I get when people ask “what’s your favorite secret hike” or whatever you don’t want to post a reply to out of towners, but lately people are hating on “what’s a nice town or restaurant” like they want no tourists.
I mean, the towns with not visitors are dying. Is that what locals want? Their hamlet to rot into the ground bc they don’t want tourists?
Can anyone explain this?
It’s a large region! If you have a question about vacationing here, please be specific!
interested in hearing from people who own businesses or work in Greene or Ulster County.
What do you think is the biggest workforce challenge facing the Catskills right now…. housing (this might be it) transportation, training, finding reliable/qualified people, wages?
I’m especially curious how we build great hospitality here without trying to recreate Manhattan in the mountains.
Spreading the word about Walton Pond, a new family-friendly outdoor spot hidden in the middle of Walton. There is a beautiful pond for fishing, a scenic walking trail, natural outdoor play area, and a small shop, stocked with local dairy and meat products. It’s pretty great! There is no charge to go, but they do sell snacks and have fishing poles for rent. It’s a really nice place to spend the day outside.
The address is 48 West Street. If you’re familiar with Walton, the entrance is right behind Ren Rest.
(Reposted with images this time.)
UPDATE: His owner contacted me and knows where he is located!
Lost dog found in woods near west saugerties. Looking to reconnect with the dogs family. If no response within the next 24-48hrs will bring to the animal shelter to see if he is chipped. Please reach out if the dog looks familiar.
It's been an interesting ride on the coffee train from opening a coffee house in Joshua Tree, CA with 3 of my friends who never showed up with their quarter each of the funds to get open... so I did it by myself, to meeting many of my heroes over the ten years I ran the place, to selling it and becoming a full time writer.
One of the first pieces I wrote was about Sbux's effect on indie coffee houses--it's a fun read, esp for coffee people.
And now I just have good coffee gear at home and mess around with latte art, and back to writing again!
I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole on the Catskills recently. I'm not from the US, but the area looks incredible—especially the mix of hiking, lakes, and fall foliage, with skiing close enough to make it attractive in winter too.
I'm relocating to Canada for work, so I'll be relatively nearby for a few years, and I'm considering buying a small cottage (roughly 2 bed / 2 bath) as a second home that I'd also rent out on Airbnb when I'm not using it. Budget is around $150k–450k, and I'd be happy with either a fixer-upper or something already renovated.
For those who know the area well:
I've done some initial research, but I'd much rather hear from people who actually know the region before I start building financial models around occupancy, nightly rates, maintenance costs, etc.
I'd appreciate constructive advice and local knowledge. I'm aware that short-term rentals are a contentious topic in some communities, but I'd like to keep this discussion focused on locations and what makes them good (or bad) choices.
Thanks!
Looking to actually learn how to fly fish. Any recommendations for guides in the area? Thanks.
We’re staying in an AirBnB north of Windham. Power went out around 9:40. Now there is major flashing in the sky. Anyone know what’s going on?
My husband and I are planning on a 3 day, 2 night stay the first week of August (mid week, not the weekend) and we’re thinking of staying at “The Leeway”.
What recommendations are there for things to do, places to eat, etc. Also, what’s the weather usually like? We’re from central NJ so we can handle the heat but we’re not too familiar with staying in mountainous areas in the summer.
Thank you so much!
Finally hiked the Escarpment after a few years of thinking about it.
We did it in 3 days // 2 nights with a super short day one, hiking into the Elm Ridge Lean To in the evening of our first day, then doing a ~14 mile day two and ~9 mile day three.
Windham to Kaaterskill absolutely feels like the right choice here. I liked saving the best views for last, and I liked getting to ascend Blackhead from the north rather than having to descend that section.
The water situation wasn't as bad as I expected. Behind the Batavia Kill shelter we had plenty of clean, flowing water, and the spacing to the next stop at Dutcher Notch was fine.
The biggest surprise was how dynamic the weather was. We swung from like 80°F during some of the days to 38°F at night near North Point. I know the Catskills are famous for this but I was surprised at how swingy the temps were in mountains that are only like 3500 feet tall.
The flip side of that weather was some really dramatic sights. We got a beautiful rainbow near Stoppel Point, and a lot of really picturesque clouds in the blue skies.
The biggest highlight for me were (expectedly) the views. The view from North Point is unreal, and Newman's Ledge was like viewing a panoramic painting. There were plenty of nice views closer to Windham too but I really dug how dramatic it got near North-South Lake.
The biggest downside was probably traffic jams from dayhikers, dog walkers, families in that same area though. This isn't a complaint about them - we were out there too and I'm happy to see people outside - but it's a bit anticlimactic ending the hike in traffic jams. I would not do this again on a holiday weekend.
Overall, really nice hike though. Great sampler of what the region has to offer without being too challenging.
I have a full writeup here: https://primitivepines.com/escarpment-trail/
Hey everyone, happy almost 4th!
