Oh, I did not mistake them as the Berkshires, but I just never gave much thought of the Cats and truly underestimated there size. Your pictures want me to make a road trip out to NY. I take it that the eastern escarpment sound like the best area to hike! I would be curious to see that spot where you can experience +3,000' of elevation change! On a side note I am hoping to do some backpacking and highpointing in the Dacks next summer. Love the pictures Bob, I will post some of mine as soon as I learn how to reduce them. I shoot with a DSLR and they are very big files. Perhaps I should just get an IPhone.
On Oct 27, 9:00 am, [email protected] wrote: > Marc, > > The Catskills are relatively close to the Mass border. From Northampton, MA, > it is about 105 miles to their eastern base. I haven't checked the distance > from the border, but it isn't far. Monica and I usually travel I90 over to > the New York Taconic Parkway and head south to SR 23. We then head west to > the town of Catskill where we pick up 23A. That takes us to Hunter NY and our > Catskill Mecca. > > Yes, the Catskills are part of the Appalachians as opposed to the uplift that > created the Dacks. The Catskills are technically part of the Allegheny > Plateau. Their relief is from water erosion, but as Ed Frank points out, they > are mountains. > > The Taconics along the NY-MA border are the 2,500-ft mountains you were > thinking of, except at their northern extreme in Vermont where the Taconics > reach to 3,864 feet in Mount Equinox. Also, Mt Greylock, at 3,487 ft (old > elevation is listed as 3,491) in MA is part of the Taconics, although most > people think it is in the Berkshires. > > The big peaks of the Catskills are all on the eastern side. One of the best > peaks is Black Dome at the northern end of the Catskills. It is 3,990 feet > and the 3rd highest Catskill peak behind Slide (4180) and Hunter (4040). > Black Dome sees little foot traffic. Farther south in the Burroughs part of > the Catskills, Slide (4,180), Wittenberg (3,780), and Cornell (3,860) make a > classic steep hike. > > On the DEC trails, there is usually a sign that tells you when you reach > 3,500 feet altitude. There is no campsites or camping above 3,500 feet. The > upper elevations are fragile and usually wet. The annual precipitation on > several of the Catskill high peaks averages between 60 and 70 inches > annually. That means plenty of snow and ice. I think snowfalls on the summits > averages between 120 and maybe 180 inches. > > Several hikes in the Catskills requires an elevation gain of over 2,000 feet > and a few hikes are over 2,500 feet. The eastern escarpment, as it is called, > rises boldly above the Hudson River Valley. In places the escarpment rises a > full 3,000 feet and even up to 3,300 in a few spots above the valley region. > The relief is dramatic. I absolutely love the Catskills. I just have to > always be careful on my visits not to awaken Rip Van Winkle. He continues his > classic snooze. > > OUCH! Okay, Marc, sense you twisted my arm - one more image of the Catskills. > You see Slide Mtn in the distance, a little left of center. Fabulous view. > > Bob > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Marcboston" <[email protected]> > To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8:12:31 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: More Mountain Magic > > Bob, how far are the Kats from the Massachusetts border? I had no > idea that they had some 4k mountain, I thought they only hovered > around 2,500'. Are the Kats part of the Appalachian chain or did they > give rise with the Adirondacks? I here the "Dacks" are seperate of > the Appalachians in how they were formed etc. > > On Oct 26, 4:35 pm, [email protected] wrote: > > Larry, > > > Thanks, much. If you make it up this way, I'll show you these great spots. > > > Bob > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Larry" <[email protected]> > > To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> > > Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 1:43:48 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: More Mountain Magic > > > Bob, Nice photos! The Autumn hangs on photo is my favorite. You know > > we don't get much fall foilage down our way. I really enjoy your > > photos and the Awesome reports. Larry- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - > > > > BurroughsRange2.jpg > 393KViewDownload- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
