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Slide Mountain (New York)
Encyclopedia
Slide Mountain is the highest peak
in the Catskills
. It is located in the Town of Shandaken
in Ulster County
, in southern New York. While the 4180 feet (1,274.1 m) contour line
on topographic map
s is generally accepted as its height, the exact elevation of the summit has never been officially determined by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and many informal surveys suggest the mountain may actually top 4,200 feet (1,280 m) above sea level.
While it was not identified as the range's highest peak until the late 19th century, it has played a prominent role in Catskill history
ever since. Renowned naturalist John Burroughs
wrote memorably of his climbs up Slide, and it helped get the Catskills added to New York's Forest Preserve
. Bicknell's thrush
was first identified on its summit.
Like most other Catskill peaks, Slide's summit is gentle and rounded, taking the form of a narrow ridge that rises to a wider bump on its eastern end. From there the mountain slopes down steeply to the col
with neighboring Cornell Mountain
.
At the western end, a broad slope, part of the Catskill Divide, leads down to the gap between Slide and Hemlock Mountain to the west and Winnisook Lake
, the source of Esopus Creek
, to the mountain's northwest.
Two more pronounced ridges lead off the mountain, one to the southwest and the col with Wildcat Mountain, the other to the north and Giant Ledge.
Both upper branches of the Neversink River
begin on the mountain's slopes.
In addition to the Catskills, Slide is also the highest point of:
It is also the southernmost peak in the Northeast
exceeding 4000 feet (1,219.2 m). The Appalachians
do not rise to that level again until West Virginia
.
The mountain received its name locally from a landslide
in 1819 on its north face near the summit. The scar can still be seen today, and in fact was partially gouged out again by another slide in 1982.
Slide would not be established as the highest peak in the range until 1886, long after much of the interior Northeast and their mountain ranges had been surveyed and settled. Due to land disputes and schemes that dated back to the colonial period, no complete, impartial survey of the entire Catskill region had been carried out until then.
Seven years earlier, Princeton
geology
professor
Arnold Henry Guyot
had been staying at the popular Catskill Mountain House
when he became interested in the surrounding mountains, and management's claim that nearby Kaaterskill High Peak
(3655 ft (1,114 m)) was the highest in all the Catskills despite growing doubt. His survey, carried out on his own time and at his own expense, established that Slide, located some distance to the southwest, was far and away the highest peak in the range. His findings were vehemently disputed by the hotelkeepers around North-South Lake
until others confirmed his results.
There was a movement, once its status had been confirmed, to give Slide a name believed to be more fitting for a highest peak. "Mount Lincoln," after the late U.S. president, was popular for a while. But it ended when Guyot announced that he preferred Slide, as he had followed local custom wherever possible in naming the peaks for his survey.
Legends have grown up over the years in the Catskills over this belated discovery of the range's highest peak. Some tell of a new owner of Hunter Mountain
, the range's other 4,000-footer and second-highest peak, swinging a level
around to ensure he had bought the highest peak until being stopped by Slide. Another story has John Burroughs
, who later became rich and famous writing about his hikes up Slide and other nearby mountains, proving the case atop the mountain by having his friends aim a rifle
with a ball in the barrel at all other contending peaks and observing that the ball fell out every time.
Regardless, tourism soon shifted to the new highest peak, and a local woodsman, Jim Dutcher, who knew the mountain well from his days peeling hemlock
bark
for tanning
, built a hotel
and did a regular business escorting visitors to the summit up a trail he built in 1880. While it runs over privately owned land and has been abandoned since 1941 save for the final section leading across the summit ridge from the west, it still exists and can be followed.
as it exists today.
Some of the other private lands near the mountain had been utterly deprived of any value by tanners who had decided to boost their profits by neglecting to pay their property tax
es and simply leaving the area. At that time, when the county took possession through foreclosure
, it was among those required by the state to guarantee payment of state property taxes.
Many county voters and landowners felt shafted, leading Ulster to refuse to pay despite a court order. Their representatives in Albany
worked out a compromise by which the lands in question were given to the state as part of the newly established Forest Preserve, originally meant to include just the Adirondacks
, to satisfy the county's unpaid debts to the state. That was the beginning of what ultimately became the Catskill Park.
On June 11, 1886, a delegation from the state's forest commission climbed Slide to give some sort of official recognition to the peak and the Catskill Forest Preserve. While they used Dutcher's trail, the man himself did not take part ... in fact, he did no maintenance on the trail beforehand, since he was a Republican
and the commissioners had been appointed by Democratic
governor
David Hill. Nevertheless, the party got to the summit, where Townsend Cox, head of the commission, declared the view as fine as anything to be found in the Adirondacks.
The next year the state decided to use 200 acres (80 ha) along the West Branch of the Neversink at the west slope of the mountain (south of the current trailhead) to reintroduce white-tailed deer
, which had been seriously thinned in the area over the preceding century. A 10-foot (3 m) wooden fence
was built around the whole area to protect them from poaching
, and eventually 95 deer were released back into the wild, successfully re-establishing the species.
Ironically
, today there are actually very few deer in that area, because the undisturbed forest no longer offers as much of the second- and third-growth species deer prefer to feed on, and predators such as black bear
s have become more numerous as well.
The new legislation helped Slide score a significant first in 1892, when the state appropriated $250 to build a trail
, paralleling Dutcher's, up the west side of the mountain — the first trail built at public expense in the Forest Preserve. A survey was also authorized to determine whether it was on public land, and even though it was not the trail was built anyway.
While heavily eroded
and rocky, it is still in use today as part of the Burroughs Range Trail and remains the most frequently used ascent.
Two years later the Forest Preserve legislation was written into a new version of New York's constitution as Article 14.
Slide's fame was spread far and wide by Burroughs. He had often been able to see the peak's summit ridge from Old Clump Mountain
near his boyhood home in Delaware County
, likening it to seeing a horse
grazing from behind.
He tried to climb the mountain several times with friends, and his account of his successful ascent from nearby Woodland Valley, "The Heart of the Southern Catskills," is one of his best works. He wrote of the view from the summit:
"Here the works of man dwindle," was put on a plaque
near the summit by the Winnisook Club
shortly after his death in 1921 and placed on a ledge near the summit that offers the best view from the mountain. It has since been known as Burroughs Ledge.
