Stoppel's Point, Catskills

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/9/2018	8.8 miles	4 hours 47 minutes	2,624'

Map: NYNJTC Catskills, Map 141
Parking: Park at the east end of the Dutcher Notch trail at the end of Stork Nest Road
Directions: Dutcher Notch trail, turn left (south) on Escarpment trail, hike to Stoppel Point. Return the same way. http://catskillmountaineer.com/NSL-stoppel2.html

Today we are back to working on redlining the Catskills. We've made a lot of progress on map 141, and there is a chance we will complete all of the trails on this map this year. I like the challenge because it encourages people to explore all of the trails in the Catskills versus the concentration on the 3500 footers. That being said, if there is a 3500 footer nearby, we do consider adding it to our hike. Maybe we'll complete a second round of the 3500 footers.

We were the only car parked in the small parking area. I'm guessing this trail isn't hiked much. The trail starts out on private property passing by two houses. It enters the woods on a rocky trail. It isn't a really nice trail. It feels like walking on a dry stream bed most of the way. It also isn't well maintained. We decided on this trip to take photos and GPS coordinates of any blowdowns we found blocking the trail. After the hike, we found out who to send them to, and we hope this is useful for helping the volunteer coordinator know where to send crews. Glen put on his bug net right away. His favorite piece of gear used to be his Houdini, but now I think its his bug net. They can get hot to wear. I alternated putting it on and then pulling it off to cool off.

Once we got on the Escarpment trail, we were on nice trail! Yeah! We still found some blowdowns on the Escarpment trail too though - so we marked their locations and took photos. I was really low energy today. I'm not sure why. We took our time and just went slowly. We actually skipped hiking on the following day, because I was just feeling really tired and had no energy. We saw a few other hikers on the Escarpment Trail. We stopped and checked out the remains of a plane crash which is on the side of the trail. There's another one in the area, but it can't easily be reached. Soon after the plane crash is a lookout, somewhat overgrown - but you can see Blackhead, Black Dome, and Thomas Cole. Those are the only 3 mountains I can easily identify in the Catskills without looking at a map. They are three bumps in a row - so are easy to identify. I used my map and compass to verify. A little further on, we arrived at Stoppel Point, where there is another lookout, where again we practiced looking out and matching things on the map with things we saw in front of us. I just read this week that the DEC will be clearing viewpoints in the Catskills. I'm sure there will be debates about this - but I'm sure a lot of hikers will appreciate the better views.

We were glad to be heading mostly downhill on the return trip. We saw a handful of other hot and tired hikers going the other direction.

Figuring out what the hill in the background is

Stoppel Point lookout

Thomas Cole, Black Dome, Blackhead