Headed out today to see how much snow fell in the Catskills from the last storm. Turns out it varied widely. At lower elevations there were spots in the southern Catskills around Palenville that had no snow at all. Areas in the northern Catskills around Windham appeared to have almost two feet of fresh snow.
Everywhere that snow had fallen it was heavy and wet so it was still clinging to the trees as the sun had not made an appearance until today. It makes for a white winter wonderland.
I wanted to get out on my snowshoes and since I haven’t done any snowshoeing since last season, I didn’t want to do too much. I decided to see how clear the road into West Kill was and it turns out it was plowed all the way to the last trailhead.
As this was just a shakedown trip to give the hips a chance to get used to the wider stance of snowshoes, I only did a short trip to Diamond Notch Falls figuring that would let me grab some nice photos. This area had about 10-12 inches of snow off trail. The snowshoes were probably overkill as the trail was broken all the way to the falls.
Turns out the actual falls are probably more photogenic when they are not covered in snow but the whole area was spectacular today.
Only two miles for the day and a 230’ ascent winding through the saplings bent over from the weight of the snow and ice. By the time I headed back to the car the sun was breaking through so I suspect the trees will be freed of their burden shortly and spring back upright.