Another early visitor to the mountain was an amateur ornithologist
from Brooklyn
named Eugene Bicknell. On one of those days, he caught a small brown thrush
near the summit which he was unable to identify as belonging to any known species of that time.
The bird was named Slide Mountain thrush at first, then Bicknell's thrush
when it was found living high up in the boreal forests of other Northeastern mountains. But it was not studied, as prevailing scientific opinion of the time considered it a subspecies of the gray-cheeked thrush
. Only in the late 20th century did newer research methods such as DNA
comparisons prove that it was, indeed, a separate species, setting off a scramble to save habitat
and learn as much as possible about it.
Despite the peak's importance in establishing the Forest Preserve in the Catskills, much of the land remained in private hands. While purchases in 1900 did much to change that, it would take until 1928 before the state actually acquired the summit property and much of the land it had already built a trail on.
During World War II
, a small military training plane crashed on the mountain's east slope at about 3,620 feet (1,103 m). While most of the debris is gone, the site can still be reached via a short side path from the Burroughs Range Trail.
, the range's first peak bagging
organization, gave more hikers a reason to climb the mountain as they were required to do so at least twice, once in wintertime and once during the rest of the year, for membership.
Around the same time, the Long Path
was also routed over the mountain when it was finally established as a marked trail rather than a collection of points of interest. The summit is still the highest point on the entire trail.
A major change in management of the mountain occurred in the mid-1970s, after the state's Conservation Commission had become the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Temporary Commission on the Future of the Catskills had recommended that it establish a master plan for all the Catskill lands. Slide would wind up lending its name to the state-designated Slide Mountain Wilderness Area
, the largest in the Catskills at 47,500 acres (190 km²). New regulations also ended abuse of the summit by campers.
For many years, the first two miles (3 km) or so of the trail climbing Slide crossed the property of the nearby Winnisook Club
. There was a metal gate across the Burroughs Range Trail marking the property line, below which nearly every tree had a No Trespassing sign on it. Because of the 1970s hiking boom, parking along the road at Winnisook Lake (there was no parking lot) had become a nightmare. In the late 1970s, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
solved the problem by buying the land south of the ridgeline from the Winnisook Club
, making all but the last stretch of trail to Winnisook Lake public land. Then, in its first-ever Unit Management Plan for the wilderness area, they built a new parking lot
further south down Ulster County Road 47 and relocated the trail onto the new public land, ending at the new parking lot. This was the trailhead for a new section of the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail, which connected to the carriage road commonly used very near the base of the Burroughs Range Trail.
This new section requires crossing the west branch of the Neversink right at the beginning. While it is normally not difficult to follow the stepping stones, the creek can be impassable and even fatal in high water. In December 2000, Timothy O'Lear, a Boy Scout
from Long Island
drowned
when he fell in and was caught under some nearby tree branches when returning after a weekend backpacking
trip. He is memorialized with a small plaque on a bench at the beginning of the trail.
forest of various maple
species, yellow birch
and beech
at lower elevations and a boreal forest composed predominantly of balsam fir
at higher elevations. Paper birch
can be found where the two forests begin to change over.
Catskill forest researcher Michael Kudish
has found an anomalous grove of sugar maple
at roughly 3,900 feet (1,189 m) in elevation just off the trail near the western end of the mountain's summit ridge.
He has also noted that, in contrast to the boreal forests on other Catskill High Peaks
, Slide's has no red spruce
. He does not believe there ever has been any. There are some groves and isolated individual trees on lower elevations on the mountain.
One of the mountain's more curious features is the white quartz
pebbles found on the trail along the summit ridge, which lend it something of a garden-path feel.
These are found nowhere else in the Catskills, and since it is likely that they would not have survived the Wisconsin glaciation
, it has been speculated that Slide's summit may have been a nunatak
during that time, protruding above the ice which buried all the other peaks. However, one researcher reportedly found striation
marks on rocks along the summit ridge, suggesting that glaciers did indeed cover the summit. Those marks have eroded over time, however, becoming more difficult to confirm, and the consensus now is that they may have been left instead by glaciers during the Illinoian Stage
prior to the Wisconsin Stage.
The quartz pebbles have also suggested that the Catskills might once have had coal
beds, as in mine
s in nearby areas of Pennsylvania
they signify there is no more coal below.
above 3,500 feet (1,067 m) anywhere on Forest Preserve land in the Catskills except between December 21 and March 21. Open fires are banned in those areas all year round.
to the new state trailhead has added to the climb slightly, but it is still less than that required to climb some of the lower Catskill High Peaks.
After crossing the upper west branch of the Neversink at the trailhead, 2,400 feet (731.5 m) in elevation, the yellow-blazed
P-EB trail works its way gently up slope and over some lesser streams 0.7 mile (1 km) to the old carriage road it originally followed through the Winnisook Club property. It follows this south past a reliable spring
0.3 mile (500 m) to the western terminus of the red-blazed Burroughs Range Trail, the old horse trail built in 1892.
This works its way steadily up Slide's southwest ridge for about a mile to the summit ridge, where boreal forest takes over and it abruptly turns to the north, then west again to follow the north side of the summit ridge. Shortly after this latter turn, the old Dutcher Trail, marked by very faded orange blazes, comes in from the north. The remainder of this section, where the treadway lies heavy with the white quartz pebbles, is the trail Dutcher built and used in his day.
An official trail, the Curtis-Ormsbee (see below), soon comes in from the south. At this point the Long Path also joins the trail. From here it is 0.7 mile (1 km) to the summit, with spectacular views to the north opening up at several points along the way. The best is just short of the summit, just above the top of the slides that give the mountain its name.
Total distance via this route is 2.75 miles (4.4 km), with a vertical ascent of 1,700 feet (518 m).
It is named in memory of William Curtis and Allan Ormsbee, two hikers from New York who died in a sudden snowstorm in the Presidential Range
of New Hampshire
's White Mountains
on June 30, 1900. They had laid the trail out, and a small monument to them is located at the trail's southern end, where it leaves the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail 0.8 mile (1.2 km) south of the Burroughs Range Trail junction, in the col
between Slide and neighboring Wildcat Mountain.
