The Catskill Escarpment, often referred to locally as just the Escarpment or the Great Wall of Manitou,
and known as the Catskill Front to
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
s, is the
range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
forming the northeastern corner of the
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
in
Greene and
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
counties in the U.S. state of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. It rises very abruptly from the
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
to summits above in elevation, including three of the
Catskill High Peaks, with almost no foothills. The
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...
to the south and west averages above sea level.
The Escarpment was the first area of the Catskills to attract the interest of
European settlers
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
. Botanist
John Bartram
John Bartram (March 23, 1699 – September 22, 1777) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for most of his career. Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus said he was the "greatest na ...
wrote a widely read account of an expedition there prior to
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
, and a century later the
North-South Lake
''North-South'' ( hy, Հյուսիս-Հարավ) or ''Four Buddies and the Bride'' is an Armenian comedy directed by Davit Babakhanyan and Vazgen Muradyan, starring Diana Malenko, Sona Shahgeldyan and David Tovmasyan. The film was produced by L ...
area he had visited became home to a number of exclusive resorts, including the
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House, which opened in 1824, was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York, and in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by thre ...
. Views of it inspired
Thomas Cole and other painters of the
Hudson River School, the first art movement in the United States. Today much of it is New York State
Forest Preserve within the
Catskill Park, and a popular place for
hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
,
camping
Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...
and other outdoor recreation.
Geography
The Catskill Escarpment begins in the south at
Overlook Mountain
Overlook Mountain is the southernmost peak of the Catskill Escarpment in the central Catskill Mountains near Woodstock, New York. The centerpiece of the Overlook Mountain Wild Forest area of Catskill Park, the mountain is the site of one of the r ...
, just north of
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
. The graded trail to the summit and the 360-degree unobstructed view from the fire tower is a popular destination. The next mountain in the chain, directly to the north-northeast, is Plattekill Mountain, at dwarfed by its western neighbor,
Indian Head Mountain, eastern end of the
Devil's Path. To the north of Plattekill the ridge is broken by deep and narrow
Platte Clove
Platte Clove, sometimes Plattekill Clove, is a narrow and steep valley in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
The valley is situated between Kaaterskill High Peak and Roundtop Mountain to the north and Plattekill Mountain and Indian Head M ...
, the first of three breaks in the Escarpment. Just north of it the range crosses the
Greene County line.
[. This definition of the Escarpment extends further to the northwest than that commonly used.]
![Catskills from Overlook Mountain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Catskills_from_Overlook_Mountain.jpg)
It rises again quickly to a high area around
Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak (officially just High Peak) is one of the Catskill Mountains, located in the Town of Hunter in Greene County, New York, United States. It was once believed to be the highest peak in the entire range, but its summit, at 3,6 ...
, the easternmost
Catskill High Peak and the first of three along the Escarpment. North of it the Escarpment is again breached by
Kaaterskill Clove
Kaaterskill Clove is a deep gorge, or valley, in New York's eastern Catskill Mountains, lying just west of the village of Palenville and in Haines Falls. The clove was formed by Kaaterskill Creek, a tributary of Catskill Creek rising west of N ...
, the largest of its three breaks. It carries
NY 23A through the Escarpment to the towns of
Haines Falls Haines may refer to:
*Haines (surname), ''includes partial list of people with the surname''
* Haines (character), a character in James Joyce's ''Ulysses''
Places Antarctica
* Haines Glacier, Antarctica
* Haines Mountains, mountain range in Antar ...
,
Tannersville and
Hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
. Along its northern side is
Kaaterskill Falls, one of the Catskills' oldest tourist attractions.
Above Kaaterskill Clove rises
South Mountain, after which the ridge levels to
North-South Lake
''North-South'' ( hy, Հյուսիս-Հարավ) or ''Four Buddies and the Bride'' is an Armenian comedy directed by Davit Babakhanyan and Vazgen Muradyan, starring Diana Malenko, Sona Shahgeldyan and David Tovmasyan. The film was produced by L ...
, the former locale of the
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House, which opened in 1824, was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York, and in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by thre ...
and other resorts of the late 19th century. Today it is a busy public campground. North of it the ridge rises again to
North Mountain, with the open views from North Point to its south one of the Catskills' most popular hikes.
Beyond North Point the Escarpment turns to the northwest. The land drops off slightly, then rises once again to
Stoppel Point, in elevation. Then the Escarpment is broken once again by Dutcher or East Kill Notch, traversed only by an old road now used as a hiking trail. Another sharp rise leads up again to a ridge almost as high as Stoppel Point known unofficially as Arizona due to its dryness.
