Two hours from Manhattan, a wilderness the size of Rhode Island costs nothing to enter

It’s wilder than you’d expect this close

Two and a half hours north of New York City, a wilderness the size of a small state waits with no entrance gate and no fee to get in.

Catskill Park covers about 700,000 acres across four counties in southeastern New York, and more than 20 million people live within 100 miles of it. Most of them have no idea what’s up here.

The trails go deep, the rivers run cold, and the history goes back further than the country itself.

How the Catskills became “forever wild”

New York State created the Forest Preserve in 1885 to stop the logging industry from stripping these mountains bare. Catskill Park followed in 1904.

About 287,500 acres fall under the Forest Preserve designation, protected by Article XIV of the New York State Constitution, which says the land must be “forever kept as wild forest lands.” That language is not a guideline.

It means the timber cannot be cut, the land cannot be sold, and no developer can touch it.

The Catskills are often called America’s First Wilderness, and scholars trace the start of the conservation movement here.

The waterfall that launched America’s first art movement

In the autumn of 1825, a painter named Thomas Cole traveled up the Hudson River and stood in front of Kaaterskill Falls. The waterfall drops 260 feet in two tiers, making it one of the tallest in New York.

What Cole painted from that trip launched the Hudson River School, recognized as America’s first major art movement. Frederic Edwin Church, Asher B. Durand, and Sanford Robinson Gifford all followed him up here.

You can reach the falls today on a moderately difficult trail from the Laurel House Road parking area.

Slide Mountain stands above everything else

At 4,180 feet, Slide Mountain is the highest peak in the Catskill range and the highest natural point in the entire New York City metropolitan area. It sits in the town of Shandaken in Ulster County.

Naturalist John Burroughs wrote some of his most celebrated essays about climbing it, and a memorial plaque near the summit still honors him.

The most popular route starts from the western trailhead, where the elevation is already high enough to cut down the climb. The Catskills have 98 peaks above 3,000 feet, 35 of them above 3,500.

The Devil’s Path will push you to your limit

The Devil’s Path earns its name. The roughly 26-mile trail crosses some of the steepest terrain in the northeastern United States, hauling you over West Kill, Hunter, Plateau, Sugarloaf, Twin, and Indian Head mountains.

Sharp elevation changes and rock scrambles stack up one after another with little mercy in between. Experienced hikers treat it as a serious undertaking.

But the views from several points along the trail stretch wide across the surrounding mountains and valleys, and you earn every one of them. This is not a casual weekend walk.

Six fire towers and the views they guard

The park has six fire towers, and climbing them is one of the best ways to understand the scale of the Catskills. The Hunter Mountain tower sits at 4,040 feet, the highest elevation of any fire tower in New York State.

Balsam Lake Mountain got the first mountaintop fire tower in the state back in 1887. Volunteer interpreters open the tower cabs on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through mid-October.

The New York State DEC runs a Catskills Fire Tower Challenge if you want a reason to visit all six.

The river that made fly fishing what it is today

The Catskill Mountains region is recognized as the birthplace of American fly fishing.

The Beaverkill River runs about 44 miles through the heart of the park and ranks among the most famous trout streams in the country.

The Willowemoc Creek, the Neversink River, and the Esopus Creek draw serious anglers as well. In the late 1800s, Theodore Gordon developed and popularized fly fishing techniques right here in these waters.

You need a New York State fishing license, available through the DEC before you head out.

Cold water, paddles and a swimming hole worth the hike

The Esopus Creek near Phoenicia pulls in tubers every summer, running cold over a boulder-filled bottom through a stretch of mountain scenery.

North-South Lake allows non-motorized boats, including kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards, and has a natural swimming area.

If you’re willing to hike in, the Peekamoose Blue Hole on Rondout Creek is a natural pool surrounded by forest that stops most people in their tracks.

The Delaware River along the western edge of the region adds more paddling and fishing to an already long list of options.

North-South Lake sits on the edge of the escarpment

North-South Lake is the largest and most popular state campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve.

It sits at about 2,250 feet on the edge of the Catskill Escarpment, and on a clear day you can see into five states from the overlooks along the ridge.

The campground has 219 sites and sits on the former grounds of the Catskill Mountain House, a famous resort from the 1800s where artists and New York’s wealthy once summered.

Trails from camp lead to Artist’s Rock, Sunset Rock, Newman’s Ledge, and Boulder Rock.

Woodstock has been an arts colony for over a century

Long before the 1969 festival put the name on a map, Woodstock was already one of the oldest arts communities in the country.

The Byrdcliffe Arts Colony opened on Mount Guardian in 1902, making it the oldest continuing arts and crafts colony in the United States.

It sits on about 300 wooded acres and still welcomes more than 70 artists each summer through a residency program.

The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, founded in 1919, and the Maverick music festival, running since 1916, round out a town that has been doing this for a long time.

Bears, bobcats and the birds that only nest up high

Black bears live throughout the park. Store your food properly when you camp, and pay attention on the trail.

White-tailed deer are everywhere. Coyotes are plentiful and you can hear them calling at night.

Bobcats, minks, and fishers also move through the Forest Preserve, though you’re less likely to spot them.

High up in the forests above 3,500 feet, Bicknell’s thrush builds its nests, a vulnerable songbird that uses the Catskills’ highest elevations as one of its last remaining breeding grounds in the eastern United States.

More than 300 miles of trails and no excuse not to go

The park has more than 300 miles of marked trails, and they cover the full range.

Beginners can walk the Overlook Mountain Trail near Woodstock, which passes the ruins of a never-finished hotel and ends at a fire tower with wide views.

The Escarpment Trail connects Kaaterskill Falls to North-South Lake along the northeastern ridge.

More than 500,000 people visit each year, but the park is big enough that a 15-minute walk from any trailhead can leave you with the forest mostly to yourself.

Visit Catskill Park in New York

The Catskills Visitor Center at 5096 Route 28 in Mount Tremper is the best first stop. Staff can help you plan your route, and you’ll find maps, trail conditions, and exhibits on the region’s ecology.

The park has eight state-run campgrounds, including North-South Lake, Woodland Valley, Devil’s Tombstone, and Beaverkill.

Towns like Woodstock, Phoenicia, Hunter, Tannersville, and Roscoe put you within easy reach of trailheads, rivers, and fire towers. The park sits about two and a half hours north of New York City.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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