The blue-blazed trail, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long follows another ridge up to the junction with the Burroughs Range Trail on the summit ridge. Just above the signs indicating the camping and fire restrictions that NYSDEC has put in place for areas above 3,500 feet (1,067 m) in the Catskills to protect the montane forests, there are two viewpoints just off the trail. One takes in Table
and Lone
mountains; the other offers the only good glimpse of the lowest High Peak, remote and challenging Rocky Mountain. It continues to the summit through long and fragrant stretches of balsam fir and soil muddy enough to require puncheon
bridges in some areas.
It is 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the summit via this route. Many hikers make a loop of the trip if time permits, ascending via the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail and returning down the Burroughs Range Trail, a total trip of 6.85 miles (11 km).
The beginning of the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail can also be reached by using the Long Path approach and coming from the southern end of the Phoencia-East Branch Trail, 2.95 miles (4.7 km) away in the town of Denning
. Vertical rise to the summit via this route is almost 2,000 feet (609 m), and the total distance to the summit is 6.25 miles (10.1 km).
. It takes in the whole range, going over Wittenberg
and Cornell
mountains for a 7-mile (11.2-km), 2,700-foot (823 m) ascent. Wittenberg and Cornell are both challenging climbs in and of themselves, and the climax is the steep 900-foot (274 m) east slope of Slide.
It is not surprising that this is often done as an overnight backpacking
trip, since the long col between Slide and Cornell features a spruce grove that is an excellent place to camp
, and the state has accordingly designated several sites in that area. Some hikers, though, have been able to get to the summit of Slide and back to Woodland Valley in a single lengthy day, often by descending to the western trailhead and following the Phoenicia-East Branch trail back down, a grand loop of 13.95 miles (22.5 km).
leading down from the summit to the col with Giant Ledge to the north is an obvious route. DEC had, at one point, planned a trail up it but the idea was dropped when hikers and hunters objected and the route was judged too environmentally fragile to support a trail.
It can be used by starting from the Giant Ledge trailhead at a hairpin turn on County Road 42, about 2,200 feet (670.5 m) in elevation. It is 0.65 mile (1 km) to the junction with the blue-blazed Fox Hollow Trail, which leads north to Giant Ledge and Panther Mountain
. By striking out due south from this junction one will soon begin to climb the north ridge, reaching first a 3,620-foot (1,103.3 m) summit (on the private property of the Winnisook Club), then turning to the southeast through thickening boreal forest to the 3,800-foot (1,158 m) summit. From there the narrow, thickly forested ridge is followed steeply up to the summit ridge and the Burroughs Range Trail, about 0.25 mile (400 m) from the summit.
Starting from the Denning trailhead, the P-EB Trail is followed 1.1 mile (1.8 km) to its junction with the blue-blazed Peekamoose-Table Trail, which drops down to the east 0.35 mile (560 m) into the river valley near the flood plain at the Deer Shanty Brook confluence and its many channels, some of them difficult to cross at high water. After one of the last, alert eyes can find the beginning of the "Fisherman's Path," an unofficial trail following the East Branch far upstream into the wildest country in the Catskills.
It takes some skill to follow this trail, as red paint blazes that sometimes appear are often painted out by DEC forest rangers (there are, however, some official campsite
s along its length) and while it is sometimes wide and obvious it is not always, and switches sides of the river several times.
Further upstream, as it passes the usual points of departure for Lone
, Rocky, Balsam Cap and Friday
mountains, the path gets increasingly disused and harder to follow. The challenge in hiking Slide this way is not so much the mountain itself as the routefinding when it begins to climb to the col.
The mountain's actual height of land is a small, viewless clearing with the footings of the towers that once stood there.
Just to the west, however, is the much wider clearing of Burroughs Ledge with a sweeping view to the east in which Ashokan Reservoir
is prominent, the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
can be glimpsed. The neighboring high peaks to the east seem like small hills and the Devil's Path
and Blackhead Range
in Greene County
are visible to the north. In fact, it is possible to see, from various points along the summit ridge, all but one of the other 34 Catskill High Peaks (Thomas Cole
may or may not be hidden by Hunter).
At one time the view was even more expansive, but since camping
on the summit is now banned except during winter and in emergencies, the balsam fir has grown back in around the edges of the clearing, giving the area a more natural look. Close inspection, in fact, can find remnants of the two lean-to
s that once stood here before 1975 when camping was permitted. There is also a spring 0.25 mile (400 m) down the trail to the east.
On June 15, 1985, the summit received its most visitors ever at a single time when at least a hundred hikers, nature lovers and DEC officials gathered there to commemorate the centennial of the Forest Preserve. Similar traffic was recorded in 2004 when the Catskill Park itself reached a similar milestone.
s being built at the summit.
Dutcher probably built a crude one out of balsam logs, since Burroughs refers to its presence in his writings. It was still there in 1900 when another visitor recorded it.
The state wanted to take advantage of the mountain's height for fire control purposes, and in 1911 built a more permanent fire lookout
and observer's cabin on the summit. But it would only be occupied and used for the next year, then abandoned again.
Steel
for a more permanent tower was brought up to the summit in the early 1930s, but the tower itself was not built until wartime. It would be dismantled around 1965, and no replacement has been erected.
In the late 1990s, when DEC updated the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area's Unit Management Plan, it considered rebuilding an observation tower at the summit to provide the long-absent views. However, despite the historical precedent, wilderness area values governing DEC policy that were in place at the time led to the idea being rejected during the planning process.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in the Catskills
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
. It is located in the Town of Shandaken
Shandaken, New York
Shandaken is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 3,235. The name is from a native phrase for "land of rapid waters."...
in Ulster County
Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...
, in southern New York. While the 4180 feet (1,274.1 m) contour line
Contour line
A contour line of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level...
on topographic map
Topographic map
A topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, usually using contour lines in modern mapping, but historically using a variety of methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features...
s is generally accepted as its height, the exact elevation of the summit has never been officially determined by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and many informal surveys suggest the mountain may actually top 4,200 feet (1,280 m) above sea level.