North of it rises
Blackhead Mountain
Blackhead is a mountain located in Greene County, New York.
The mountain is part of the Blackhead range of the Catskill Mountains.
Blackhead is flanked to the northeast by Black Dome and Acra Point is located north.
Blackhead stands within ...
, the easternmost peak of the
Blackhead Range
The Blackhead Mountains range is located near the northern end of the Catskill Mountains, in Greene County, New York, United States, where it divides the towns of Windham and Jewett. The three named peaks in the range — Thomas Cole Mountain ( ...
and fifth highest in the Catskills overall. Its summit is the highest point along the Escarpment, visible with its neighbors from as far north as
Albany. After its steep northern slope the range curves more sharply to the west. Minor peaks
Burnt Knob and
Acra Point form the northern wall of Big Hollow along with
Windham High Peak, the last of the three High Peaks along the Escarpment and the mountain traditionally considered its northern end,
as the lesser ranges to its west divide and do not rise as drastically as the Escarpment itself does from the nearby land.
![Catskill Escarpment from Greenville, NY](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Catskill_Escarpment_from_Greenville%2C_NY.jpg)
Hydrologically, the entire Escarpment is within the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
's drainage basin. To the east, Plattekill and Kaaterskill creeks drain the two cloves that share their names, and runoff from the ridge feeds
Catskill Creek and other smaller tributaries of the Hudson in that area. To the west, with the exception of Kaaterskill High Peak, runoff feeds the headwaters and upper tributaries of
Schoharie Creek
Schoharie Creek is a river in New York that flows north from the foot of Indian Head Mountain in the Catskills through the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk River. It is twice impounded north of Prattsville to create New York City's Schoharie ...
, which rises at the height of land between Plattekill and Indian Head mountains. This makes them part of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
due to the creek's impoundment at
Schoharie Reservoir. Beyond there the Schoharie drains into the
Mohawk and then back into the Hudson at
Cohoes.
The Escarpment is considered the only place in the Catskills where the region's boundary is distinct and unambiguous. In other directions the slow descent of the mountains into the hills of the
Allegheny Plateau leads to arbitrary delineations of the range's extent.
Due to its prominence, the Escarpment can be seen from a long distance around. It is a constant sight from not only the
New York State Thruway
{{Infobox road
, state = NY
, type = NYST
, alternate_name = Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway
, maint = NYSTA
, map = {{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, type=line, stroke-width=2, type2=line, from2=New Yor ...
in Greene County and the river but the
Taconic State Parkway
The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a Parkways in New York State, parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham (town), New York, Chatham, the ...
across the river and the mountains of western
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and
. From the Escarpment it is possible to see all those areas, plus
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
, on a clear day. An overlook along Route 23 as it climbs the northern Escarpment is called Five State Lookout since
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
's
White Mountains are also visible.
Along the lower slopes, it forms part of the border between Ulster and Greene counties at its southern end. Within Greene County, it separates the towns of
Catskill,
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
and
Durham on the lowland side from
Hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
,
Jewett and
Windham in the mountains. The
Catskill Park Blue Line also follows an irregular path along old property lines along its slopes from its southern end to the Route 23 junction, the northernmost point in the park.
Natural history
The Escarpment owes its formation to three phases in different
geological epochs
The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochronol ...
. Two different processes shaped the range into what it is today.
Its
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
began forming 400
mya
Mya may refer to:
Brands and product names
* Mya (program), an intelligent personal assistant created by Motorola
* Mya (TV channel), an Italian Television channel
* Midwest Young Artists, a comprehensive youth music program
Codes
* Burmese ...
, during the
Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...
period, when the Catskill region was a
river delta
A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...
and the shallow sea it drained into. The river
carried eroded material from the
Taconic Mountains to the northeast, then reaching as high as over present-day sea level.
Later, during the
Acadian orogeny, the sea became the deeper
Appalachian Basin
The geology of the Appalachians dates back to more than 480 million years ago. A look at rocks exposed in today's Appalachian Mountains reveals elongate belts of folded and thrust faulted marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and slivers of ...
, and the
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...
and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
from the newer mountains became the
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
and
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
found throughout the Catskills today.
[Titus, 49–50.]
Eventually the sea floor itself began to drain and
uplift
Uplift may refer to: Science
* Geologic uplift, a geological process
** Tectonic uplift, a geological process
* Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass
* Uplift mountains
* Llano Uplift
* Nemaha Uplift
Business
* Uplif ...
