Slide Mountain Wilderness — Attraction in Town of Broadalbin

What a fantastic trip. The drive in is lovely. The hike, while beautiful, is no small undertaking. Its a 2.7 mile hike gaining 1700 feet in altitude. That's a fairly steep incline. It took us (my Mary and I) about two hours and 15 minutes to reach the peak. While we are not young, we seemed to keep place with the few other hikers we encountered. So I would guess this is a fair average hike time. The woods were thick and wonderful with small running streams crossing the trail at a few locations. There was a gorgeous overlook a few hundred meters below the peak. It was a small clearing facing a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains. At the peak we encountered an absolutely stunning view of the Ashokan reservoir. The downside was the gnats. Swarms of them on the peak! They made a stay of longer than 30 minutes unbearable. It may have been the time of day or the time of year, I'm not sure. But to my opinion no amount of bug repellant short of full scale nuclear detonation would eliminate these pests this day. I would willingly gave offered a chunk of flesh to the insect gods would they have granted us reprieve. But alas it was not to be. So for thirty minutes we endured before fleeing. Still enough though. The view was WELL worth both the strenuous hike and the bugs. If you're joining the "3500 club" (hiking every peak above 3500 feet in the Catskills) this hike is a must. If you're not...its still a great hike with a...

Slide mountain wilderness is part of the Catskills state preserve. It is popular with backpackers and day hikers and for good reason. Home to Slide mountain - the tallest in the Catskills there are miles and miles of maintained trails for your hiking enjoyment. Woodland Valley campground provides camping opportunities during the warm months and trailhead parking year round (theres a parking fee in the summer, spring and fall). Ask the campsite attendant for trail information or look it up online. Some of the more popular ones are Slide - Cornell - Wittenberg, peekamoose - table, and some of the trail-less peaks to the East. Slide-Cornell-Wittenberg can be done in a loop, returning via Woodland Valley with opportunity to climb Giant Ledge and Panther. Loop trail length with Panther is about 20 miles with 5000ft elevation gain so...

Did the Panther Mountain trail that starts near the end of Fox Hollow Road. We went beginning of November and most of the foot trails were flooded in sections. The trail is beautiful, but quite monotonous. Its about 7 miles. Near the top of the first peak there is a ledge that overlooks the wilderness and its beautiful. You can also get some icicles to suck on higher up if its a cooler time of year. The hike back down can be quite treachourous with some of the steep slopes being quite slippery. You can camp near the trail. Near the start of the trail there is a lean-to and a fireplace where you could spend the night in warmer months. Not the best trail in the area, but definitely one that gives you a...