52F by noon, overcast, raining and miserable rising to 54F.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 12/27/15
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Tag Archives: Catskill Mountains
Daily Catskills: 12/26/15
38F at 9am, mostly cloudy rising to 43F by 2pm.
© Erik P Johanson
© Gavin DuBois
Christmas Eve in the Catskills: The Pepacton Reservoir
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
Daily Catskills: 12/24/15 Christmas Eve
61F at 8.30am, humid and gloomy with foggy wafting over the mountains, but brightening up by the afternoon. 66F by 2pm.
© Erik P Johanson 1pm
Daily Catskills: 12/23/15
52˚F by noon. Shimmering morning clouds turning gloomy by the afternoon. Sumac still hanging on.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.30pm
Daily Catskills: 12/21/15
35˚F at 8am with a shimmering cloud cover this morning that had dulled by the afternoon. Today is the last day of Autumn and the eve of the Winter Solstice, which is officially the first day of winter (tomorrow). Tomorrow morning we will have a new winter sun. The northern hemisphere of the earth will be pointed the farthest away from the sun at 23.5˚ tonight and tomorrow will begin its slow return towards it until the June Solstice of 2015. The ancient tradition of Yule will begin tomorrow with the Solstice and will end on January 1st, 2016.
© J.N. Urbanski 8am
Daily Catskills: 12/20/15
Only 31F at 2pm, with most of yesterday’s snow melting, except parts that were in the shade. Clear skies all afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 12/19/15
26F at noon with an overnight snow flurry having dusted the landscape. More gentle flurries beginning in the afternoon. 30F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.20pm
The Catskill 35: Indian Head Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
It’s difficult to decide what was more remarkable about a hike up Indian Head Mountain during hunting season. Would it be the periodic burst of gunfire from the local sportsman’s club every few hundred yards of my 13th peak over 3500 feet, like distant, anonymous cheerleaders? Perhaps it was the burly, camouflaged hunters strolling nonchalantly around the parking area, with loaded weapons over their shoulders, incongruously set against our hippy neighbors in their tie-dye. Possibly it was the roadside pile of dead deer we passed on the journey, but I think it was actually the unseasonal weather: t-shirt warm and humid at 55F by 10am on December 13th. I had no mobile phone service at lunchtime, so I could not tell what exactly the temperature was, but it felt like at least 60F. We’ve had a smattering of snow this year, but thus far that has been all. Last year was a strikingly different story as you can see here from our Daily Catskills picture of the same day. The lower parts of the trail to the summit and back down were wet and there were frequent stream crossings, but they were very low.
Daily Catskills: 12/17/15
45F at 9.30am, humid and grey with showers mid-morning. Update: 48F and raining for the rest of the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
Daily Catskills: 12/16/15
35F at 8.30am, cloudy and humid rising to 41F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
Daily Catskills: 12/15/15
45F at 8.30am with the sun twinkling through the gaps in the shimmering cloud.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.40am
Daily Catskills: 12/14/15
53F at 8am, cloudy humid and warm. Almost 60F by noon: t-shirt weather.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 12/13/15
54F at 10am, mild and warm all day with hazy fog hanging over the mountains and multifarious cloud cover.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.40pm
Daily Catskills: 12/12/15
54F by 1pm, balmy and overcast.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.15pm
© J.N. Urbanski 1.20pm
Daily Catskills: 12/11/15
52F at 2pm with a mixture of cloud and the occasional twinkle of sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 12/10/15
40F at 8.30am and partially cloudy.
Daily Catskills: 12/09/15
38F and cloudy by noon.
Daily Catskills: 12/08/15
The Catskill 35: Plateau Mountain
© J.N. Urbanski
The trouble with hiking the Catskills in the autumn is that thick layers of fallen leaves completely cover the path. It’s easy to lose your footing and stumble, as your boot disappears up to the ankle into the crunchy leaves, especially when the ground underneath is rocky or slippery. The hike to Plateau Mountain from Mink Hollow Road on the Route 212 end, is rocky, pebbly and everything in between. It’s also wet, wet, wet; with several knee-deep river crossings on the first 2.6 miles, and frequent muddy pools, so if you feel like hiking it now, take your waterproof boots. One river crossing necessitated the aid of two large trees that were downed halfway across the water. All the clumsy, ankle-turning stumbling that’s met with enthusiasm on the way up becomes quite tiresome – and downright dangerous – on the way back to the car when you’re exhausted.