While it was not identified as the range's highest peak until the late 19th century, it has played a prominent role in Catskill history
History of the Catskill Mountains
- Early geologic history:The Catskills began existence as a river delta 350 million years ago. Streams flowing off the then-mighty Taconic Mountains deposited sediment where the river met a sea - Early geologic history:The Catskills began existence as a river delta 350 million years ago. Streams...
ever since. Renowned naturalist John Burroughs
John Burroughs
John Burroughs was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress,...
wrote memorably of his climbs up Slide, and it helped get the Catskills added to New York's Forest Preserve
Forest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
. Bicknell's thrush
Bicknell's Thrush
The Bicknell's Thrush, Catharus bicknelli, is a medium-sized thrush, at 17.5 cm and 28 g . It was named after Eugene Bicknell, an American amateur ornithologist, who discovered the species on Slide Mountain in the Catskills in the late 19th century.Adults are olive-brown on the upperparts,...
was first identified on its summit.
Geography
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
with neighboring Cornell Mountain
Cornell Mountain
Cornell Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Burroughs Range of the Catskill Mountains.Cornell Mountain is flanked to the northeast by Wittenberg Mountain, to the southwest by Friday Mountain, and to the west by Slide Mountain — the highest peak in...
.
At the western end, a broad slope, part of the Catskill Divide, leads down to the gap between Slide and Hemlock Mountain to the west and Winnisook Lake
Winnisook Lake
Winnisook Lake is an artificial lake located in Oliverea, New York, United States. It is the source of Esopus Creek and the highest lake in the Catskill Mountains at above sea level....
, the source of Esopus Creek
Esopus Creek
Esopus Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River that drains the east-central Catskill Mountains of the U.S. state of New York. From its source at Winnisook Lake on the slopes of Slide Mountain, the Catskills' highest peak, it flows across Ulster County to the Hudson at Saugerties. Many tributaries...
, to the mountain's northwest.
Two more pronounced ridges lead off the mountain, one to the southwest and the col with Wildcat Mountain, the other to the north and Giant Ledge.
Both upper branches of the Neversink River
Neversink River
The Neversink River is a tributary of the Delaware River in southeastern New York in the United States...
begin on the mountain's slopes.
In addition to the Catskills, Slide is also the highest point of:
- Ulster County.
- the Delaware RiverDelaware RiverThe Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
watershedDrainage basinA drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. - all of New York State outside the AdirondacksAdirondack MountainsThe Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
. - a 100-mile (161 km) radiusRadiusIn classical geometry, a radius of a circle or sphere is any line segment from its center to its perimeter. By extension, the radius of a circle or sphere is the length of any such segment, which is half the diameter. If the object does not have an obvious center, the term may refer to its...
of New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. (Slide is located roughly 90 miles (144.8 km) north/northwest of Manhattan.)
It is also the southernmost peak in the Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
exceeding 4000 feet (1,219.2 m). The Appalachians
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
do not rise to that level again until West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
.
Identification as highest Catskill peak
For a mountain with so many superlatives, Slide actually took a long time to be discovered for what it was.The mountain received its name locally from a landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
in 1819 on its north face near the summit. The scar can still be seen today, and in fact was partially gouged out again by another slide in 1982.
Slide would not be established as the highest peak in the range until 1886, long after much of the interior Northeast and their mountain ranges had been surveyed and settled. Due to land disputes and schemes that dated back to the colonial period, no complete, impartial survey of the entire Catskill region had been carried out until then.
Seven years earlier, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Arnold Henry Guyot
Arnold Henry Guyot
Arnold Henry Guyot was a Swiss-American geologist and geographer.-Biography:...
had been staying at the popular Catskill Mountain House
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley, built in 1824. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by three U.S. presidents The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel...
when he became interested in the surrounding mountains, and management's claim that nearby Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak is one of the Catskill Mountains, located in the Town of Hunter in Greene County, New York, USA. It was once believed to be the highest peak in the entire range, but its summit, at 3,655 feet in elevation, places it only 23rd among the Catskill High Peaks. It is, however,...
(3655 ft (1,114 m)) was the highest in all the Catskills despite growing doubt. His survey, carried out on his own time and at his own expense, established that Slide, located some distance to the southwest, was far and away the highest peak in the range. His findings were vehemently disputed by the hotelkeepers around North-South Lake
North-South Lake
North-South Lake is an 1,100-acre state campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve near Palenville, New York operated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation near the site of the historic Catskill Mountain House overlooking the Hudson River...
until others confirmed his results.
There was a movement, once its status had been confirmed, to give Slide a name believed to be more fitting for a highest peak. "Mount Lincoln," after the late U.S. president, was popular for a while. But it ended when Guyot announced that he preferred Slide, as he had followed local custom wherever possible in naming the peaks for his survey.
Hunter Mountain (New York)
Hunter Mountain is in the towns of Hunter and Lexington, just south of the village of Hunter, in Greene County, New York, USA. At approximately 4,040 feet in elevation, it is the highest peak in the county and the second-highest peak in the Catskill Mountains.While the mountain is closely...
, the range's other 4,000-footer and second-highest peak, swinging a level
Spirit level
A spirit level or bubble level is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface ishorizontal or vertical . Different types of spirit levels may be used by carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and in some...
around to ensure he had bought the highest peak until being stopped by Slide. Another story has John Burroughs
John Burroughs
John Burroughs was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress,...
, who later became rich and famous writing about his hikes up Slide and other nearby mountains, proving the case atop the mountain by having his friends aim a rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
with a ball in the barrel at all other contending peaks and observing that the ball fell out every time.
Regardless, tourism soon shifted to the new highest peak, and a local woodsman, Jim Dutcher, who knew the mountain well from his days peeling hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
for tanning
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
, built a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
and did a regular business escorting visitors to the summit up a trail he built in 1880. While it runs over privately owned land and has been abandoned since 1941 save for the final section leading across the summit ridge from the west, it still exists and can be followed.
Forest Preserve
Around the same time, Slide would prove instrumental in creating New York's Forest PreserveForest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
as it exists today.
