Slide Mountain Wilderness

Another Friday off from work, so that meant time for another adventure run. My drug of choice this week was the Catskills High Peaks Region - a return trip after a long absence to one of my favorite hiking regions in New York State. I had mapped out a route for the Slide Mountain Wilderness loop, similar to a run I'd done a few years ago. I'd start and finish at the Denning Road Parking Area while traversing Slide, Cornell and Wittenberg Mountains in a counterclockwise direction. The route would include an brief out-and-back to the Terrace Mountain lean-to, (just to see what's there), and an out-and-back up Giant Ledge to the summit of Panther Mountain. From there, I'd return to the car via Oliverea Road and the Phoenicia East Branch Trail. The weather outlook was mostly sunny with a high of 70, so everything was good to go. Coincidentially, this was the same day that I mailed my waiver and entry fee for Manitou's Revenge, which would be my first trail race in the Catskills. The proposed route also covered most of Red Newt Racing's Cat's Tail Marathon - a point to point trail race around the Slide Mountain Wilderness.

Panoramic view from atop Cornell Mountain

The trail climbs gradually up into the wilderness from the Denning Road Parking Area. The first few miles aren't very technical, and I made a mental note that I'd have a blast later on when running down this stretch to the car. At about 1.2 miles the trail reaches a junction where one can take a right to climb Table and Peakamoose Mountains, two of the Catskills High Peaks. My course split to the left though, following the Long Path, and I continued on to another junction