Here is a sick Catskills peak trip!

“Part of my goal for the new year is to bag as many peaks in the Catskills as I can this year.
Here is a proposed trip for early spring. Pennsy maybe you could map this for me with your new toy.
Day 1
Leave on a Friday morning from Slide Mtn rd. (map43) and hike up to the Table Mountain leanto on the Pheoncia-east branch trail and the peekamoose-table trail. Stay at the leanto Friday night.
Day 2
Hike up to the summit of Table(3847') drop packs and summit Peekamoose(3843'). Then backtrack to Table mtn, pickup packs. From Table bushwack over to Lone mtn(3727'), then bushwack to Rocky mtn(3508'), then bushwack to Balsam cap(3623') finally bushwacking over to Friday(3694'). From Friday we can drop down to the Neversink river and find a primative campsite.
Day 3
Hike out the nameless trail on the Neversink and then back down the PT to the PE trail and back to the cars.

This hike is going to be a #&%!$ and it might not be do-able but there are several ways that we could cut it shorter. Packing light and fast is imperitive for this trip! I would sugest sharing as much gear as possible to cut as much weight as we can. We could organize this at the trailhead incase someone bails.”

“If you have the book "Catskills Trails, a Rangers guide to the High Peaks, Central Catskills" Read pages 88 - 98 it gives a great trip report of the bushwacking part of this hike. Sort of scary! But Damn it sounds like fun!”

“Here is a quote, " The trees close in thicker than ever. Each tree must be pushed aside. Direct movement is impossible. Limbs of flesh entangle and snag on the wooden appendages. It is fortunate that wood breaks more easily than bone. The forest is oppresive, coating everthing in evergreen. Huge downed trees block the route at random intervals. Some provide a balance beam of transportation, others are dead ends. Hope shatters and strength wanes with each passing step. Only the nearby steep drop leading to the reservoirs's western shore provides orientation."

"Balsam Cap's summit is an open windblown, and uninviting place." Sounds fun uh?”

“Here is a nicer quote about the ridge between Table and Lone. "The ridge is a peaceful place where an open sky spreads above this celestial platform. The virgin forest's sturdy, ancient trunks look as is they buttress the heavens. The ridge top scene resembles a palace ballroom complete with a high ceiling and regal atmosphere.”

“Yo Lt why are you parking at Slide Mt. Road? If you are going over to table top Mt.lean-to and plan on camping down at the bottom of the Neversink anyway why don't you park at the Neversink trail head?
I almost always start from the Neversink. I just love camping in the delta where the Neversink comes out of the mountains.”

“Yeah, I guess we could park there. I don't know why I picked the slid parking lot. I think I was originally thinking about heading out over Slide mtn. Are there some good spots along the head of the Neversink? I think we would be pretty beat up after all of the bushwacking and might just want to camp as soon as we find water.”

“when are you thinking about doing this trip?”

“Not sure yet. Probably early spring, maybe March or April. Definately sometime before Blackfly season.”

“there are some great spots in that area. If you plan on doing slide you could go up from there and over the other side, drop to the east in the col between it and cornell and that will take you to a bushwack to Friday, from there you could do your peaks the other way if you wanted and then drop back down into the neversink area.”

“Yeah I heard that the bushwack from cornell to friday was a real pain. Not like the rest of this is any easier. I sort of like the idea of primative camping some where near the neversink.”

“well regardless, camping down in th3 neversink wash basin is right there for table top mountain and peakamoose. It is a leasurely walk in but there is one crossing of the Neversink that is a little tricky. It is a log that is a bit challenging when it is wet or icy. You would have had to cross it anyway coming over from slide.”

“Pete would you be interested in this trip? I am hoping to keep the group small. If it gets to big it could really get hard to keep together.”

“I don't recall you putting a date on it.!?

I want to go up there but I am hoping to do it later in Feb so there is more snow and less ice

also some of the bushwacks will have fresh snow tracks in them. Makes life a little easier.”

