3 day/2night suggestion in the Skils

[Streetman]

Hello all - New member, first post, and first overnight winter trip - think they call that newbie status all around

Was planning on doing an overnight, and possibly 2 nights in the Catskills next weekend and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a nice loop, possibly around the Slide Mt or Big Indian Areas? Any tips on good camping spots, etc would also be much appreciated - in fact, any good tips would be generally appreciated

Thanks!
Street

[Mike P.]

Welcome,.

Is this also the first winter hike? What do you have for boots & sleeping bag? I'd want at least a zero degree bag for the Catskills. Boots for camping, something in a double boot would be preferable.

Slide area would be a good choice, Wittenberg, Cornell, Slide with a loop back to Woodland Valley would be a natural. A couple of spots though are very steep borderline technical in winter. Could be tough with a full pack, I'd at least bring rope in case it made more sense to pull your pack up afterwards.

The part of Devil's Path with Hunter & Westkill would be okay. Also a loop from in the Big Hollow Road area (I don't know why I wanted to call this Barnum but the road through Maplecrest that gives you the shortest access to up Blackhead) including part of the Escarpment Trail & over Blackhead, Arca Point can eb done with slight side trips to Black Dome & Windham High Peak.

Unless this storm brings a big dumping of snow, crampons seem to be the footwear of choice going down the Escarpment from Blackhead is pretty steep.

You have maps right?

[Streetman]

Mike,

Thanks for the info, it's much appreciated! Yes, this is our first overnight winter hike. We have zero degree bags and also have liners just in case. As far as boots go I have some heavily insulated gortex salomon boots with some shells for cold downtime and have some MSR snowshoes and crampons for the ice. All in all, I think I might be OK gear-wise, but am well prepared to come back and need to re-tweak everything

As far as maps go, yes I have topos of all the areas and will have a handheld GPS as backup just in case. My main goal was to get some ideas on some good routes for the length of time I was looking at for, and some good spots to try to target for camping. Thanks again for the good tips, looking forward to hearing from the other members!

Street

[Mike P.]

My first preference would be the area around the Blackhead's, Windham & Acra Point along the Escarpement.