. The area of today's Escarpment and northeastern Catskills had been the river's
distributaries
A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary ...
and had the thickest layer of
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
sediments, leading it to uplift as a whole and become a
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...
rather than
fracturing into mountains. Gradually, the upper levels of the
plateau began to erode and create stream basins, eventually becoming today's mountains and valleys
![Platte Clove](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Platte_Clove.jpg)
The Escarpment of that time was more gradually sloped than it is now, with much loose rock from its uplift. Sometime between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago, the
Illinoian glaciation
The Illinoian Stage is the name used by Quaternary geologists in North America to designate the period c.191,000 to c.130,000 years ago, during the middle Pleistocene, when sediments comprising the Illinoian Glacial Lobe were deposited. It preced ...
swept through the region. This had two impacts on the Escarpment. Not only did it scour and steepen its slopes, leaving the many bare cliffs found today, it carved out both Platte and Kaaterskill cloves from the narrower, shorter and shallower valleys of smaller streams.
[Titus, 132.] In the latter, the gouge in the Escarpment was so deep it resulted in
stream capture
Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows instead down the bed of a neighbouring stream. ...
, as the outflow streams from
North-South Lake
''North-South'' ( hy, Հյուսիս-Հարավ) or ''Four Buddies and the Bride'' is an Armenian comedy directed by Davit Babakhanyan and Vazgen Muradyan, starring Diana Malenko, Sona Shahgeldyan and David Tovmasyan. The film was produced by L ...
, the headwaters of what would eventually be named
Schoharie Creek
Schoharie Creek is a river in New York that flows north from the foot of Indian Head Mountain in the Catskills through the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk River. It is twice impounded north of Prattsville to create New York City's Schoharie ...
instead flowed down into the new gorge. This both created
Kaaterskill Falls, one of the Catskills' early tourist attractions, and relocated the source of the Schoharie to its present location.
[Titus, 136.]
As the Escarpment began to revegetate in the wake of the retreat of the
Wisconsin glaciation, its forests remained exposed to weather due to their location.
Lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
in particular caused many
forest fire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
s. Catskill forest historian
Michael Kudish
Michael Kudish is an author, railroad historian, forest historian, botanist, and retired emeritus professor. He received his Ph.D. in botany in 1971 from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syrac ...
believes that the southern Escarpment "has been burned over many times, perhaps hundred of times, during the last several thousand years".
[Kudish, 134.]
Human history
The history of the Escarpment is, in its early stages, the history of the Catskills, as the two were one and the same until modern surveying and science broadened the definition of the region in the late 19th century. No longer home to the Catskills' highest peak, the Escarpment became just the most visible of the Catskill ranges.
Native Americans and colonial era
The
Munsee
The Munsee (or Minsi or Muncee) or mə́n'si·w ( del, Monsiyok)Online Lenape Talking Dictionary, "Munsee Indians"Link/ref> are a subtribe of the Lenape, originally constituting one of the three great divisions of that nation and dwelling along t ...
and
Mahican
The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...
tribes of
Native Americans indigenous to the Hudson Valley did not live in the mountains, but settled heavily in the valley below.
[Kudish, 47-48.] They went up the Escarpment only to hunt or start
fires to nurture hunting grounds and provide defensive barriers against other tribes, or to follow trails to other communities on the far side of the mountains. While nothing has been recorded from the early years of contact with
European settlers
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
of what role the mountains above them played in their
religious beliefs
A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take i ...
, it is very likely that they did, given their
animistic
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, hum ...
traditions.
[Evers, 9–10. "The lower slopes of the outer Catskills were hunting grounds and not year-round residences through a thousand years and more of Indian life ... The Indian's physical connection with the Catskills was never great, yet the mountains loomed large in Indian life ... We have a right to assume that ndian religious beliefs about the mountainsexisted. Indians were animists."]
In 1609
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States.
In 1607 and 160 ...
's ''
Half Moon'' sailed up the river later named for him in search of a route to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Its sailors became the first Europeans to see the Escarpment, and thus the Catskills.
[Evers, 10. "Robert Juet, who was first mate of the ''Half Moon'' when it sailed up the Hudson in 1609, had the first word. 'At night', he wrote, 'we came to other Mountaines which lie from the Rivers side.' ... Juet's mountains were the Catskills.] No one would explore them for a century, until
Johannes Hardenbergh
Major Johannes Hardenbergh (1670–1745), also known as Sir Johannes Hardenbergh, was the owner of the Hardenbergh patent of land in the Catskill Mountains.
Biography
He was born in Albany, New York, in 1670. He was Sheriff of Ulster County, New ...
secured the 2 million-acre (810,000 ha)
land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
that bore his name from
colonial governor Governors and administrators of colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of th ...
