Catskills: The Blackhead Range
May 22, 2021 | Maplecrest, NY
Region: Northern Catskills
Mountains: Thomas Cole, Black Dome, Blackhead
The background: The snow had finally melted, and my last final of the grad school semester was handed in - so it was time to get back out there and hike! Brittany and I had discussed hiking together in the Catskills in May, and this range had been on my mind since last year. We decided on this range to work towards our Catskills 3500, but also to have a genuinely nice day in the mountains (which it is!) Brit mentioned doing it as a point-to-point vs. loop since we would each have our car- which was an amazing idea and what we did!
The route: since we each had a car, we did this as a point to-point hike, meeting at the Big Hollow Road lot, leaving a car, and driving to Barnum Road where we started the hike.
From Thomas Cole, to Black Dome; continuing on to Blackhead from the Blackhead trail, returning the same way (instead of taking the Escarpment trail) and completing the hike via the Black Dome range trail to the Big Hollow Road parking lot. These are wooded-summits with no canisters, but with some beautiful views en route.
Note: this can be done as a loop which includes the Escarpment Trail, or you can hike just one (or two) of the mountains, depending where you start. You definitely don’t need two cars to enjoy a day out here!
Getting there: to Big Hollow Road, you can find it in Google Maps as “Big Hollow Road Parking Area / Trailhead, Maplecrest, NY.
To Barnum Road from Big Hollow: turn around and go back down Big Hollow Road, make a slight left onto County Road 40 and in 0.3 miles, take a sharp left onto Barnum Road. The parking area will be at the end.
In 3- season weather, your vehicle should make it there just fine. You will not have cell service in these parking areas, so plan accordingly!
The hike: I wish I could say the Catskill Mountains are close to where I live, but they really aren’t as close as I pretend they are. I leave my car parked on Long Island when I’m not using it (15 minutes from the Throgs Neck Bridge for reference) so leave from there. My point in saying this is if I’m not staying up there, the earliest I can usually get to a Catskills trailhead is around 7:45AM when leaving at 5AM (that’s when the Dunkin’ opens…) So we arrived around then (even though it’s closer for Brittany from the Capital region) with the Big Hollow lot already pretty full. I can’t say I’m surprised, as it was a beautiful spring Saturday (and who doesn’t want to be in the mountains?!)
Brittany had already arrived, so I gathered my gear and we headed over in her car to Barnum Road, leaving my car at Big Hollow. I hadn’t seen her since February, so it was great to be able to hike and catch up on what seemed like was going to be a gorgeous Saturday in the Catskills.
After the 10-minute ride over to Barnum Road, where the parking area was also getting pretty full (again, not surprised) we geared up and headed out on the trail. It would be my first day testing out my new Keen hiking boots – but I did have backup trail runners in my pack should any unexpected blisters or pain arise…
We had 2.9 miles to go until our first summit of the day, Thomas Cole Mountain, where we hiked with a gradual incline through a beautiful forest setting. The bugs were out today, but we were distracted by the different plants and rock formations on this trail. Before reaching Thomas Cole summit, you’ll pass over Caudal and Camel’s Hump Mountains. You will feel the incline here, but it is nothing to worry about – also note, these are wooded summits (as are all the summits of the day.) We eventually reached Thomas Cole, which is a wooded summit with no canister (as mentioned.) We saw an area that opened up, where a couple was seated, which we assumed was the true summit. We chatted with them briefly but kept going since we were eager for a food break soon!
We kept going on the trail, with about 0.7 miles until our next stop, Black Dome. We were certainly enjoying the shade of the trees on this day that was turning out to be hotter than expected. We were chatting and keeping a good pace, when we realized, after looking at our maps, we had already summited Black Dome! That is how inconspicuous it is – none of these have markings that I know of, so missing them is very easy to do (if I am wrong on this, please let me know!) We heard there was a lookout area and came upon it shortly after apparently summiting Black Dome, so decided it was time for a sandwich break. We took in the views of our next destination, Black Head, as people around us talked about the ADK High Peaks (of course, I chimed in.) Another hiker came over to take in the view, and we realized later that we all followed each other on Instagram (small hiking social media community, indeed!)
After some much-needed fuel about 15 minutes later, we made our way to the next junction which indicated we had 0.6 miles to our final summit of the day, Blackhead Mountain. Perhaps it was the heat getting to me, but this ascent was no joke! It was very cool to look back and see where we had just come from, as we climbed up. Before we knew it, we came across another clearing and the junction, and knew we had made it! We snapped a few photos and headed back the way we came up to go back to the junction 0.6 miles away. You can also continue on to the Escarpment Trail to form a loop that will bring you back to Big Hollow Road, but we chose this route for today (but I’ll be back one day for this!) After reaching the junction, we had 1.7 miles to the trailhead at Big Hollow Road. This was a beautiful walk out with the soundtrack of mother nature and the shade of the trees. Brittany and I always have a great time; it was the perfect way to start my spring/summer hiking season!
Concluding Notes: As I mentioned, there are numerous ways you can hike these mountains – we happened to do the point-to-point, which I always recommend if possible, since it’s a nice way to experience the trails. But it is definitely not necessary if you can’t. I will be back for the Escarpment Trail one day and look forward to visiting this range again. I found it to be an enjoyable day, but although you are surrounded by forest for most of it, do not forget your sunscreen when it’s hot- there are some amazing viewing areas where you can soak it all in.
PS: my new boots were amazing and held up perfectly- no pain or blisters to be heard of!
An ideal day and what you can pair this hike with:
Although this hike is a fun and nice challenge as is…you could add on Windham Mountain, another high peak (When I wrote this I had not done it yet) – one of the trailheads starts on the opposite side. This is if you have more energy and time to do so as it is not a short hike!
You can drive the 15-minutes to Tannersville, like we did, to grab a well-deserved bite to eat. We opted for burgers at Last Chance (it includes a cool antiques and cheese shop inside!)