Some of the other private lands near the mountain had been utterly deprived of any value by tanners who had decided to boost their profits by neglecting to pay their property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es and simply leaving the area. At that time, when the county took possession through foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
, it was among those required by the state to guarantee payment of state property taxes.
Many county voters and landowners felt shafted, leading Ulster to refuse to pay despite a court order. Their representatives in Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
worked out a compromise by which the lands in question were given to the state as part of the newly established Forest Preserve, originally meant to include just the Adirondacks
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
, to satisfy the county's unpaid debts to the state. That was the beginning of what ultimately became the Catskill Park.
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and the commissioners had been appointed by Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
David Hill. Nevertheless, the party got to the summit, where Townsend Cox, head of the commission, declared the view as fine as anything to be found in the Adirondacks.
The next year the state decided to use 200 acres (80 ha) along the West Branch of the Neversink at the west slope of the mountain (south of the current trailhead) to reintroduce white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, which had been seriously thinned in the area over the preceding century. A 10-foot (3 m) wooden fence
Fence
A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...
was built around the whole area to protect them from poaching
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
, and eventually 95 deer were released back into the wild, successfully re-establishing the species.
Ironically
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
, today there are actually very few deer in that area, because the undisturbed forest no longer offers as much of the second- and third-growth species deer prefer to feed on, and predators such as black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
s have become more numerous as well.
The new legislation helped Slide score a significant first in 1892, when the state appropriated $250 to build a trail
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
, paralleling Dutcher's, up the west side of the mountain — the first trail built at public expense in the Forest Preserve. A survey was also authorized to determine whether it was on public land, and even though it was not the trail was built anyway.
While heavily eroded
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
and rocky, it is still in use today as part of the Burroughs Range Trail and remains the most frequently used ascent.
Two years later the Forest Preserve legislation was written into a new version of New York's constitution as Article 14.
John Burroughs
Old Clump Mountain
Old Clump Mountain is a summit in the Catskills in the towns of Stamford and Roxbury in Delaware County, New York.Its latitude and longitude are 42°18'39" North, 074°38'07" West...
near his boyhood home in Delaware County
Delaware County, New York
Delaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of 2010 the population was 47,980. The county seat is Delhi. It is named after the Delaware River, which was named in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, appointed governor of Virginia in 1609.-History:When counties...
, likening it to seeing a horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
grazing from behind.
He tried to climb the mountain several times with friends, and his account of his successful ascent from nearby Woodland Valley, "The Heart of the Southern Catskills," is one of his best works. He wrote of the view from the summit:
- We saw the world as the hawk or the balloonist sees it when he is three thousand feet in the air. How soft and flowing all the outlines of the hills and mountains beneath us looked! The forests dropped down and undulated away over them, covering them like a carpet ...
- All was mountain and forest on every hand. Civilization seemed to have done little more than to have scratched this rough, shaggy surface of the earth here and there. In any such view, the wild, the aboriginal, the geographical greatly predominate. The works of man dwindle, and the original features of the huge globe come out. Every single object or point is dwarfed; the valley of the Hudson is only a wrinkle in the earth's surface. You discover with a feeling of surprise that the great thing is the earth itself, which stretches away on every hand so far beyond your ken.
"Here the works of man dwindle," was put on a plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
near the summit by the Winnisook Club
Winnisook Club
The Winnisook Club is a private club located in Big Indian, New York and has been in operation since 1886. The club is named after Chief Winnisook, a Native American from area folklore. The club is situated on man-made Winnisook Lake with a number of private homes surrounding the lake...
shortly after his death in 1921 and placed on a ledge near the summit that offers the best view from the mountain. It has since been known as Burroughs Ledge.
Eugene Bicknell
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
from Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
named Eugene Bicknell. On one of those days, he caught a small brown thrush
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
near the summit which he was unable to identify as belonging to any known species of that time.
The bird was named Slide Mountain thrush at first, then Bicknell's thrush
Bicknell's Thrush
The Bicknell's Thrush, Catharus bicknelli, is a medium-sized thrush, at 17.5 cm and 28 g . It was named after Eugene Bicknell, an American amateur ornithologist, who discovered the species on Slide Mountain in the Catskills in the late 19th century.Adults are olive-brown on the upperparts,...
when it was found living high up in the boreal forests of other Northeastern mountains. But it was not studied, as prevailing scientific opinion of the time considered it a subspecies of the gray-cheeked thrush
Gray-cheeked Thrush
The Grey-cheeked Thrush, Catharus minimus, is a medium-sized thrush. This species is 15–17 cm in length, and has the white-dark-white underwing pattern characteristic of Catharus thrushes. It is a member of a close-knit group of migrant species together with the Veery and Bicknell's Thrush ;...
. Only in the late 20th century did newer research methods such as DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
comparisons prove that it was, indeed, a separate species, setting off a scramble to save habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
and learn as much as possible about it.
Early 20th century
The trail built in 1892 had been meant to facilitate travel to the lookout towers that existed in some form or another on the mountain's summit. Recreational visitors found views from the summit severely limited without a stand to get above the trees; the state was interested in fire control.Despite the peak's importance in establishing the Forest Preserve in the Catskills, much of the land remained in private hands. While purchases in 1900 did much to change that, it would take until 1928 before the state actually acquired the summit property and much of the land it had already built a trail on.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a small military training plane crashed on the mountain's east slope at about 3,620 feet (1,103 m). While most of the debris is gone, the site can still be reached via a short side path from the Burroughs Range Trail.
Wilderness area
In the mid-1960s, the formal organization of the Catskill Mountain 3500 ClubCatskill Mountain 3500 Club
The Catskill Mountain 3500 Club, incorporated as the Catskill 3500 Club and often just referred to as the 3500 Club, is a peakbagging organization for hikers in the Catskill Mountains of New York...
, the range's first peak bagging
Peak bagging
Peak bagging is an activity in which hillwalkers and mountaineers attempt to reach the summit of some collection of peaks, usually those above some height in a particular region, or having a particular feature.Peak bagging can be distinguished from highpointing...
organization, gave more hikers a reason to climb the mountain as they were required to do so at least twice, once in wintertime and once during the rest of the year, for membership.