Lord Cornbury
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon (28 November 1661 – 31 March 1723), styled Viscount Cornbury between 1674 and 1709, was an English aristocrat and politician. Better known by his noble title Lord Cornbury, he was propelled into the forefr ...
in 1708, a patent later affirmed by his cousin,
Queen Anne. The language of the document specified that its northeastern corner was at a lake above the Escarpment believed to be the source of Kaaterskill Creek, later
North-South Lake
''North-South'' ( hy, Հյուսիս-Հարավ) or ''Four Buddies and the Bride'' is an Armenian comedy directed by Davit Babakhanyan and Vazgen Muradyan, starring Diana Malenko, Sona Shahgeldyan and David Tovmasyan. The film was produced by L ...
.
[Evers, 74–75. "...It was to make sure that the Kaaterskill and Kaaterskill Clove were included in his grant that Hardenbergh and Company gave as their northeast corner 'ye head of a certain small river commonly known by ye name of Cartwright's Kill' ... By these words Hardenbergh and Company established as their corner the point at which the Kaaterskill emerges from the more southern of the two lakes, the one known today as South Lake."] The murky circumstances of the patent, likely involving official corruption,
[Evers, 36–39.] compounded by litigation from a competing group of claimants
[Evers, 49. "For more than fifteen years the lawsuit against Hardenberg and Company raged and languished by turns."] and interference with the crews attempting to
survey
Survey may refer to:
Statistics and human research
* Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population
* Survey (human research), including opinion polls
Spatial measurement
* Surveying, the techniq ...
the property
[Evers, 59-64.] limited efforts to explore or settle the Escarpment, much less the whole region.
![North-South Lake2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/North-South_Lake2.jpg)
That began to change in 1741 when early American
naturalist John Bartram
John Bartram (March 23, 1699 – September 22, 1777) was an American botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for most of his career. Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus said he was the "greatest na ...
climbed up to a "shady vale" around North-South Lake, where he collected samples of the resin of the "Balm of Gilead" tree (
balsam fir) to send to his English patron,
Peter Collinson. He returned the next year for more.
[Evers, 79-80.] Collinson regularly prevailed on Bartram over the next several years to return for some seeds of the tree, which the former hoped to grow in England, and in 1753 he did, accompanied by a guide and his son
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
. Despite being seriously ill, he returned to South Lake. He was unable to harvest any seeds, but in the process became the first person to record a visit to
Kaaterskill Falls. His account, "To ye Cats Kill Mountains with Billy", illustrated by the boy, was the first scientific report on the Catskills. It listed most of the flora of the area and speculated on how the mountains might have been formed.
[Evers, 88–96.]
Independence and 19th century
After the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
, the members of the
Livingston family
The Livingston family of New York is a prominent family that migrated from Scotland to the Dutch Republic, and then to the Province of New York in the 17th century. Descended from the 4th Lord Livingston, its members included signers of the Unite ...
whose ancestral estate were the portion of the Hudson's eastern shore now the
Hudson River Historic District, a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
(NHL), continued to enjoy the semi-feudal landownership they had broken with the Crown to protect. They made sure their estate houses, like
Clermont Manor and
Montgomery Place
Montgomery Place, now Bard College: The Montgomery Place Campus, near Barrytown, New York, United States, is an early 19th-century estate that has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It is also a contributing property to the Hudson R ...
, both also NHLs, provided ample views of the Escarpment across the river, lands which the family had started to acquire. "The view to be had from these houses became of the very first importance," according to Catskill historian
Alf Evers
Alf Evers (February 2, 1905 – December 29, 2004) was an American historian who lived in Ulster County, New York for much of his life and wrote lengthy, definitive histories of the Catskills and Woodstock, serving the latter as town historian. ...
. "...
man looking toward the Catskills from the east bank could see a view the equal in almost every respect to the already famous ones admired by so many tourists to England's
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
."
[Evers, 286.] Horatio Spafford
Horatio Gates Spafford (October 20, 1828, Troy, New York – September 25, 1888, Jerusalem) was a prominent American lawyer and Presbyterian church elder. He is best known for penning the Christian hymn '' It Is Well With My Soul'' following a fa ...
voiced a similar opinion at the time. "
he mountainsassociate a mass of interesting, picturesque and sublime objects, no where exceeded in this country", he wrote in his 1813 gazetteer of the state.