“How about March? I've already got FYAO scheduled for Feb. and I can only do one trip a month.”

“Ahh...the evil Catskills bushwhack featuring all those trailless peaks between Peekamoose/Table and Slide. Pennsy should be able to tell you all about this.

Good luck with that. I might join up if I feel daring enough at time (like that's never happened before...)”

“Lol PhantomSoul have you read the guide book on this one?

I know Pennsy doesn't have Friday so it might be tempting to him.”

“Yeah, you are sick. heh heh.
Dang, I posted a mini trip report on a thread somewhere but I can't find it. I'll briefly recap as best as I can.

I parked at the Denning parking area. It's only a 1.5 mile hike to the Neversink. The log crossing is hairy, but I hear it's crossible upstream unless there's high water. There are some real nice campsites in that area, and I set-up camp there.

I took the herd (or fisherman's) path along the Neversink to hit Friday first. I had some general information about a decent spot to leave the path and head up to Friday. I never found it and just used my compass to get up there. From Friday, I compassed to Balsam Cap, then Rocky Mt, then Lone Mt. I had some notes about how to avoid the thickest balsam on this route, but I ended up using direct compass readings. Lt - I gotta tell ya, the report you pasted was not exaggerated. The balsam was insane to bushwhack through.

When I finally got to Lone Mt, I hoped to get over to Table Mt, and take the trail down. There is supposed to be an easy route, but I couldn't find it. I spent 30 minutes on Lone looking for it and had to make a decision. Daylight was getting short, and bushwhacking to Table was the longest way back to camp. Instead, I used my compass and took a direct route down to the Donovan Creek, which empties into the Neversink. I did that and followed the Neversink back to camp, the last 20 minutes in the dark.

My overall thoughts:
Even though I thought the climbs were pretty easy, it was one of the hardest hikes I've ever done. I am glad I did it, because I was very pleased with my compass navigation, and never felt lost.

HOWEVER, I will not do this trip again unless someone else with local knowledge comes along.”

“I took a look at this over the Christmas - New Year week.

After getting info about road clearing from Catskhiker drove into the Peekamoose parking lot on 42.

The hike up peekamoose goes up fairly steep from the road, then sort of eases. There has been a huge blow down in the area but the trails have all been cleared so the blow down may have been a year or more ago.

Set up camp while still on the easy slope. There is a bug gully/ravine to the right of the path (40-50 yrds away) and I camped when it looked like we were getting near the top of the gulley and near the end of the easy slope. Unfortunately no water in the gulley and very little snow on the ground.

Cold with lots of wind during the night. The cold front must have been blown past as woke about 1-2am and it was much warmer.

Morning- hiked up Peekamoose, 2 really good viewing spots before the summit. Very icy underfoot at the top so I put on snowshoes to avoid slipping. Slight drop and a flat section before a short steep rise to Table.

Spent some time looking for any sort of herd path toward Lone, .. nothing. Brush too thick to try and get through with snowshoes on the pack. Looked from the top of table all the way back to when it started rising again for Peekamoose.

Doing a bush bash with the pack was really a no-fun prospect. Thought of a base camp and day hike but no water and thin snow on top.

Did not feel like going all the way down to the neversink just for water (getting low + v/thin snow) so bailed.
back to the car just on dark with just 2 of the planned 6 peaks.”

“Spent some time looking for any sort of herd path toward Lone, .. nothing

Now I don't feel so bad about being on Lone looking for the way to Table. Imagine if we did this on the same day. We'd be yelling across to each other "How the &^%$ do I get over there?!?!"

I remembering you talking about doing this trip and wondered how you made out. I believe some local knowledge would be key in getting through those 4 peaks unscathed. I read a trip report on VFTT where a local lead a small group through the area. They said it made an incredible difference.”

“So your coming Pennsy Right? Since you've been up there you have local knowledge.”