Around the same time, the Long Path
Long Path
The Long Path is a long-distance hiking trail beginning at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey and currently ending at Altamont, New York, in the Albany area...
was also routed over the mountain when it was finally established as a marked trail rather than a collection of points of interest. The summit is still the highest point on the entire trail.
A major change in management of the mountain occurred in the mid-1970s, after the state's Conservation Commission had become the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Temporary Commission on the Future of the Catskills had recommended that it establish a master plan for all the Catskill lands. Slide would wind up lending its name to the state-designated Slide Mountain Wilderness Area
Slide Mountain Wilderness Area
The Slide Mountain Wilderness Area is, at 47,500 acres , the largest tract of state-owned Forest Preserve in New York's Catskill Park, and the largest area under any kind of wilderness area protection between the Adirondacks and the southern Appalachians...
, the largest in the Catskills at 47,500 acres (190 km²). New regulations also ended abuse of the summit by campers.
For many years, the first two miles (3 km) or so of the trail climbing Slide crossed the property of the nearby Winnisook Club
Winnisook Club
The Winnisook Club is a private club located in Big Indian, New York and has been in operation since 1886. The club is named after Chief Winnisook, a Native American from area folklore. The club is situated on man-made Winnisook Lake with a number of private homes surrounding the lake...
. There was a metal gate across the Burroughs Range Trail marking the property line, below which nearly every tree had a No Trespassing sign on it. Because of the 1970s hiking boom, parking along the road at Winnisook Lake (there was no parking lot) had become a nightmare. In the late 1970s, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for the conservation, improvement, and protection of natural resources within the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1970, replacing the previous Conservation Department...
solved the problem by buying the land south of the ridgeline from the Winnisook Club
Winnisook Club
The Winnisook Club is a private club located in Big Indian, New York and has been in operation since 1886. The club is named after Chief Winnisook, a Native American from area folklore. The club is situated on man-made Winnisook Lake with a number of private homes surrounding the lake...
, making all but the last stretch of trail to Winnisook Lake public land. Then, in its first-ever Unit Management Plan for the wilderness area, they built a new parking lot
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
further south down Ulster County Road 47 and relocated the trail onto the new public land, ending at the new parking lot. This was the trailhead for a new section of the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail, which connected to the carriage road commonly used very near the base of the Burroughs Range Trail.
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
from Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
drowned
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
when he fell in and was caught under some nearby tree branches when returning after a weekend backpacking
Backpacking (wilderness)
Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...
trip. He is memorialized with a small plaque on a bench at the beginning of the trail.
Forest
Slide's slopes are covered with a typical Catskills ridge hardwoodHardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
forest of various maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
species, yellow birch
Yellow Birch
Betula alleghaniensis , is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario, and the southeast corner of Manitoba in Canada, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.It is a...
and beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
at lower elevations and a boreal forest composed predominantly of balsam fir
Balsam Fir
The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...
at higher elevations. Paper birch
Paper Birch
Betula papyrifera is a species of birch native to northern North America.-Description:...
can be found where the two forests begin to change over.
Catskill forest researcher Michael Kudish
Michael Kudish
Michael Kudish is an author, railroad historian, forester, and retired professor. He received his Ph.D. in 1971 from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse. His dissertation, on the history of Catskill forests, was the beginning of a lifelong...
has found an anomalous grove of sugar maple
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...
at roughly 3,900 feet (1,189 m) in elevation just off the trail near the western end of the mountain's summit ridge.
He has also noted that, in contrast to the boreal forests on other Catskill High Peaks
Catskill High Peaks
The Catskill High Peaks are all of the mountains in New York's Catskill Mountains above 3,500 ft in elevation whose summits are separated either by one-half mile or a vertical drop of at least 250 ft between it and the next nearest separate summit...
, Slide's has no red spruce
Red Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
. He does not believe there ever has been any. There are some groves and isolated individual trees on lower elevations on the mountain.
Geology
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
pebbles found on the trail along the summit ridge, which lend it something of a garden-path feel.
These are found nowhere else in the Catskills, and since it is likely that they would not have survived the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
, it has been speculated that Slide's summit may have been a nunatak
Nunatak
A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present...
during that time, protruding above the ice which buried all the other peaks. However, one researcher reportedly found striation
Glacial striations
Glacial striations or glacial grooves are scratches or gouges cut into bedrock by process of glacial abrasion. Glacial striations usually occur as multiple straight, parallel grooves representing the movement of the sediment-loaded base of the glacier...
marks on rocks along the summit ridge, suggesting that glaciers did indeed cover the summit. Those marks have eroded over time, however, becoming more difficult to confirm, and the consensus now is that they may have been left instead by glaciers during the Illinoian Stage
Illinoian Stage
The Illinoian Stage is the name used by Quaternary geologists in North America to designate the period of geologic time of ~300,000—130,000 years ago, a period of ~ during the middle Pleistocene when sediments comprising the Illinoian Glacial Lobe were deposited. It precedes the Sangamonian stage...
prior to the Wisconsin Stage.
The quartz pebbles have also suggested that the Catskills might once have had coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
beds, as in mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s in nearby areas of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
they signify there is no more coal below.
Approaches
Trailed and trailless routes exist to the summit. To protect the higher-elevation forests, DEC regulations prohibit campingCamping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
above 3,500 feet (1,067 m) anywhere on Forest Preserve land in the Catskills except between December 21 and March 21. Open fires are banned in those areas all year round.
Trails
Three trails combine to create three possible approaches to the mountain, although only one crosses the summit.Burroughs Range Trail from the west
The most popular route up Slide has always been from the pass between it and the mountains to the west, where the high elevation at the trailhead has greatly reduced the vertical ascent required. The move from Winnisook LakeWinnisook Lake
Winnisook Lake is an artificial lake located in Oliverea, New York, United States. It is the source of Esopus Creek and the highest lake in the Catskill Mountains at above sea level....
to the new state trailhead has added to the climb slightly, but it is still less than that required to climb some of the lower Catskill High Peaks.