If it sounds like a big pain in the backside, this would be the point to mention that it’s utterly gorgeous: a smorgasbord of beautiful Catskills landscapes in a 7.3 mile round trip, featuring thick, white birch trees mixed with soft evergreens, falling waters, mossy boulders, a spring and a lean-to complete with outdoor privvy.
Daily Catskills: 12/07/15
31F at 8.30am with brilliant sunshine in clear skies and a hazy horizon rising to 42F by 1pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
Daily Catskills: 12/06/15
29F by 8.30am with a frost burning off in the clear skies. 47F by mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
Daily Catskills: 12/05/15
A clear, cloudless day and a balmy 44F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
Daily Catskills: 12/04/15
A morning layer of overnight snow had melted by by mid-afternoon. Overcast and 40F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm
Daily Catskills: 12/03/15
35F at 8.30am and overcast with snow flurries beginning mid-morning, taking break for lunch and then continuing throughout the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
Catskills Art At The Commons Gallery
Local Catskills’ artist Alix Travis invites everyone to pop into her new winter studio in Margaretville for a cup of tea and to watch her work. In the gallery you can view her latest exhibition entitled “Family Friends Celebration and Holiday Colors”, which consists of gorgeous works of oil on canvas, watercolor and collage on the subject of relationships, warmth, brilliant color and the shared values of the holiday season and all year round
the Commons Gallery, the Commons, 785 Main Street, Margaretville, NY; December 3, 2015 through March 31, 2016. Open Saturdays from noon – 4pm, and any day when you see the lights on.
Daily Catskills: 12/02/15
47F at 8am and gloomily overcast with layers of fog cloaking the mountains, and rain.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.10am
Cold Catskills: Dressing for Winter Adventures
by: Jeff Vincent of Catskill Mountain Wild
© J.N. Urbanski
With winter approaching, we’ll start to see more and more ill-prepared hikers in the Catskills. It’s important to know the right clothing to wear and special gear you may need on a cold weather trip.
Your clothing should be broken down into three basic layers: a base layer, an insulating layer and a top layer that will protect you from the elements.
Daily Catskills: 12/01/15
35F at 9am with steady rain melting overnight icy patches and fog smothering the mountains.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.40am
Daily Catskills: 11/30/15
25F at 8.30am and bitter, with the landscape coated in a layer of grey frost evaporating in the sun. Clear skies save for a distant cloud of fog hugging a far off mountain. 34F by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 10am
Daily Catskills: 11/29/15
41F by 9am and frosty, with thick, rolling fog hugging the mountains. Clear skies at dusk.
Daily Catskills: 11/28/15
Daily Catskills: 11/27/15
56F by 2.30pm and warm with an enigmatic mix of sun and cloud.
Daily Catskills: 11/26/15
40F at 10.30am and overcast, rising to 48F by 2.30pm.
Daily Catskills: 11/25/15
38F at 8.30am, with clear skies except for a thick layer of frost evaporating off the mountains in the strong, morning sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.20am
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 11/24/15
24F at 8.30am and bright despite clouds, rising to 38F by 2.45pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.45pm
Daily Catskills: 11/22/15
40F at 8.30am with a sky dappled with cloud, rising to 43F by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.30am
On Hunting
© J.N. Urbanski
Today is the first day of hunting season for shotgun users and I’ve been hearing gunfire echo over the mountains for the last month in preparation. The past few weeks of hunting season have been strictly for bow users only. Over the next month or so, there’ll be a plethora of camouflaged, gun-toting neighbors creeping around in the woods that abut my property, and sitting in makeshift deer stands. My husband saw a crossbow wielding neighbor stealthily striding out of the woods last week and felt like I had dodged an arrow.
As a new country lass, the first experience I had with a hunter was when I was hiking. Rounding a corner, our group chanced upon a man; perfectly still, holding what looked like an AK-47, looking like a stocky, camo-version of Bruce Willis in Die Hard. The gun made him look at least eight feet tall. He stared. We stopped. He silently crept towards us and then passed us without so much as an excuse me. We kept calm and carried on.