[Quoted at Evers, 286.] Later on, they followed the principles of
Andrew Jackson Downing in designing their landscapes to provide views from their roads and paths. Even after the Livingstons moved on to other regions of the country, their reputation made the Catskills known in Britain as well as the U.S.
[Evers, 288.]
![Catskill Mt House View](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Catskill_Mt_House_View.jpg)
In 1812,
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
visited the Livingston estates for a week; he may have taken some of his inspiration for "
Rip Van Winkle", published seven years later, from that view.
[Evers, 290.] Other prominent American writers of the time took notice of the Catskills as well. In a famous passage in
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
's ''
The Pioneers'', written in
1823
Events January–March
* January 22 – By secret treaty signed at the Congress of Verona, the Quintuple Alliance gives France a mandate to invade Spain for the purpose of restoring Ferdinand VII (who has been captured by armed revolutio ...
,
Natty Bumppo describes both Kaaterskill Falls and the Pine Orchard, the area Bartram had explored and written about decades before.
The same year the hotel later to become the
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House, which opened in 1824, was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York, and in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by thre ...
was built at the spot.
[Evers, 359.] DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...
was an early visitor.
[Evers, 360.] In 1824, the Hunter Turnpike, forerunner of today's Route 23A, was cut through Kaaterskill Clove, making the whole area more accessible.
[Kudish, 132.] Otherwise, the area remained the same undeveloped
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
Bartram had explored.
![Cole Thomas View on the Catskill Early Autumn 1837](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Cole_Thomas_View_on_the_Catskill_Early_Autumn_1837.jpg)
It was an ideal subject for a young
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
named
Thomas Cole, who visited the Catskills in 1825 and stayed at the new hotel. Struck by its wildness and the many scenic views both from the Escarpment and of it, he took sketches of the area and returned several times to get more. The Catskills had been a subject of art since the 1730s, but the
landscape paintings Cole eventually produced caused a sensation back in New York, with
John Trumbull
John Trumbull (June 6, 1756November 10, 1843) was an American artist of the early independence period, notable for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Rev ...
observing that Cole "has done what I have all my life attempted in vain".
[Evers, 372-377.] Other artists like
Asher Durand
Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School.
Early life
Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eighth ...
and
Frederick Church began following Cole up the Hudson, and their similarly styled
Romantic
Romantic may refer to:
Genres and eras
* The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries
** Romantic music, of that era
** Romantic poetry, of that era
** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
renderings of the region, dubbed the
Hudson River School, became the young nation's first native art movement.
Hotel era
Poet
William Cullen Bryant similarly used his art to glorify the Catskills, helping to create interest in the region as a
tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
destination.
Steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
service up the Hudson, and later the
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
s, made it even more accessible from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Charles Beach took over a failing
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House, which opened in 1824, was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York, and in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by thre ...
in 1846 and turned it into one of mid-19th century America's most exclusive resorts, visited by presidents and other dignitaries. Guests explored the area, following paths and trails that still exist, to visit Kaaterskill Falls and other scenic spots.
[Evers, 451-60.]
Competing hotels opened up nearby over the next several decades. The Kaaterskill Hotel, founded by a disgruntled Mountain House guest, was located near the summit of South Mountain.
[Evers, 496-509.] The more modest Laurel House stood near the top of Kaaterskill Falls.
[Evers, 481-86.] Several hoteliers attempted to make a similar success on the summit of Overlook Mountain.
[Evers, 470-480.]
In the 1880s, the hotels started to lose their luster. The Catskills had already been displaced as New York's highest mountains by the
Adirondacks‘
Mount Marcy
Mount Marcy (Mohawk: ''Tewawe’éstha'') is the highest point in New York, with an elevation of . It is located in the Town of Keene in Essex County. The mountain is in the heart of the Adirondack High Peaks region of the High Peaks Wildern ...
and other
High Peaks there; in 1879
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
geology professor
Arnold Guyot, a regular summer guest at the Mountain House since the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, announced that not only were the so-called "
Shandaken Mountains" in Ulster County to the southwest geologically continuous with the Catskills, one of them,
Slide Mountain, was at the highest peak in the entire range, instead of the Escarpment's
Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak (officially just High Peak) is one of the Catskill Mountains, located in the Town of Hunter in Greene County, New York, United States. It was once believed to be the highest peak in the entire range, but its summit, at 3,6 ...
. He had also found that the Mountain House itself was not as high as Beach claimed. Beach and the other Escarpment resort owners tried to discredit Guyot and his findings, but within years they had been verified by others.
[Evers, 487-95.]
