Trail Conference to Open New Catskill Trail Connecting Village of Phoenicia to Catskill High Peaks June 7

June 02, 2014
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference

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Trail Conference to Open New Catskill Trail Connecting Village of Phoenicia to Catskill High Peaks June 7

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View from Cross Mountain, Long Path, Catskills

Photo by Marty Costello

PHOENCIA, NY: The public is invited to  join the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference and our partners as we celebrate the culmination of 3 years of hard work with the opening the newest section of the Long Path in the Catskills on June 7, National Trails Day. The ribbon-cutting will take place at the Lane Street trail head in Phoenica at 11am and will be followed by a 3-mile guided hike. Click here for event details and to register.

This new 8+ mile trail section connects the Village of Phoenicia with the Burroughs Range Trail in the Slide Mountain Wilderness.  Over a hundred volunteers have spent thousands of hours building this trail, which travels over three mountain peaks (Romer, Cross & Pleasant Mountains), past scenic vistas, and features some amazing examples of trail building work!

The opening culminates decades of planning, 3 years of field work, and close to 10,000 hours of trail building by more than 100 volunteers.  

Representatives of the Trail Conference, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Catskill partner organizations, and local residents are expected at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lane Street trail head in Phoenicia. The new trail section replaces 7 miles of road walk with a beautiful, rugged route over Cross Mountain, Mount Pleasant, and Romer Mountain, with viewpoints along the way. Access is either from Lane Street in Phoenicia or the Woodland Valley State Campground parking area.

Long Path Trail Co-chairs Jakob Franke and Andy Garrison not only organized this ambitious project but spent weeks in the mountains building trail and leading teams of volunteers. Special thanks go to them and to the Long Distance Trails Crew and the Jolly Rovers, which contributed their technical expertise to building sections of the trail over several work outings.

Jeff Senterman, Catskill Regional Program Coordinator for the Trail Conference, says, “This project is a stunning example of what is possible when Trail Conference volunteers and staff collaborate with the DEC. Thanks to our volunteers we have built a trail that sets a new standard for quality and sustainability in the Catskills.  We look forward to continuing our partnership with the DEC to improve existing trails and expand the trail network when necessary.”

Simplified map of new Long Path in CatskillsThe Trail

From Woodland Valley, follow the red-blazed Wittenberg-Slide trail (and former LP route) up Wittenberg Mountain to the new junction with the new Long Path section (below the Wittenberg summit). The new trail section will be blazed with blue DEC footpath markers and is considered an extension of the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail; LP blazes will appear only at junctions. Turn left to hike the new trail north toward Phoenicia. The trail appears as a dotted line (under construction) on the 2013 edition of the Catskill Trails map set.

Click here for event details.

Click to download a high resolution version of map at right.

 

Contact: Jeff Senterman, Catskill Regional Program Coordinator

[email protected] or 518.628.4243