Ulster County Highpoint Trip Report

Slide Mtn (4,180 ft)

Date: May 20, 2005
Author: Richard Garland

I arrived at the trailhead on Slide Mountain Road (County Route 47) about 7 miles south of Big Indian just a few minutes past 12 noon. I would be following the Phoenicia-East Branch (P-E) Trail for 0.7 mile and then climb 2.05 miles to the summit on the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide (W-C-S) Trail.

The lower section of the trail crosses a stream and rises over rocky terrain for about 0.4 mile until it reaches an old woods road. This section climbs gently over a very easy terrain until the intersection of the W-C-S trail which heads up to the left. This trail is also very easy for most of it's length. As I climbed a bit higher, a few views opened up towards the south and eventually I entered the Spruce/Fir forest above about 3500 feet. The trail continued to be easy, although somewhat steeper to the summit. Just past the summit there was a viewpoint towards the east with good views of the Ashokan Reservoir.

Some 0.7 mile down from the summit, I took a left on the Curtis-Ormsbee Trail. This headed down in a more southerly direction than the W-C-S trail and traversed some lovely meadows of False Hellbore and dropped over some interesting rock ledges. After 1.6 miles, the trail joined the P-E about a mile above the point where I had left it on the way up. An easy walk along this old woods road soon brought me back to my staring point. The alternate route added about a mile to the distance compared to the way up.

Hike statistics: 6.55 miles, 1,815 feet total elevation gain, 3 hours 29 minutes duration.

Map: NYNJTC map #43 - "Southern Catskill Trails"

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