A few years later, in 1885, the
state legislature
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
responded to increasing concerns that rampant logging in the Adirondacks might cause erosion that would silt up the
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
and make it unnavigable by creating the
Forest Preserve, under which any state land in several counties was to be left "forever wild". The Catskills were included in a later, revised version of the
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, when the Ulster County delegation saw a chance to take some tax-delinquent properties, and the county's obligations to the state, off the counties' hands. In 1894 the legislature and voters responded to loopholes in the legislation by writing it into the
state constitution, where its language has remained as Article 14 ever since.
[Evers, 581-589.]
While this had no immediate effect on the hoteliers, other trends of the era began producing a decline in guests at the Escarpment hotels. Expansions of the railroad network meant that the wealthy guests who had previously been content to go to the Mountain House or Kaaterskill instead went to their own
Great Camps
__NOTOC__
The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camp ...
in the Adirondacks, or to other mountainous or coastal regions. Competing hotels in areas further inland now recognized as being in the Catskills claimed to offer a more genuine mountain experience, and purer air, to their guests.
The guests who did come tended to stay for shorter periods, mainly hot weekends in the summer. Beach and the Mountain House made a long-planned joint venture to build an
incline railway
Incline, inclined, inclining, or inclination may refer to:
*Grade (slope), the tilt, steepness, or angle from horizontal of a topographic feature (hillside, meadow, etc.) or constructed element (road, railway, field, etc.)
*Slope, the tilt, steepn ...
up the Escarpment to the hotel a reality in 1892, but it cut into their profits.
[Evers, 549-50. "The 'Otis' cars were filled for only a short time each year when nights in the city of New York were at their hottest. The rest of the year the line lost money."]
20th century
The state made its first significant purchases along the Escarpment in 1900, with parcels along the ridgetop north of Blackhead.
[Kudish, 133-34.] Beach, who had finally dropped his resistance to
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
guests and electricity, died in 1902 and left his hotel to his sons. The roads up the cloves were paved to accommodate the then-new automobile. Since guests could then more easily reach the newer resorts further into the mountains, the Mountain House continued to suffer. The incline railroad was shut down in 1918. When the Hotel Kaaterskill burned down in 1924, it was not rebuilt.
[Evers, 688.]
The next year the state acquired Stoppel Point, complementing its purchase of Kaaterskill High Peak, most of Overlook, Plattekill and Roundtop in 1921, which had capped two decades of acquisitions on the northern Escarpment. It closed in on the Mountain House with the purchase of South Mountain and the former Kaaterskill site as the decade ended, and the son-in-law who now owned the Mountain House had to sell most of the tract to the state to make ends meet.
Despite the onset of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, the Mountain House struggled through a few years, closing for a while, then reopening for one final season in 1942 under new ownership. New owners also began building a third Overlook Hotel in 1927 and continued throughout the 1930s; however, their supplies were stolen during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the project was abandoned. Its decaying frame remains near the mountain's summit.
[Kudish, 122]
There were some attempts to revive the Mountain House after the war, and
preservationists Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...
urged that it be
restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
as an architectural treasure. But the increasingly decrepit building was becoming hazardous to the hikers who explored it, and after the state acquired the building and the lands around it in 1962, the then-
Conservation Department burned it down early the next year. Only its stone gateposts remain. Five years later the Laurel House was demolished as well.
[Kudish, 136.]
![North Point](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/North_Point.jpg)
The Escarpment's transition from private paradise to public playground was complete, although the last mountaintop parcel, the summit of Overlook, was not fully acquired until 1996.
[Kudish, 121.] Over the course of the rest of the century, the state developed North-South Lake into the busy
campground
A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...
it is today and cut new trails and
marked
In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
old roads and paths throughout the range. Today the Forest Preserve along the Escarpment is divided into several different management units and administered according to the Catskill State Land Master Plan.
Natural environment
The forests of the Escarpment reflect their history, location and
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
. The retreat of the glaciers, particularly on the ridgetops and northern and eastern slopes, scoured the rock, further distressing the growing environment on what are the Catskills' steepest and most exposed slopes. As a result, the
coniferous
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
species characteristic of
boreal forest
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, ...
s such as
red spruce and the
balsam fir Bartram sought appear in much higher concentrations, and at lower elevations, then they do elsewhere in the Catskills.
