I’ve always liked to be outdoors. When I was young my parents always had a hard time keeping us kids inside. I suspect that’s something hard for young folks to imagine these days. We would do things like play “baseball” with the neighborhood kids. I threw quotes around that term, because if we didn’t have a real baseball, we used a tennis ball or whatever we had. And if we didn’t have a bat, we would chop down a maple sapling (smooth bark) and use that. It didn’t matter because we were having fun.

I’ve also always enjoyed hiking. My father worked as a land surveyor, and I would often accompany him in the woods and help him by holding the rod or chopping a line through the woods (optical transits back in those days). I always enjoyed putting a triple blaze mark in trees on the corners.

When I was in school at RPI up in Troy, NY, I used to hike the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. I’ve been up Marcy twice and Algonquin once. I’ve been up Dix and up Giant (from the bottom) four times. I’ve hiked several others as well. But the Adirondack Mountains aren’t the subject for today.

Folks in Sullivan County are lucky to live in the Catskill Mountains. There are hiking trails all over the place. Sometimes we take such treasures for granted. We shouldn’t.

There are two peaks in the Catskills that are higher than 4,000 feet above sea level. The tallest is Slide Mountain at 4,180 and a close second is Hunter Mountain at 4,040. I’ve been up Slide a dozen or more times. The view is awesome. It’s a difficult hike and not one I would recommend for beginners.

Hunter Mountain is really nice. There is a fire tower that you can climb at the top. It’s a great place for new hikers to start out. It’s also great for folks with mobility issues because you can ride up the ski lift and see the views.

Trails vary in difficulty. I would suggest getting a guidebook or using the power of the ancient art of Google Fu to learn about which trails are best for you. One of the hardest trails I’ve ever hiked in the Catskills is the Lost Clove. It’s a beautiful abandoned logging road up the back side of Belleayre Mountain. Wow is it steep and long. So be careful, sometimes they look easier than they are.

Always check the weather before heading out. Back when I was young, I hiked up Table Mountain off of Peakamoose Trail. It was back in the days before we had Doppler radar and up-to-date forecasting like we have today. A ferocious storm pinned me down between rocks on the top and lightning blew up a stunted pine tree less than 50 feet from me. I couldn’t hear anything for a while from that explosive crack of thunder.

I made it down safely to the trailhead. When I opened the box to sign out, there was a note in the book to the Forest Rangers. Another hiker that I had passed (he was coming down as I was going up) had left the note saying he was worried that I was caught in a terrible storm on the mountain. I added my own note letting the Rangers know I was okay.

That brings me to one of my little pet peeves. Please sign in and out whenever you use a trail. The life you save may be your own.

I encourage everyone to get out and stretch your legs (maybe work off a few calories from yesterday’s Thanksgiving feast). Take a hike and enjoy the Catskill Mountains. You’ll be glad you did.

Let’s all enjoy the outdoors!