A Mink Sighting
© J.N. Urbanski
A mink has moved into my neighbor’s yard and my dog, desperate as always to make new friends, was a little overly zealous in his introduction. My dog almost made friends with a bold, friendly deer once, and for a few minutes they chased each other around, but I ruined it by getting in too close for a picture. That’s country life. We left the mink in peace and haven’t seen him since.
A Beaver Sighting
© J.N. Urbanski
A beaver has moved into the hood, specifically the woods at the end of my road, and now I realize why the term “eager beaver” came into existence because he’s highly prolific. In his new habitat, a roadside pond, he has downed nearly ten trees in the short space of a week and was spotted yesterday, clearly from the road, swimming around on his back, surveying his work. One of the trees he felled looks to be about a foot in diameter. The town excavators who were clearing out all the gulleys in the area last week may not have noticed his handy work, but it looks like the over-achieving beaver is building the Empire State Building of dams and this could be a problem for the small stream that drains through the pond. He swims late in the day when the sun has warmed the pond, so I’ll be back around 4pm to see if I can catch him.
Daily Catskills: 11/21/15
34F at 8.30am with hazy sunshine, quickly rising to 38F by 9.30am and warm in the sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
Daily Catskills: 11/20/15
45F by noon, clear skies with a light breeze. Warm in the sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
Daily Catskills: 11/19/15
55F at raining by noon. Overcast, blustery and humid.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm
Daily Catskills: 11/18/15
43F at 8.30am, partly cloudy, sunny and breezy. 50F and cloudy by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.20am
Daily Catskills: 11/17/15
40F by 8.30am, a layer of frost, clear and sunny with a dash of haze on the horizon. 46F by 2pm with frost lingering in the shaded areas.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.20am
Daily Catskills: 11/16/15
45F at 8.30am with mist rolling off the mountains to reveal a hazy sunrise. Update: 55F and warm in the sun by 2pm.
© Jenny Neal 8.20am – Usage prohibited without consent
Daily Catskills: 11/15/15
45F at 10am with brilliant sunshine and wispy layers of cloud, rising to 48F and warm in the sunshine.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
© J.N. Urbanski 2.20pm
Daily Catskills: 11/13/15
45F at noon, overcast and gloomy. Mid-afternoon rain with bone-chilling winds.
© J.N. Urbanski 3.30pm
© J.N. Urbanski 2.50pm
Daily Catskills: 11/12/15
Daily Catskills: 11/11/15
Daily Catskills: 11/10/15
Downstate Dispatch: The Pines in Brooklyn
© J.N. Urbanski
Pork shoulder, beef burger sliders, crostini with cranberry ricotta, polenta with roasted Brussels sprouts, kale salad, pheasant soup and a plate of roasted, assorted spuds, all washed down with local cider from Wayside in East Delhi. That was last night’s delicious menu at The Pines’ backyard Catskills Comes To Brooklyn blowout that was packed to the rafters with hungry New Yorkers feasting on local produce and roasting s’mores over the fire. We even got to taste Wayside’s limited edition crab apple cider, which was worth the trip in itself, but not sure if it beats our current favorite, Wayside’s Skinny Dip, which is made with local quince. Owner of the Pines, Carver Farrell hails from upstate and a big supporter of local food. When you’re next in the city, visit The Pines. There are no photographs of the food, because it sadly did not stay on the plate long enough. Plus Wayside’s cider slips down so very easily and smoothly, just like we did after three glasses. You will just have to go and find out for yourself.
© J.N. Urbanski
Daily Catskills: 11/09/15
50F by 11am, clear and sunny. 53F by noon, with long strips of passing cloud cover and warm in the sun.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 11/08/15
44F by 1pm, cloudy and overcast. Some scattered showers that rolled in with new cloud cover and sunny periods when the cloud cover parted. Mostly sunny by the end of the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.40pm
Daily Catskills: 11/06/15
65F at 9.30am, gusty, cloudy and humid, rising to 70F by noon. Rain mid-afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 11am