September 19, 2016
Time for Catskill peak #2. This weekend, my plan was to hike to the summit of Panther Mountain and camp overnight at the primitive camp by Giant Ledge.
I left work on Friday around 5:15pm and rode my trusty BMW R1200GS up to the NY DEC’s Woodland Valley campground in Phoenicia, NY. I arrived at 7:45pm, checked in, and set up in the dark. The Hilleberg Unna coupled with my red LED headlamp made for very easy pitching. Sleep came easy but so did the cold. It dropped to 50ยจ degrees overnight and made for a chilly slumber.
Arriving at the DEC’s Woodland Valley campground in Phoenicia, NY after dark. Luckily the rangers are there till 9:00pm.
Up bright and early the next morning, I packed up and rode over to the Giant Ledge trailhead. Here I would park overnight while I backpacked up to Panther Mountain and back.
Breaking down the Hillleberg Unna to leave the Woodland Valley campground and ride over to the trailhead to ascend Panther Mountain.Woodland Valley is one of the stranger campgrounds in that many of the sites are set up right along side the road. My guess is that they didn’t have a lot of land to work with and they had to shoehorn in the sites. If you have kids, you’ll want to keep an eye on them so they don’t run out into the traffic.Embarking on the trailhead of the yellow-blazed Phoenicia East Branch trail in the Slide Mountain Wilderness area of the Catskill Mountains.Much of the Phoenicia East Branch trail in the Catskill Mountains is an incline of rocks.Coming up on the blue-blazed Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow trail in the Catskill Mountains.That looks like a bear paw print. Bear spray? Check.A water spring is marked on the Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow trail but all I could find was a puddle of collected water. Perhaps it had dried up. This was to be a refill spot for me but now I’ll have to ration.Taking a break on Giant Ledge on the Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow trail on my way to the summit of Panther Mountain in the Catskill Mountains.Scenes from Giant Ledge on the Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow trail in the Catskill Mountains.Scenes from Giant Ledge on the Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow trail in the Catskill Mountains.Seeing the 3500 ft elevation mark is a glorious experience. I’m almost to the summit of Panther Mountain. Feets, don’t fail me now.YES! Reaching the summit of Panther Mountain in the Catskill Mountains in NY.Poor pup, being treated like a pack mule. He actually seemed very happy carrying his own load.One final view from Giant Ledge before hitting the primitive camp area.Setting up the Hilleberg Unna in the primitive camp area by Giant Ledge in the Catskill Mountains. There is lots of splendid, soft ground to set up on.It rained and blustered all night. I woke up to a mist-filled forest in the Catskill Mountains primitive camp.Retrieving my hung bear bag in the misty morning.Nothing but a fog-filled view from Giant Ledge on Sunday morning. Fortunately I was sated from all the stunning views the day before.Arriving at the overnight parking lot for Giant Ledge, my trusty BMW R1200GS safe and sound, ready to take me back home to Manhattan.Google Earth showing my roundtrip backpacking hike from the Phoenicia East Branch trailhead to Giant Ledge to the summit of Panther Mountain and back again.The elevation graph from my Garmin Montana GPS showing the ascent from the Giant Ledge parking lot to the summit of Panther Mountain.
