The Catskill Trails: A Ranger's Guide to the High Peaks Book Two: The Central Catskills

by Edward G Henry, Edward G Henry (Photographer)

Overview

A National Parks Service Forest Ranger takes you step by step on a guided tour of some of the most rugged wilderness terrain in the northeastern United States-the high peaks of the Catskill Forest Preserve-as well as guiding you to some of the more accessible and better trammeled sites and scenes of "Rip Van Winkle Country."

The author, a conservation professional, has taken an interdisciplinary approach, drawing the latest information from geology, forest ecology, meteorology, wildlife biology, geography, economics, and history to offer a well-rounded picture of the Catskill Mountains as the hikes rise to the sky through levels of rock strata and ever-changing forests. The goal. as the author states, is for the reader to experience the hike and see the Catskills as "a natural historian, not a tourist," and to see not just the present, but the past as well... and maybe even the future.

"Book Two: The Central Catskills" includes: Mount Tremper, Overlook, Ashokan High Point, Slide, Giant Ledge, Panther, Cornell, Wittenberg, Belleayre, Balsam, Haynes & Eagle, Big Indian, Peekamoose, Table Mountain, Dry Brook Ridge, Balsam Lake, Doubletop, plus the trail-less High Peaks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781883789237
Publisher:	Black Dome Press, Corporation
Publication date:	08/28/2000
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.02(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Ed Henry has worked as a forest ranger in the Shenandoah and Great Smokey Mountains National Parks, and for the US Forest Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He is also the author of "Catskill Trails Book One: the Northern Catskills," and "Gunks Trails: A Ranger’s Guide to the Shawangunk Mountains." His fourth guidebook, a ranger’s guide to the trails of the Taconics and Berkshires, will be published by Black Dome Press in 2007.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	4
	Hiking Rules and Guidelines	6
	Map of Catskill Forest Preserve	10
	Welcome to the Catskills	13
	Preface	14
	An Introduction to the Catskills	19
	A Brief Geologic History of the Catskill Mountains	25
	The Esopus Valley	36
	Scenic Reservoir: The Ashokan and Surrounding Lands	37
	Mount Tremper	44
	Overlook Mountain	51
	Ashokan High Point	59
	The Central Catskills	67
	Slide Mountain	68
	Giant Ledge	75
	Panther Mountain	82
	Lone, Rocky, Balsam Cap, Friday, and Dink	88
	Cornell and Wittenberg	99
	The Pine Hill-West Branch Trail	108
	Belleayre Mountain	109
	Balsam Mountain	116
	Haynes and Eagle	124
	Big Indian: includes Fir Mountain	131
	The Southern Catskills: Peekamoose and Table	141
	The Western Catskills	151
	Doubletop Mountain	152
	Balsam Lake Mountain	158
	Dry Brook Ridge	166
Appendix A	Catskill Elevations	172
Appendix B	Routes Described	174

Editorial Reviews

"I would add an eleventh to Edward Henry’s ten Hiking Rules and Guidelines: pack and use 'Catskill Trails.'"
—April 2001

New York State Conservationist

"His trail descriptions [are] complemented by generous offerings of information on the forest, animals, geology, and history of the land. "
—May/June 2001

TrailWalker

"Edward Henry ... lets us vicariously experience a hike, the real hike of a natural historian. "
—Winter, 2001

New York History

"A must. The book offers easy-to-follow directions... and spices them up with fascinating historical and natural lore. "
—February 2001

Hudson Valley Magazine