“You don’t have spikes?” The middle-aged man had planted himself in the center of the trail, hands clenched around his hiking poles at stomach level like he was really excited to be asking Morgan this. “Nah…” Morgan was not wearing spikes, the hiking boot attachment that gives one traction in the snow, and in fact…
Temperatures are expected to rise in the Hudson Valley and Catskills more drastically than most of the U.S. due to climate change, with the region seeing temperatures four-to-five degrees higher by 2050 when compared to the late 20th century. These predictions come from the Fourth National Climate Assessment, a voluminous report produced by the National…
The trailhead to Poet’s Ledge is easier to find than you might think — just follow the highest concentration of barriers unfriendly residents have erected to make it hard to find. My friend Megan (of Nerding Out at the New York Ren Faire fame) and I drove up Route 23A in Greene County to Palenville…
The comment period for a set of proposals seeking to erect storm surge defenses in New York City Harbor that environmental groups have warned could have catastrophic effects on the Hudson River has been extended by 30 days. The extension comes after a slew of Hudson Valley politicians submitted letters requesting the period be extended…
Prattsville, a small town straddling the Schoharie Creek in northwestern Greene County, is home to Pratt’s Rock, a site once called “New York’s Mount Rushmore” by Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It was here the town’s founder and namesake, Zadock Pratt, employed a series of itinerant stonemasons to carve his life story in a cliff…
Six proposals are on the table to protect New York City and its surroundings from catastrophic flooding, including two plans to separate the city’s harbor — and therefore the Hudson River — from the Atlantic Ocean with a combination of seawalls and gated storm surge barriers. Hudson River environmental groups have attacked these two plans,…
Scaling Blackhead Mountain and Black Dome Mountain not only allowed me to cross the third and fourth highest peaks in the Catskills off my list, it marked one of the few hikes in recent memory where I did not get lost. I set off early one weekday morning with my friend Ellen, who is making…
This would be my second attempt at Kaaterskill High Peak and the abandoned Cortina Valley Ski Area. The first had to be aborted due to the high degree of danger found in bushwhacking up a mountain with a foot-and-a-half of snow cover. The first hike was attempted solo on Feb. 14, (which is kinda sad,…
The North-South Lake area in the eastern Catskills is packed with gawkers in the summer months. The road leading to Kaaterskill Falls, the jewel of the area (and by ‘jewel,’ I mean ‘most easily accessible’) is crammed with pedestrians giving motorists heart attacks as they wander along the twisting mountain lane from their cars to…
A clump of dried weed crushed under my foot as I stepped onto the split pavement of the Catskill Game Farm’s deserted parking lot. As soon as the door clicked closed, I heard a series of conversational meows, and a cat the size of a baby panther trotted towards me from the thicket he had…
The Other Hudson Valley 