Like many people, when I think Hunter Mountain, I think ski slopes.\u00a0 Unlike other people when I think ski slopes, I do not envision myself swooshing down a mountain.\u00a0 The simple fact is that Dominicans don’t ski, or at the very least this Dominican will never ski.\u00a0 The only Dominican I have ever known that ski’ed broke his leg twice doing so.\u00a0 We are warm blooded and caribbean, it’s just not in our nature.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hunter Mountain though has the distinction of being the second tallest peak in the Catskills.\u00a0 There are two different ways to get up to it, a short brutal way and a long not brutal way.\u00a0 I chose, a short 5 mile up and back route, that was BRUTAL.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, I do feel the need to yell that.<\/p>\n
Here’s why.\u00a0 Up until now most hikes are a combination of climbs followed by a reprieve, then more climbing.\u00a0 Hunter though, was just climb.\u00a0 You start off easy enough, with two huge pillars welcoming you into this beautiful mountain.\u00a0 You start the hike off following a beautiful stream and crossing over a nice wooden bridge followed by a small old dam.\u00a0 Sounds peachy, right. After the dam though, you climb, you climb until you reach the top with the only reprieve being when you stop to breathe.<\/p>\n
On this particular climb, on this particular day, the moment I hit 3500′, the trail turned into an icy and snowy mess.\u00a0 I was hoping to not bring out the microspikes but, better safe than sorry, when it’s all climb and you run into this:<\/p>\n
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As I climbed in this ice and snow, I asked myself, how the hell is this going to be going down?\u00a0 Microspikes or not, ice is ice.\u00a0 I stopped and reconsidered a couple of times, turn around or not.\u00a0 I persevered though, even if I doubted myself the whole way up.\u00a0 Sometimes I do idiotic things, but this did not feel like one.\u00a0 This felt right.<\/p>\n
Am I glad I did.\u00a0 Once you get to the top of Hunter, you are immediately greeted with a huge fire tower, a building and not sure what that was but a semi sitting area.\u00a0 The wind up here was brutal though, I literally had to hold my phone with two hands at all times in order for it to NOT fly away.\u00a0 As I climbed the fire tower the wind got worst and worst, at one point I decided I needed to forget about everything else and just at all times when I move, hold on to multiple places.\u00a0 While the top of the fire tower was locked.\u00a0 Oh my god, I did not have to get to the top to see these beautiful views.<\/p>\n
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The last picture are the slopes for hunter mountain or the ski side of the mountain.\u00a0 I love how the slopes look like fingers from afar.\u00a0 At this point though the wind and the cold were killing me.\u00a0 I mean, it was a cold day to begin with, at 4000+ feet, the wind made it nearly unbearable.\u00a0 So much so, I almost considered putting on another layer of clothing.\u00a0 Instead, I departed the top of the mountain and took a roundabout way to get to this amazing little view on the other side of Hunter.<\/p>\n
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After the view, I decided to concentrate on coming down the mountain.\u00a0 The first 500ft of so of descent were ice and snow covered so all my concentration and attention went on footing.\u00a0 Once I passed the 3500′ mark, I took off my spikes and it was a rapid descent to the bottom.<\/p>\n
In the end though, it was a quick 5 mile hike that included two miles of the hardest ascents I have done in the Catskills, not because it was difficult, but because it was incessant.<\/p>\n
I left the hike wanting a bit more though, so I opted to stop for a bite at a local restaurant and hit Kaaterskill Falls as a quick 2-3 mile add on.\u00a0 I attacked it from two places.\u00a0 I did the new trails that cover the top of the falls and the traditional trails from Haines Falls.<\/p>\n
Kaaterskill, even in its dry times is a sight to see, so the whole side trip was worth it just to awe at it.\u00a0 On a day like today, there were very few people there, so enjoying it in tranquility, without the usual crowds was great.<\/p>\n
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“While people are struggling unhappily in the cities against the cruel authorities, a waterfall happily and cheerfully flows in the nature; there is happiness only if there is freedom!” (Mehmet Murat Ildan)<\/p>\n