[Kudish, 3. "The slopes of the eastern Catskills, particularly on the Escarpment, are steeper on average than the slopes of the western Catskills. The mean slope for the eastern peaks is 15.1 degrees ... Steeper slopes indicate more frequent and higher bedrock ledges, more exposure and shallower soils. This helps explain why there are more spruce and fir in the eastern Catskills than there are in the western ..."] The summit of North Mountain, at 3,180 feet (970 m) above sea level, is covered in boreal forest, the lowest Catskill summit of which this is true. While there are no true
alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
zones in the Catskills, Kudish has found the only areas in the range which come close along the Escarpment at elevations between along the Escarpment as it rises from lakes to North Mountain. These are exposed ridgetops where
three-toothed cinquefoil
''Sibbaldiopsis'' is a genus in the plant family Rosaceae. This genus only contains a single species: ''Sibbaldiopsis tridentata'', formerly ''Potentilla tridentata''. Commonly, its names include three-toothed cinquefoil, shrubby fivefingers, and ...
, and in one
mountain sandwort, is found. Since those species are
shade-intolerant
In ecology, shade tolerance is a plant's ability to tolerate low light levels. The term is also used in horticulture and landscaping, although in this context its use is sometimes imprecise, especially in labeling of plants for sale in commercial ...
, it suggests that the sites have not reforested since the end of glaciation.
[Kudish, 18. "While today no arctic-tundra zone remains in the Catskills, two species typical of arctic vegetation persist. These are the mountain sandwort (''Minuartia groenlandica'', formerly named ''Arenaria groenlandica'') and the three-toothed cinquefoil (''Potentilla tridentata'') ... Apparently these sites, usually exposed ledgetops with mineral soil almost non-existent and under an acre in size, have never been forested since deglaciation; the growth of a forest above the shade-intolerant arctic plants would have eliminated them ... The locations for the three-toothed cinquefoil, are, in order of increasing elevation: (1) several sites from 2,260 to 2,720 feet along the Escarpment from just north of the Catskill Mountain House site to Albany Point ... The mountain sandwort's single location in the Catskills is at Albany Point where the two arctic species co-exist."]
At lower elevations, the many fires that have raged over the region have left it with a
mixed forest where
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
predominate.
[Kudish, 131-32.] Several large areas of
Norway spruce
''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.
It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...
were planted on the north slopes of
Windham High Peak during
reforestation
Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting.
Management
A debate ...
efforts following state land acquisitions in the 1930s.
Due to the history of fires and
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
on the northern sections of the range, there are very few areas of
first-growth remaining outside of the boreal plots. The largest is the summit of
Blackhead
A comedo is a clogged hair follicle (pore) in the skin. Keratin (skin debris) combines with oil to block the follicle. A comedo can be open (blackhead) or closed by skin (whitehead) and occur with or without acne. The word "comedo" comes from the ...
; the largest hardwood first-growth is likewise the around the summit of Windham High Peak. The
eastern hemlocks around Spruce Creek below Kaaterskill Falls are also a virgin stand. They survived the era when
tanners Tanners may refer to:
* Tanners (company), a British wine company
* Tanners, Virginia, an unincorporated community located in Madison County, United States
* Jerald and Sandra Tanner, opponents of the LDS Church (Mormons)
* Leatherhead F.C., a fo ...
sought the species for the
tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.
The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...
in its
bark
Bark may refer to:
* Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick
* Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog)
Places
* Bark, Germany
* Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland
Arts, ...
since the steep and perilous nature of that terrain made them too difficult to profitably extract.
It and many of the other ravines draining into Kaaterskill Clove also support some plants species rare in New York State, such as
roseroot stonecrop and
fragrant cliff fern (listed as
threatened
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...
and
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
at the state level, respectively).
Dominant fauna of the Escarpment are the species found elsewhere in the Catskills:
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
porcupine
Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...
,
fisher
Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral.
Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to:
Places
Australia
*Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland
*Elect ...
,
black bear and
snowshoe hare. There have been some rare
bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
sightings up on the ridge. Bird species like the rare
Bicknell's thrush
Bicknell's thrush (''Catharus bicknelli'') is a medium-sized thrush, at and . One of North America's rarest and most localized breeders, it inhabits coniferous mountain tops and disturbed habitats of the Northeast. While very similar in appeara ...
and
ruffed grouse nest in the boreal forests. A few
timber rattlesnake dens are known to exist on the rocky ledges of Overlook at the southern end of the range. The paucity of water on the ridgetops and the slopes means that there are few major fish or amphibian species in the Escarpment, save around North-South Lake.
