Catskill Mountains

Understand

The Catskills are a "dissected plateau", a highland worn into mountains and valleys by erosion. The Catskills mean different things to different groups of people. To most residents of Downstate New York, they evoke summer camps, weekend homes and the vast reservoirs that supply clean, pure water to New York City. To historians of American popular culture they are home to the majority of the "Borscht Belt" resorts, where many legendary entertainers honed their skills before predominantly Jewish audiences, and where a later generation thronged to a dairy farm for "three days of peace, love and music" called the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. To art historians, they are the landscapes that captivated Thomas Cole, Frederick Church and the other painters of the Hudson River School, America's first homegrown art movement. To fly fishermen, they are the streams where the first dry flies were cast and tied in American waters, tested by Theodore Gordon and other legends of the sport. To hikers and naturalists, the 290,000 acres (1,150 km²) of "forever wild" land in the Catskill Park's Forest Preserve is an environmental treasure, the land where influential American nature writer John Burroughs grew up and which inspired him to write some of his most famous essays. Yet for all these multiple meanings, no one is quite sure what "Catskill" originally referred to. Perhaps it was Henry Hudson's crew, seeing bobcats around the creek they stopped at, and then naming it "Catskill", which was extended to the distant mountains. Or the many Iroquois stockades along the riverbank, which the Dutch referred to as "kats". Or poet Jacob Kats, supposedly a shrewd land speculator. Or the Iroquois' lacrosse sticks, a small Dutch ship, or a Mohican chief who lived in the area. It's all the more surprising since the range was generally referred to as the Blue Mountains until the early 19th century, when Washington Irving's works popularized the long-scorned Dutch name. Even with general agree

Getting there

By air There are no major airports in the Catskills themselves. The two that best serve the region are located to the southeast and northeast.

Stewart International Airport, 1180 First St, New Windsor, +1 845 564-2100. Newburgh's airport is well-positioned close to the New York State Thruway and Interstate 84. It is an excellent place to arrive if your destination within the Catskills is on the south, such as Sullivan or Ulster County. Albany International Airport, 737 Albany-Shaker Rd, Albany, +1 518 242-2200. The airport to fly into if you're heading for the northern Catskills, particularly Greene County. For private planes (including jets), the best option in the region is Sullivan County International Airport, in Bethel, a short distance from the county seat at Monticello.

By train There is no passenger rail service directly to the Catskills. The Rhinecliff and Hudson stations on Amtrak's Empire Service line along the Hudson River correspond to the river crossings closest to the Catskills, and bus connections can be made. Amtrak also serves Poughkeepsie, which has the most bus connections, although if you're coming to that station from within the New York area you must use Metro-North to get there instead.

By bus Adirondack Trailways offers two routes across the region from its west-of-Hudson line. One follows Route 28 west to Pine Hill, Belleayre Mountain and beyond from Kingston. The other, from Saugerties, follows Routes 23A and 23 across Greene County, with stops in Tannersville, Hunter and Stamford. Both lines eventually reach Oneonta, where transfer is also available from Trailways' service along the Interstate 88 corridor.

By car The New York State Thruway (Interstate 87), a divided toll road, is the primary route to the Catskill region for visitors coming from the south and southeast (i.e., New York City and its suburbs).

Catskills region exits 16 through 21: As signs along the highway inform you, Exits 16–21, roughly 45–113 miles (72–185

Getting around

By bicycle Some of the state routes through and within the region are also designated as bike routes. In addition, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is considering formally allowing mountain bikers to use some unpaved roads within the Forest Preserve areas, which would make some shortcuts possible.

Catskill Scenic Trail: AKA 'The Rail Trail' is a 26 mi (42 km) multi-use trail (hiking, jogging, biking, horseback riding, skiing and snowshoeing) that follows along the former Ulster and Delaware Railroad right of way in Delaware County. The trail runs alongside NYS routes 10, 23 and 30, through the hamlets of Bloomville, South Kortright, Hobart, Stamford, Grand Gorge and Roxbury. Access points which include dedicated parking are available at Bloomville and Stamford. The trail does cross roads at various points, caution should be exercised at these crossings. See the To Do section below for more biking information.

By bus While Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT) serves primarily the more populous eastern half of the county, it has lines to Ellenville and Belleayre. Greene County's Rip van Winkle Express Bus service mainly connects outlying areas, including some in the mountains, with Catskill, the county seat. Service is limited.

By car

Several ways to enter the Catskills, as alternatives to the main routes include:

New York State Route 213 is a roundabout back road from Kingston to the Ashokan Reservoir. If you've got more time than you need get between them along Route 28, consider following Route 213 down Rondout Creek, past the bed of the old Delaware and Hudson Canal, through the picturesque hamlets of Rosendale, High Falls and Stone Ridge. From there Route 213 plunges through dense woods to drop you off just in front of the reservoir's main spillway, now closed to cars but not pedestrians. Ulster County Route 47 is described in the section above (see Thruway Exit 18/New Paltz) as part of a 'back route' that originates in New Paltz and win

See

North-South Lake, northeast of Haines Falls, is an excellent all-around introduction to the Catskills for either day or overnight. Fish, boat and swim in the lakes, or hike the extensive trail system to the ruins of the Catskill Mountain House and the views it made famous. Opus 40 in Saugerties, east of Woodstock, is a splendid sculpture garden listed on the National Register of Historic Places, carved out of an old quarry, with spectacular views complementing the art. Franklin Stage Company: on Institute Street, Village of Franklin (northwestern Delaware County) Founded in 1996, the Franklin Stage Company is dedicated to the production of classic and new plays that unsettle, provoke, and entertain. Franklin Stage Company’s joint mission is to produce admission-free world class theatre in our rural area of the western Catskills while preserving our magnificent home, Chapel Hall. There is a restaurant on Main Street in Franklin that is usually open on show nights.

Do

Fishing Rivers like t