Friday Mountain's Slide/ The Dink(Catskills)

Met up with my buddy Jim and headed down to the Catskills to hike the steep east slopes between Friday Mountain and Cornell Mountain from Moon Haw Road today.  We've both already summited these peaks(more than once), but our agenda today was to really explore the slopes in search of hidden views, as well as the slide on Friday.  We started from the end of Moon Haw Road at just under 1200 feet in elevation.  We had to climb up and over the small rise on state land to get down to the tributary of Wittenburg Brook that we wanted.

The tributary made for a very pleasant companion on our route up.  As we gained elevation, the brook splits yet again at just under 2000 feet.  We stayed on the left branch and continued up.

A little over 2000 feet, we began to hit the lower part of the slide.  Although steep and mostly open, it is also not the most impressive slide, as it is now over 50 years old and has grown in a bit. 

From the lower parts of the slide, we began to see Cornell's impressive 3860 foot summit rising directly above us.

A bit higher on the slide, the view of Cornell and its ridge to the Dink only got better.  There was even still a hint of fall color hanging on.

More of the ridge comprising the Dink.

The top end of the slide is visible in this shot.

We managed to find our way over to the top end of the slide, where the rock and scree was a bit loose on the steep slopes.  We had to be very careful with our footing here.

From the top of the slide, the vantage point east is quite nice, with Samuels Point direclty beyond Cornell's shoulder.

Jim checking out the slide, trying to keep his footing.

Once above the slide, the ascent got even steeper, with many large jumbled areas of rock.

We took a NW route up the slopes, which proved to be a bit easier.  Once below the Dink(the unofficial name for the 3655 foot peak between Friday and Cornell), we found through the trees views of Cornell, still high above.

Once above 3000 feet, the ascent became very steep and rock filled. 

From the increasingly steeper slopes, good views over towards Friday Mountain began to unfold.

While the calendar still may read October, winter has begun to rear its head in the higher elevations.

We gained a steep ledge near the upper reaches of Cornell and found a sweet view over towards Balsam Cap(right) and Ashokan High Point(far left).

Ashokan High Point(left) and Little Rocky(right).

A stark November looking landscape greeted us as we neared 3600 feet.

Once on the ridge at about 3700 feet, we hit thick spruce.  Instead of heading over to Cornell(which was less than 2/10 of a mile away), we headed south along the ridge towards the Dink. 

 

After a wooded, nondescript summit visit of the Dink, we dropped back down off the nearly vertical escarpment wall in search of views, and found a very nice look down at the Ashokan Reservoir.

The descent was incredibly steep and even a bit scary.  We had to be extremely careful in choosing our route because of the steep ledges.  Here, an enormous section of the ledge literally was carved off. 

It was a long and steep descent all the way back to the car, but we took our time and made it safely.  Hiked a little over 8 miles RT and nearly 3000 feet of ascent.