so I expect that I could have managed with only one re-supply trip; however, without a pack it was only a 40 minute walk (less than 1 1/2 hours return), so I didn't bother trying to be particularly conservative. 

Monday (Labour Day) morning, I packed up my site and hiked westward to the Watch Hill Visitor Center, planning on taking the ferry back across to Patchogue.  Since my camp was about 2 miles west of the eastern entrance, it was about a 5 mile hike, and took me a bit under 2 hours.  I just missed a boat (it was pulling away as I got to the pier) I had a two hour rest; the marina was a perfectly nice spot to sit and relax, though, and it gave me a chance to regain some strength.  The boat trip is pretty short, maybe half an hour, so I was in Patchogue by before 1:30pm;  I had started out at about 9am, and if I had started 15 minutes earlier (and thus got the earlier boat) I could have been there before noon. 

I was headed to Port Jefferson, rather than into the city, but Suffolk County buses don't run on Sundays or holidays, so I had been planning on taking a cab.  However, since it was a beautiful day, I felt in good shape, and wanted to give myself a bit of a test of my backpacking range, I decided I would give hiking across Long Island a try.  It was a 13 mile trip, along roads the whole way, and so I figured that I could give up and call a cab anytime if it was getting too much for me.  I ended up making it all the way, in just slightly over 4 hours, although the last 2 miles were pretty painful.  I did it non-stop, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best idea; I think I would have been a lot better off if I taken a break to get my pack off my back for a bit half-way through.  While Long Island is generally pretty flat, my route took me over Bald Hill, at around 300', so there was a bit of elevation gain, immediately followed by an equivalent downhill stretch, in the middle of the hike; this section also had the least amount of shoulder on the road, and so was fairly unpleasant all around.  While not quite the same as a nice hike through the woods, I must say I was pretty satisfied with myself.  Another 2 miles would have brought me to the Port Jeff ferry terminal, where you can take a boat across to Bridgeport, CT;  adventurous souls in New England might keep that in mind.

All in all, the time of the beach was great; while there were a few other people out camping in the area, and the areas around the visitor centers were pretty busy, my camp itself was very secluded, really giving me the feeling of being alone out on the beach.  There are only two things that would have made a big difference in moving it from a great to an outstanding experience:  fresh water available without a 2 mile walk and the ability to light a campfire.  While camping is allowed all year around, since fires aren't, I can't see myself doing this one in cooler weather.

First Post! (Introduction)

This is intended to be a blog of my explorations of the backcountry in the general vicinity of New York City. 

I grew up (mostly) on the West Coast of Canada but have been living in the Northeastern US since 1997 when I moved to Boston area for graduate school; I've been living in New York since 2005.  While I used to do a lot of hiking and camping back in British Columbia, I essentially hadn't spent any time in the woods since moving out east, but I recently decided to get back into it.  I've been starting out with places pretty close to NYC, especially those that are accessible without a car (in particular by some form of public transportation), but I expect to be expanding my range as time goes by.

I'm primarily interested in what seems to be called "backcountry camping" these days.  That is, packing all your gear and food on your back and hiking into a nice spot to camp.  If there are a few other people around, that's fine with me, but I'm really not a big fan of the large, drive-in camps with dozens of sites; my idea of a campsite with running water is a tent set-up beside a creek.  I might try a few backpacking treks, moving camp each day, but I typically like to stay in one place for a few days, so that I can explore the surrounding area with just a day pack to carry.

I hope that the entries here will be helpful for others who are interested in finding nice spots in the woods to get away from civilization for a while; especially for those (like me) who don't have a car.  So, if you have any questions, please post a comment; also, if you have any ideas for places I should check out, please let me know!

Aside: For those who are wondering about where the "NYNEX" acronym came from: the regional phone company in New York and New England that resulting from the breakup of Bell was NYNEX.  It was still in operation when I first moved to Cambridge, MA in 1997, but was soon acquired by Bell Atlantic, which then became Verizon.  In any case, it's just as fitting an acronym for this blog, so I decided to appropriate it.