Halcott Mountain(Halcott Mountain Wild Forest-Catskills)

When March gives you a sun splashed 50 degree day, you get out and enjoy it!  I decided to re-visit 3537 foot Halcott Mountain,  a 3500 foot Catskill High Peak that I had hit several years ago.  Halcott has always been known as a mountain without any real views, but my goal for the day was to challenge that thought.  I was a bit surprised to be the only car in the lot in Deep Notch when I arrived at about 9:30am, but Ill take it!!  Starting at just under 1800 feet, the climbing commences immediately on a well trodden herd path.  I decided to throw my spikes on and carry my snowshoes for when I get up to the summit area.

Crossing over a small stream, that is beginning to awaken from a deep winter sleep.

As always, stone walls are a staple of nearly every Catskill hike.

As you quickly gain elevation, the woods are very open and offer up nice screened views back over Deep Notch.  All that was missing were the trail markers, as a nice snowshoe trench made for easy going closely following a drainage up.

One thing that I do remember about Halcott, is that the terrain is very steep.  It is a good workout, as you gain over 1700 feet in less than a mile and a half.

The open woods just below the summit.  A cool breeze was actually pretty gratifying as I had worked up a decent sweat.

Arriving at the summit canister. 

At the summit, I switched my spikes for snowshoes and headed south, dropping just a bit.  After a few minutes, I could see what I thought was a view...and I was right!  Who says Halcott doesn't have a view?  A nice south facing view with Rose Mountain front and center.

Unfortunately, just out of view from the clearing are the ski slopes of Belleayre, which can still be seen through the trees.

I snowshoed around the summit ridge, trudging through easily two feet of snow in search of more views.  Nothing more than some screened views over Deep Notch, however.  

As temperatures continued to warm, the descent was a bit of an adventure.  Back in the established trench, I was slip sliding my way down.  At one point, I butt slid for quite a distance, holding on for dear life.  Once back below 2500 feet, it was a pretty straightforward drop back towards the car.  

One more shot of an old stone wall, buried under deep snow, with Balsam Mountain towering above across Deep Notch.

Hiked a bit over 4 miles total, with over 1800 feet of ascent.  Most of the way was more or less a trailed hike, with some deep snowshoe bushwhacking at the top.