One of the Catskills most scenic hikes - the southern Escarpment Trail loop

The very southern portion of the 24 mile long Escarpment Trail in the Catskills never disappoints. We enjoyed a roughly 5.5 mile loop hike, utilizing the first four and a half miles or so of the Escarpment Trail, which takes you past a number of vistas, viewpoints, and ledges overlooking Kaaterskill Clove and the Hudson Valley.

We started the hike at the South Lake Dam in the North South Lake State Campground, walked down to the start of the Escarpment Trail, followed it north to the Catskill Mountain House site, where we walked back on the campground roads back to where our truck was parked at the dam.

The trail first passes an intersection with the Kaaterskill Falls Trail (you can go down that trail to the base of Kaaterskill Fall), and then comes to Layman’s Monument. At the monument there’s a limited view looking into Kaaterskill Clove, but shortly after the monument, there’s a much larger vista on top of a open rock ledge you climb to.

Past that vista, the trail runs along the edge of Kaaterskill Clove, giving almost constant views of the Clove below you (especially in the winter with no leaves). The trail goes past a number of different viewpoints, before climbing away from the edge of the escarpment to the top of South Mountain, where the former Kaaterskill Hotel once stood.

From the top of South Mountain, the hike is relatively level to Boulder Rock, which offers more views (though on this hike we didn’t take the side trail all the way down to Boulder Rock). From Boulder Rock the trail begins descending South Mountain and comes out to Pine Orchard (the former Catskill Mountain House site). This is a large open area with extensive views to the east across the Hudson Valley.

We turned off the Escarpment Trail here and hiked back the campground roads to our truck at the South Lake Dam.

All told, this was a 5.5 mile hike with minor elevation gain and loss.

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