With half a day still available to hike, I decided to check out 2582 foot Garfield Mountain-no not the cat-the mountain. Garfield doesn't really get much attention, and is seemingly just a far extension of Panther Mountain's long NE ridge. There is no trail going up Garfield but there are several different access points that you could pick out a route up with. I chose to start from Muddy Brook Road, where state land provides a route up towards Garfield's east ridge. Elevation to start was down at 1230 feet, so there would be some nice climbing to get up the mountain. The ascent began almost immediately, heading north through open hardwoods.
State land brings you around the steep east slopes below the ridge, and the footing can get quite tricky in spots. With the steep slopes come surprisingly good views too, though! At just under 1800 feet, I found some really good peeks down towards the Esopus Creek and Phoenicia. Tremper Mountain is in the distance, with Romer's north ridge on the right.
Circling around the NE slopes I managed to find one clear view north towards South Broadstreet Hollow's long ridge.
Unfortunately the state land stays just below the ridge nearly the entire way NW up towards the summit, making this hike a little tougher than expected. The conditions were nearly perfect however.
Finally up on the ridge, it was an easy climb up to the 2582 foot summit, which is fully wooded. Just a few yards away from the true top, I found what looks like a hiker hangout in a clearing, complete with a large rock cairn and several rock chairs.
I carefully made my way back SE off the summit, staying pretty close to my tracks up. Hiked about 4.6 miles RT with 1450 feet of climbing.
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