Winisook Lake Mountain Traverse(Catskills)

My buddy Jim and I were a bit stumped on where to hike this week with another hot and humid day on tap.  We threw out some ideas but finally settled on hiking a "water route", which meant climbing a mountain with plenty of water options close by to keep cool.  Since nearly all of this week's heavy rains were focused on the Catskills, we determined that we would head there.  As always, if time permits, I take the scenic route to the hike.  Found this early morning gem looking south into Deep Notch today.

Today's goal was to do a two car traverse hike of 3260 foot Winisook Lake Mountain, starting from the north and completing it at the Slide Mountain trailhead south.  From a small parking area along County Route 47, we descended steeply down below 1800 feet to a small tributary.

 This tiny tributary was much more like a raging creek today, tumbling down through a mini gorge, creating an impressive falls.

 Just beyond the falls, we quickly arrived at a water crossing on the Esopus Creek.  This was our one concern for the day...could we safely make it across.

...Turns out we could!  Also turns out wet boots didn't feel all that bad on a steamy day like this.

 Once across the Esopus, we tried our best to hug the creek, following it west to a spot on the map called "Hanging Birds Nest".  Unfortunately the terrain had other ideas, chasing us up and over steep areas.

 About 6/10 of a mile west of our creek crossing, we finally arrived at the Hanging Birds Nest.  This area is really just an impressive gorge cut out by the Hanging Birds Nest creek, which tumbles down the steep north slopes of Spruce and Hemlock Mountains.

 Although this photo doesn't quite capture the immense power of the creek, this spot in particular was impressive.  A powerful 30 foot chute crashes down with incredible power here.

 From above the chute, which winds its way down the gorge.

The magical hardwoods along Hanging Birds Nest.

 As we ascended, we hit a virtual wall of nettles, slowing us down a bit.

 Once away from the creek, the heat and humidity really cranked up again.  The sun could be seen here breaking through the canopy in these magical woods.

 With the overwhelming amount of nettles we were hititng, we opted to hug the creek bed up, basically following the stream.  The benefits of this were two fold.  Number one, it got us away from the nettles. Number two, the creek and mist from the falls acted as mother natures air conditioner, keeping us a bit cooler.

 As we ascended along the creek bed, we hit some very nice waterfalls.  I caught Jim for a moment, here, happy to keep cool and soak in these picturesque falls.

Once again, the thundering power of this normally quiet creek, reminds us that mother nature is, and always be, in charge.

 More of the gorgeous falls.

 This shot provides a bit of perspective as to the sheer size of these falls.

 Jim, ascending along the creek.

 Nearing the headwaters of the Hanging Birds Nest creek, there was still ample water up high to create tumbling cascades.

 Once above 2400 feet, we left the creek bed and began a steep bushwhack up through a hardwood forest.  This is where the real heat and humidity began to kick in.

 We wandered along the top of the cirque below Hemlock's summit in search of views, but had no luck. A fun but uneventful trek across Hemlock brought us eventually over to Winisook Lake's western summit.  This is, by far, the more interesting summit, although not the true summit. 

 A sea of ferns and erratics make this a truly memorable summit experience.

 Rock cairns atop the large erratics. 

 About 50 feet lower than its eastern neighbor, the west summit is still a remarkable place, and made a great lunch spot today.

 About 1/3 of a mile away we finally reached the true 3260 foot summit.  Another Catskill Hundred Highest.  My 93rd such summit.

 Looking at our GPS, we both saw a very steep descent off the south side of the peak.  With that in mind, we did our best to find some views.  With a bit of fighting and clawing, we found this viewpoint down towards East Wildcat(with Table in the distance).

 A few feet up from the previous spot, I managed to find this view towards nearby Slide Mountain(left).

A steep bushwhack near the state property line brought us back down 800+ feet to our waiting car at the Slide Mountain Trailhead.

Arrived back at the car, drenched in sweat. Luckily, the West Branch of the Neversink sits just a few yards away, and gave us the opportunity to wash up.  About 8 miles RT with about 1900 feet of ascent.