Recent Updates to the Catskills All Trails Challenge Tally Sheet

February 10, 2021    The NYS DEC has recently opened the Red Hill Fire Tower Trail, a 1.4 mile addition that is combined with an older 0.6 mile section of trail to lead to the fire tower from Denning Road. The remainder of the the old trail from Dinch Road, 0.8 miles from the intersection, has been named the Dinch Road Connector.Earlier, the DEC incorporated an old snowmobile trail into the Vernooy Kill Falls Trail, increasing its length to 3.5 miles.  There is a small trailhead in Greenville in addition to the one on Upper Cherrytown Rd.

The Catskills All Trails Challenge Gets a Facebook Group

April 24, 2019    With the growing interest in the Catskills All Trails Challenge (CATC), we have created a Facebook group dedicated to the folks who are hiking the Challenge. The page gives you a place to connect with one another, share information and advice about the trails, ask questions, make plans, share routes, find hiking and carpooling partners and post pictures and descriptions of your adventures on the trails of the Catskill Park.Anyone who has hiked or is interested in hiking the All Trails Challenge is welcome to join the group.  You'll need a Facebook account to join.  Simply go to the following link and ask to join. Catskills All Trails Challenge on Facebook.We welcome all hikers who share our values of good stewardship of the Catskill Park. We endorse Leave No Trace principles and compliance with the rules and regulations written by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in order to protect the Catskill Forest Preserve, which was created to protect these lands as "Forever Wild" by an Amendment to the New York State Constitution.  These regulations include limited hiking group sizes, with a legal limit of 20 without a special permit.  We suggest a limit of 12 to limit impacts on sensitive and endangered plant communities, and to preserve the quality of the wilderness experience.  For more, visit our page Recreational Use Regulations for the Catskill Park Forest Preserve.

Catskills All Trails Challenge: Adding the New Overlook Mountain Trails

There are two recent additions to the trail system on Overlook Mountain. The Meads Meadow Trail and the Overloop Trail provide new easy to moderate hikes that loop north off the Overlook Spur Trail, which has been extended to the new Meads Meadow Trailhead parking area. Together they add 1.8 miles of new trails. Going forward, those trails are being added to the list of trails that must be hiked in order to complete the All Trails Challenge requirements. With their inclusion their are now 347 miles of designated hiking trails that must be hiked to receive your cetificate, patch and shirt. More Happy Hiking!Overlook Mountain Wild Forest map.

Catskills All Trails Challenge: De-listing the Jockey Hill Trails

After careful consideration, the CMC has decided to de-list the Jockey Hill Trails as a hike required to qualify for the Catskills All Trails Challenge certificate of completion. Like the Elm Ridge trails in Greene County, which were never listed as required hikes, Jockey Hill trails are multi-purpose and are designed with the needs of mountain biking users in mind. The Department of Environmental Conservation has indicated that the trail system at Jockey Hill will be expanded to serve those needs. These additions further change the hiking experience through the design of trails that form multiple loops. Similar improvements have been made at Elm Ridge, and the CMC applauds the decision of the DEC to expand mountain biking opportunities in the Catskill Park. However, such trails are not conducive to a satisfying hiking experience.To those who have already hiked Jockey Hill in its current configuration, we say congratulations. We hope you enjoyed your explorations there. Feedback from some CATs hikers, along with consultation with the DEC about the expanded system have informed our decision. Of course, any hiker is more than welcome to explore both Jockey Hill and Elm Ridge. Until the current supply of CATs Challenge tee shirts runs out, Jockey Hill will continue to be listed on the shirt. It will be removed from the published list of required hikes. As this development illustrates, the trail system in the Catskill Park in dynamic. New trails are sometimes added and old trails are sometimes rerouted or abandoned. We appreciate input from our members and friends and look forward to hearing from you as you continue the quest. Thanks for participating and for spreading the word about the Catskills All Trails Challenge and the wonderful trails and features that are discovered with each hike!