After crossing the upper west branch of the Neversink at the trailhead, 2,400 feet (731.5 m) in elevation, the yellow-blazed
Trail blazing
Trail blazing, or trailblazing, is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with blazes, markings that follow each other at certain — though not necessarily exactly defined — distances and mark the direction of the trail...
P-EB trail works its way gently up slope and over some lesser streams 0.7 mile (1 km) to the old carriage road it originally followed through the Winnisook Club property. It follows this south past a reliable spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
0.3 mile (500 m) to the western terminus of the red-blazed Burroughs Range Trail, the old horse trail built in 1892.
This works its way steadily up Slide's southwest ridge for about a mile to the summit ridge, where boreal forest takes over and it abruptly turns to the north, then west again to follow the north side of the summit ridge. Shortly after this latter turn, the old Dutcher Trail, marked by very faded orange blazes, comes in from the north. The remainder of this section, where the treadway lies heavy with the white quartz pebbles, is the trail Dutcher built and used in his day.
Total distance via this route is 2.75 miles (4.4 km), with a vertical ascent of 1,700 feet (518 m).
Curtis-Ormsbee Trail
Reached from the same starting point, the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail adds more distance to the overall trip but is a favorite with serious hikers since it offers an additional viewpoint and passes through more scenic stretches of forest. It is the route the Long Path takes up the peak.Presidential Range
The Presidential Range is a mountain range located in the White Mountains of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Containing the highest peaks of the Whites, its most notable summits are named for American Presidents, followed by prominent public figures of the 18th and 19th centuries.Mt...
of New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
's White Mountains
White Mountains (New Hampshire)
The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...
on June 30, 1900. They had laid the trail out, and a small monument to them is located at the trail's southern end, where it leaves the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail 0.8 mile (1.2 km) south of the Burroughs Range Trail junction, in the col
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
between Slide and neighboring Wildcat Mountain.
The blue-blazed trail, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long follows another ridge up to the junction with the Burroughs Range Trail on the summit ridge. Just above the signs indicating the camping and fire restrictions that NYSDEC has put in place for areas above 3,500 feet (1,067 m) in the Catskills to protect the montane forests, there are two viewpoints just off the trail. One takes in Table
Table Mountain (New York)
Table Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Catskill Mountains.Table Mountain is flanked to the south by Peekamoose Mountain, and to the northeast by Lone Mountain....
and Lone
Lone Mountain (New York)
Lone Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Catskill Mountains.Lone Mountain is flanked to the southwest by Table Mountain, and to the east by Rocky Mountain....
mountains; the other offers the only good glimpse of the lowest High Peak, remote and challenging Rocky Mountain. It continues to the summit through long and fragrant stretches of balsam fir and soil muddy enough to require puncheon
Plank road
A plank road or puncheon is a dirt path or road covered with a series of planks, similar to the wooden sidewalks one would see in a Western movie. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century...
bridges in some areas.
It is 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the summit via this route. Many hikers make a loop of the trip if time permits, ascending via the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail and returning down the Burroughs Range Trail, a total trip of 6.85 miles (11 km).
The beginning of the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail can also be reached by using the Long Path approach and coming from the southern end of the Phoencia-East Branch Trail, 2.95 miles (4.7 km) away in the town of Denning
Denning, New York
Denning is a town in Ulster County, New York, USA. The population was 516 at the 2000 census. The name come from an early landowner, William Denning.The Town of Denning is located in the western part of the county...
. Vertical rise to the summit via this route is almost 2,000 feet (609 m), and the total distance to the summit is 6.25 miles (10.1 km).
Burroughs Range Trail from the east
The most challenging route to the summit of Slide begins at the Burroughs Range Trail’s eastern terminus, Woodland Valley State Campground south of PhoeniciaPhoenicia, New York
Phoenicia is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 381 at the 2000 census.Phoenicia is located in the northeast part of Town of Shandaken, on Route 28. It is the largest community in the town...
. It takes in the whole range, going over Wittenberg
Wittenberg Mountain
Wittenberg Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Burroughs Range of the Catskill Mountains.Wittenberg is flanked to the southwest by Cornell Mountain....
and Cornell
Cornell Mountain
Cornell Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Burroughs Range of the Catskill Mountains.Cornell Mountain is flanked to the northeast by Wittenberg Mountain, to the southwest by Friday Mountain, and to the west by Slide Mountain — the highest peak in...
mountains for a 7-mile (11.2-km), 2,700-foot (823 m) ascent. Wittenberg and Cornell are both challenging climbs in and of themselves, and the climax is the steep 900-foot (274 m) east slope of Slide.
It is not surprising that this is often done as an overnight backpacking
Backpacking (wilderness)
Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...
trip, since the long col between Slide and Cornell features a spruce grove that is an excellent place to camp
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
, and the state has accordingly designated several sites in that area. Some hikers, though, have been able to get to the summit of Slide and back to Woodland Valley in a single lengthy day, often by descending to the western trailhead and following the Phoenicia-East Branch trail back down, a grand loop of 13.95 miles (22.5 km).
Bushwhacks
Two approaches that are at least partially trailless have been used by those seeking greater challenges.The north ridge
The ridgeRidge
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
leading down from the summit to the col with Giant Ledge to the north is an obvious route. DEC had, at one point, planned a trail up it but the idea was dropped when hikers and hunters objected and the route was judged too environmentally fragile to support a trail.
It can be used by starting from the Giant Ledge trailhead at a hairpin turn on County Road 42, about 2,200 feet (670.5 m) in elevation. It is 0.65 mile (1 km) to the junction with the blue-blazed Fox Hollow Trail, which leads north to Giant Ledge and Panther Mountain
Panther Mountain (New York)
Panther Mountain is one of the Catskill High Peaks, located in the Town of Shandaken in Ulster County, New York. At approximately 3,720 feet in elevation, it is the 18th highest in the range...
. By striking out due south from this junction one will soon begin to climb the north ridge, reaching first a 3,620-foot (1,103.3 m) summit (on the private property of the Winnisook Club), then turning to the southeast through thickening boreal forest to the 3,800-foot (1,158 m) summit. From there the narrow, thickly forested ridge is followed steeply up to the summit ridge and the Burroughs Range Trail, about 0.25 mile (400 m) from the summit.