Protected areas
Most of the Escarpment, including all its mountaintops and ridges, has been acquired by the state and added to the
Forest Preserve, requiring that it be kept forever wild. Private land is found only in the cloves, where some of it is also
protected
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
. The Forest Preserve lands are divided into management units by the state
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Initially all of the state lands save North-South Lake Public Campground were classified as Wild Forests, a protection level unique to New York that is slightly less restrictive than
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
. In 2008 an updated Catskill State Land Master Plan combined the North Mountain, Windham High Peak and
Blackhead Range
The Blackhead Mountains range is located near the northern end of the Catskill Mountains, in Greene County, New York, United States, where it divides the towns of Windham and Jewett. The three named peaks in the range — Thomas Cole Mountain ( ...
Wild Forests into one new unit, the Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness. Two old roads through the Escarpment were also given a new classification, Primitive Bicycle Corridor, to accommodate
mountain bike
A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...
s.
[, ]New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protection ...
, August 2008; retrieved December 8, 2008; 2.
From north to south, the areas are:
*Overlook Turnpike Primitive Bicycle Corridor: The road up Overlook Mountain and past Plattekill Mountain to the end of Prediger Road in the
Town of Hunter.
[CPSLMP, 72.]
*Overlook Mountain Wild Forest: around the road up Overlook and the mountain's summit.
[CPSLMP, 67.]
*Indian Head Wilderness Area. Eastern section of the
wilderness area
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
that includes the entire
Devil's Path located on the Escarpment. Includes Echo Lake, the only significant body of water in a Catskill wilderness area.
[CPSLMP, 61.]
*Platte Clove Preserve. A tract owned by the
Catskill Center for Conservation and Development
The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, usually referred to as the Catskill Center, is a not-for-profit organization based in Arkville, New York, United States. It works to preserve the natural environment of the Catskill region an ...
at the head of the clove. The only privately owned protected area in the Escarpment.
*Kaaterskill Wild Forest This management unit includes all the state land on
Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak (officially just High Peak) is one of the Catskill Mountains, located in the Town of Hunter in Greene County, New York, United States. It was once believed to be the highest peak in the entire range, but its summit, at 3,6 ...
, and, in the updated plan, the Kaaterskill Clove and South Mountain areas including
Kaaterskill Falls.
[CPSLMP, 66-67.]
*North Lake-South Lake State Campground. The former site of the Mountain House and other hotels is the most-visited section of the Escarpment, with over two hundred campsites.
[CPSLMP, 73.]
*Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness. Created in the updated master plan from the merger of three smaller Wild Forests. Its surround the Big Hollow Valley and include the Escarpment from North Point to past Windham high Peak.
[CPSLMP, 62-63.]
*Colgate Lake/Dutcher Notch Primitive Bicycle Corridor: The old road from the lake through the notch and down the east side of the Escarpment.
[CPSLMP, 72.]
*Elm Ridge Wild Forest: Formerly part of the Windham High Peak Wild Forest, this unit occupies the north end of the Escarpment within the Catskill Park.
Recreational use
All the Escarpment's public lands are available for passive recreation such as
hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
,
camping
Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...
and
birding
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
.
Hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
and
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
are permitted within season and as otherwise regulated by the state. Unpowered
boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...
is permitted on Echo and North-South lakes.
Use is free except for North-South Lake Public Campground, for which a $8 fee is charged per vehicle in season (Campers are also charged $22 for the site). In return, heavier-impact camping and activities are allowed, and greater services are provided to visitors.
There is also a 12-mile (18 km)
snowmobile loop trail around Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top.
The Escarpment has many hiking
trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...
s. Foremost among them is the Escarpment Trail, which begins at Schutt Road just outside the campground gate. From there it goes north to Route 23, climbing over Stoppel Point, Blackhead and Windham High Peak along the way. All but the southernmost are also part of the
Long Path long-distance trail, which itself traverses Kaaterskill High Peak and descends Kaaterskill Clove to near Palenville and then reascends to join the Escarpment Trail.
Backpackers starting near Woodstock can use the trail up that mountain to hike the entire Escarpment, connecting to the Long Path between Indian Head and Plattekill mountains.
Other trails climb the ridge, all from the west with the exception of the Dutcher Notch Trail. They mainly provide access to the Escarpment Trail, except for the old trails around the Mountain House property at North-South Lake which provide short connections and loop trips between the campground and various sections of the Escarpment Trail.
The most popular trail in the entire Catskills is the short trail up to Kaaterskill Falls from Route 23A, formerly the southernmost section of the Escarpment Trail until it was closed above the falls for safety reasons.
References
{{reflist
External links
Hiking trails of the northern Catskill Escarpmentfrom the CCCD
Escarpment Trail Run annual event
Escarpments of the United States
Catskills
Landforms of New York (state)
Landforms of Ulster County, New York
Landforms of Greene County, New York
Landforms of Schoharie County, New York