Some say it’s the Toughest, most Dangerous Hiking Trail in the east. We set out on a backpacking trip to find out how tough the Devil’s Path trail really is.
Set in New York’s Catskill Mountains, the Devil’s Path is a 24.6 mile long end to end hike on steep, rocky terrain with around 8,500 feet of elevation gain and and 9,000 feet of elevation loss.
The mountain range that the Devil’s Path traverses is basically one large plateau with a handful of deep notches carved into it. The result? Almost all of the elevation change is crammed into a handful of 1 mile or less stretches, with little to no distance in between each ascent and descent. Scrambles, loose rock and mazes of gnarly roots add to the challenge.
Myself, Kyle from the Trail Tails Podcast and Flossy packed up our backpacks with some tents and hammocks and hit the trail on a mid-August morning to find out if this hiking trail would live up to it’s devilish reputation.
Catskills Devil’s Path Route Overview – Sintax77
There are 5 Major Summits (Catskill 35ers) on this hike
Indian Head Mountain 3,573′
Twin Mountain 3,652′
Sugar Loaf Mountain 3,806′
Plateau Mountain 3,840′
West Kill Mountain 3,880′
Starting Trailhead Used (East): Platcove Trailhead , 42°08’02.5″N 74°06’16.1″W
Prediger Trail Road, Elka Park, NY 12427
This is an easily accessible parking lot with room for a decent amount of cars, but it does reportedly fill up by early morning on weekends.
Join Sara, our dog Denali, & I for some Catskills hiking, trail cooking, backpacking, and hammock camping in upstate New York.
For this backpacking trip, we’ll be hiking and camping near Slide Mountain and the East Branch Neversink River in the Catskills, complete with a visit to the summit of Table Mountain and Peekamoose Moose Mountain. The mileage will be low, but the star of this trip isn’t the trails. It’s the food. Good old, classic trail cooking.
What’s on our backpacker’s menu? Well, Sara had a craving for some trail pizza in the middle of the woods somewhere, and I was up for the challenge. Were we successful? You’ll just have to come along and find out. Either way, it’s bound to be an adventure. 😉
Full GPS data for this, as well as all of my other trips, is available on the Trip Data page.
Pheonicia East Branch Trail Peekamoose Table Trail
Set up camp after second bridge (the double log one) at N41° 58.474′ W74° 25.734′
Continue up Peekamoose Table Trail towards summit of
Table Mt and Peekamoose Mountain
Lunch / Snack at summit and Return to camp on the East Branch Neversink River
Day 1 Mileage: 7.8 miles, including summit round trip (about 3 miles each way) Day 1 Gross Elevation Gain: 2,130′
Trails Used Day 2, in Order
Peekamoose Table Trail Pheonicia East Branch Trail Return to vehicle at Denning Rd Trailhead
Day 2 Mileage: 1.8 miles Day 2 Gross Elevation Gain:146′
Trip Total Mileage: 9.6 miles Trip Total Elevation Gain: 2,276
Trail Pizza Ingredients
Boboli Pizza Crust, Individual Size – 2 Pack
Boboli Pizza Sauce Individual Pack (comes in 3 pack box)
Cabot Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded – 8 oz package (2 cups volume)
Hormel Pepperoni, pre-sliced – 6 oz package (enough for 2 pizzas, plus snacking) Camp Cooking Gear Used for Pizza
Exploring New York’s Catskill Mountains and setting up my Hennessy Hammock for it’s first test in the wild. Hennessy model is the “Expedition A-Sym”. A detailed gear list is at the bottom of this description.
This was two day, one night, “out and back” hike, covering a total distance of 24 miles in the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area. The individual trails hiked on this trip are actually a part of the New York Long Path, a 347 mile trail beginning at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey and ending in Altamont, New York, in the Albany area.
We’ll be visiting 3 peaks on this over-nighter: Peekamoose Mt, Table Mt, and Slide Mt. (Slide mountain is the Catskill’s highest peak, at an elevation of 4,180 feet.)
Parking Location and Trailhead Coodinates: 41.915164, -74.429080
**Parking is Free and there is plenty of room for cars. No permit is required for backcountry camping, unless you’re out for more than 3 days. No camping or fires are permitted above 3500 feet, except between December 21 and March 21.
Starting Trailhead: Peekamoose-Table Trail on Peekamoose Rd (Rt42), heading towards Slide Mountain.
Trails Taken In order:
Peekamoose-Table Trail
Phoenicia-East Branch Trail
Curtis-Ormsbee Trail
Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail
(Note: These individual trails also coincide with NY Long Path)
Total Mileage for Day One: 8
Total Mileage for Day Two: 16
Trip Total: 24 Miles
Gear List for system seen in this video:
***Base Items**
EMS Long Trail 70 Backpack (top pouch removed)
Sea to Summit Pack Cover
Hennessy Hammock Expedition A-Sym (lighter versions available if your willing to spend the $$ and give up some support)
Klymit Inertia X-Frame Ultralight Sleeping Pad
Sea to Summit Toaster – Fleece Sleeping Bag Liner (used as primary bag)
1 ReVive Solar ReStore usb charger
Osprey 2 liter Nalgene Bladder for hydration
Sawyer Squeeze Water Filtration System
1 Liter Disposable Plastic Water Bottle (plus 2 spare 16oz bottles)
Paper map print-outs from Topo 9 software (lighter than a full size map)
Brunton Classic Compass
Sunscreen (travel size tube)
1 oz bottle of Ben’s Max 100 98% DEET insect repellent
‘Light My Fire’ Spork
Homemade Ultralight Cookset – video: http://youtu.be/gvpD1hEztvY
Sea To Summit ‘Insect Shield’ Mosquito Head Neat
EMS ‘Velocity’ synthetic lightweight long sleeve shirt
Spare synthetic tee shirt and lightweight shorts.
Spare EMS synthetic socks
Princeton Tec Byte Headlamp
Toiletries (TP, small mirror, travel toothbrush and paste, spare contacts)
Superglue, assorted band-aides and extra zip-lock bags for trash etc
Large lightweight trash bag – used as ground cover to organize gear, etc
** Items Worn (I did not count these towards base weight) **
EMS Camp Cap (synthetic fast dry, & lightweight!)
EMS Convertible Camp Pants / Shorts
Garmont Zenith Mid GTX Hiking Boots
EMS synthetic socks
4Sevens Preon 2 Flashlight
Leatherman Squirt Ultra-Light Multi-Tool
SOG Blink Spring Assisted Knife
** Consumables for trip (not counted towards base weight)**
2 Pounds Food
5 Pounds initial water supply (2.5 liters)
3 oz of Denatured Alcohol (fuel for DIY ultralight stove)
Base Weight: 16 pounds
Total weight w/ consumables for Catskills overnighter: 23 pounds
(from dollar store, or whatever)
– rack used to hold pizza
(used as a plate / prepping dish / cutting board)