We planned a whole camping trip in the Catskills and were super excited about going to hangout in the water at Peekamoose after biking the trail in Shokan tomorrow. I just realized you’re supposed to book in advance and there’s no space left 🥲 is there a way around the booking process? At national parks in WA state we were able to get in the parks without reservation if we made it there before 6 am. Any rules like that in NYS?
Thanks!
I had truly an amazing time. Just driving around randomly proved to be so so good.
- This is one half of the Devil’s Path. My friend & I had planned to do the whole trail with a layover at Devil’s Tombstone. However, my friend was unable to continue on after the first day.
- According to my phone, I hiked/walked ~17.5mi & ~40,000 steps on this day. However, some of that can be attributed to packing up my car in the morning & walking around Devil’s Tombstone Campground at night.
- We started our hike at the trailhead on Prediger Road just after 9am & reached Route 214 at 7:40pm.
- If you are hiking the Devil’s Path from the trailhead on Prediger Road (as we did), you will need to summit 3 peaks - Indian Head, Twin, & Sugarloaf - before you reach a spring/legitimate water source. I was fine, but my friend almost ran out of water.
- There is a creek (Schoharie Creek) ~0.25mi off of the Devil’s Path at the Jimmy Dolan Notch, but I didn’t stop to inspect the quality of the water.
I’m a local hiker, and Dad with a 7 Year old daughter, who I have been trying to introduce to hiking to some success. She’s much more social than I 😅, and my thought is that she would enjoy it if there were other kids who were there that liked it too.
I’m wondering if there are any groups that have this sort of demographic, or even if anyone else is interested, we could get make a social group together. I’m open to suggestions.
Thanks 🙏
After reading about the Devil’s Path and seeing some testimonials on Youtube, I decided I wanted to tackle it and complete it in 1 day. I don’t hike a lot but I’m pretty fit - 49 (M), regular soccer player, cyclist, kayaker - so I was confident I could complete the hike as long as I paced myself.
The hike took place on Thurs June 26th 2026, and this was my experience in case anyone else is also planning to hit it for the first time . . . .
The logistics leading up to starting the hike are the first challenge, and it required quite a bit of planning and preparation.
I found a motel not too far from the Mink Hollow trail head. Booked a room at https://www.slidemountainmotel.com/ . The owner Ken is really nice and helpful, and even sorted out my transport for the day of the hike.
I drove up the day before and on the way I hid a cache at the halfway point, at Notch Lake, including 1 gallon of water, a couple sodas and extra snacks. Over the course of the hike I got through 2 gallons (7L) of water with electrolytes, plus a Coke and a Red Bull.
In the evening prior to the hike I had dinner at https://briosny.com/, just down the road from the motel. They have an extensive menu, I went for a burrito with a big side of rice, to load up for the following day.
On the morning of the hike I left the Slide Mountain Motel at 5am. As pre-arranged with the owner, one of the motel’s long-term residents followed me in my car to the Mink Hollow trail head, where I dropped my car off. I then got in her car and she drove me to the start of the Devil’s Path; the East end at Prediger Trail Head Road. I started the hike at 5:50am.
My key kit (based on milder weather and low chance of rain):
In terms of the hike itself, completing it felt like a great accomplishment. I loved the scenery, although you’re in fairly deep forest a lot of the time so there are only a few occasions when you have a proper view of the broader landscape. I set out just before 6am and finished at the Mink Hollow Trail Head just before 8pm.
According to Alltrails my data (via my phone) was as follows: total time of 13 hrs 53 mins / moving time 13 hrs 21 mins / distance 41.98km / elevation gain 2,512m / average speed 3.1km/h. This was quite different vs my Strava data via my Coros Apex watch: moving time 10 hrs 32 mins / distance 36.54km / elevation gain 2,575m / average speed 3.47km/h.
As many people have noted, there isn’t a lot of flat terrain, you’re mostly ascending and descending. I didn’t mind the ascents too much and I actually enjoyed climbing up some of the rocky technical sections, so some upper body strength certainly helps. I did not enjoy a couple of the descents however, which pushed me physically and mentally, specifically coming down from Sugar Loaf and Orchard Point, comprising steep sections, hiking over broken rocks and roots, and navigating a lot of drops that play havoc with your back, knees and ankles.
I was fairly strict with hydration and nutrition, being sure to take regular sips of water and consuming carbs every 20 mins, which got pretty tedious as time went by. Having a broad mix of food types helped.
All in all a fun but challenging hike. I wouldn’t necessarily do it again in 1 day, I’d probably consider breaking it into 2 days and taking it a little easier with an overnight camp thrown in.
We were planning to stay at the Emerson Resort in Mt. Tremper next week (midweek through Saturday) and called ahead, only to be told the restaurant is closed due to staffing shortages.
Not a huge deal by itself, but it made me wonder if this is a broader issue in the Woodstock/Phoenicia area. Are restaurants and local businesses generally fully staffed and operating normal hours these days, or are staffing shortages still a common problem up there?
Just trying to get a sense of whether this is a one-off situation with the Emerson or something we should expect during our stay.