East Branch of the Neversink
A long route that very ambitious hikers have used, especially on multi-day trips with attempts on the range of trailless peaks to Slide's southeast, follows the east branch of the Neversink up to the ridge connecting Slide and Cornell.Starting from the Denning trailhead, the P-EB Trail is followed 1.1 mile (1.8 km) to its junction with the blue-blazed Peekamoose-Table Trail, which drops down to the east 0.35 mile (560 m) into the river valley near the flood plain at the Deer Shanty Brook confluence and its many channels, some of them difficult to cross at high water. After one of the last, alert eyes can find the beginning of the "Fisherman's Path," an unofficial trail following the East Branch far upstream into the wildest country in the Catskills.
It takes some skill to follow this trail, as red paint blazes that sometimes appear are often painted out by DEC forest rangers (there are, however, some official campsite
Campsite
A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in the outdoors. In British English a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents or camper vans or caravans; this British English use of the word is synonymous with the...
s along its length) and while it is sometimes wide and obvious it is not always, and switches sides of the river several times.
Further upstream, as it passes the usual points of departure for Lone
Lone Mountain (New York)
Lone Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Catskill Mountains.Lone Mountain is flanked to the southwest by Table Mountain, and to the east by Rocky Mountain....
, Rocky, Balsam Cap and Friday
Friday Mountain
Friday Mountain is a mountain located in Ulster County, New York.The mountain is part of the Catskill Mountains.Friday Mountain is flanked to the north by Cornell Mountain, and to the south by Balsam Cap....
mountains, the path gets increasingly disused and harder to follow. The challenge in hiking Slide this way is not so much the mountain itself as the routefinding when it begins to climb to the col.
Deer Shanty Brook
The most challenging trailless route is the seldom-attempted approach up this tributary of the East Branch. It begins identically to that route but involves leaving the trail at that crossing and eventually following the brook to the slopes of Slide to the southeast. There is no trail whatsoever through this country and the boreal forest on this part of the mountain itself is reportedly difficult to penetrate, even by the standards of other peaks in the vicinity.Summit
Just to the west, however, is the much wider clearing of Burroughs Ledge with a sweeping view to the east in which Ashokan Reservoir
Ashokan Reservoir
The Ashokan Reservoir is a reservoir in Ulster County, New York, USA. The reservoir is in the eastern end of the Catskill Park, and is one of several reservoirs created to provide the City of New York with water. However, it is one of only two reservoirs in the Catskill Watershed. It is also New...
is prominent, the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
The Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge is a continuous under-deck truss bridge that carries NY 199 across the Hudson River in New York State north of the City of Kingston and the hamlet of Rhinecliff. It was opened to traffic on February 2, 1957 as a two-lane bridge, although it was not actually...
can be glimpsed. The neighboring high peaks to the east seem like small hills and the Devil's Path
Devil's Path (Catskills)
The Devil's Path is the name of a mountain range and hiking trail in the Greene County portion of New York's Catskill Mountains. The mountains commonly considered to be part of the Devil's Path are, from west to east, West Kill, Hunter, Plateau, Sugarloaf, Twin, and Indian Head.The name comes from...
and Blackhead Range
Blackhead Range
The Blackhead Mountains range is located near the northern end of the Catskill Mountains, in Greene County, New York, where it divides the towns of Windham and Jewett...
in Greene County
Greene County, New York
Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Its name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. Its county seat is Catskill...
are visible to the north. In fact, it is possible to see, from various points along the summit ridge, all but one of the other 34 Catskill High Peaks (Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole Mountain
Thomas Cole Mountain is a mountain located in Greene County, New York.The mountain named for Thomas Cole , an artist who lived in the area, and is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School....
may or may not be hidden by Hunter).
At one time the view was even more expansive, but since camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
on the summit is now banned except during winter and in emergencies, the balsam fir has grown back in around the edges of the clearing, giving the area a more natural look. Close inspection, in fact, can find remnants of the two lean-to
Lean-to
A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof....
s that once stood here before 1975 when camping was permitted. There is also a spring 0.25 mile (400 m) down the trail to the east.
On June 15, 1985, the summit received its most visitors ever at a single time when at least a hundred hikers, nature lovers and DEC officials gathered there to commemorate the centennial of the Forest Preserve. Similar traffic was recorded in 2004 when the Catskill Park itself reached a similar milestone.
Towers
The lack of an unobstructed 360-degree view from Slide has led, over the years, to several observation towerObservation tower
An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision. They are usually at least tall and made from stone, iron, and wood. Many modern towers are also used as TV towers, restaurants, or churches...
s being built at the summit.
The state wanted to take advantage of the mountain's height for fire control purposes, and in 1911 built a more permanent fire lookout
Fire lookout
A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.Once a possible fire...
and observer's cabin on the summit. But it would only be occupied and used for the next year, then abandoned again.
Steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
for a more permanent tower was brought up to the summit in the early 1930s, but the tower itself was not built until wartime. It would be dismantled around 1965, and no replacement has been erected.
In the late 1990s, when DEC updated the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area's Unit Management Plan, it considered rebuilding an observation tower at the summit to provide the long-absent views. However, despite the historical precedent, wilderness area values governing DEC policy that were in place at the time led to the idea being rejected during the planning process.
See also
- Mountain peaks of North AmericaMountain peaks of North AmericaThis article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaks of greater North America.This article defines greater North America as the portion of the continental landmass of the Americas extending northward from Panama plus the islands surrounding that landmass...
- Mountain peaks of the United StatesMountain peaks of the United StatesThis article comprises three sortable tables of the major mountain peaks of the United States of America.Topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference geoid, a precise mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface...
External links
- Slide Mountain Wilderness
- "The Heart of the Southern Catskills", Burroughs' account of his climb up Slide.
- Slide Mountain at summitpost.org
- Slide Mountain at peakbagger.com
- "Slide Mountain Hiking Information" Catskill 3500 Club
- NY-NJTC: Slide Mountain Wilderness Trail Details and Info
- Slide Mountain Fire Observation Station at the Fire Towers of New York Site