Devil's Path
Dance with the Devil | Taking on Devil's Path
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This weekend I finally made it up to the Catskills to hike Devil's Path, and I'm sorry to report, the Devil won. More on that later, but let's start with what Devil's Path is. Devil's Path is a brutal 24-mile hike through the Catskills which summits 5 mountains. Known as one of the country's most dangerous trails, officials report someone dies on Devil's Path just about every year. It even made Outside Magazine's list of the 20 most dangerous hikes in the world.
The Trail
Devil's Path, aptly named, is no joke. There is little flat ground for hikers to enjoy. The majority of the trail is either spent climbing or descending steep ascents and navigating large and often slippery rock faces. As soon as I did some reading up on the trail, I was hooked. The plan for an epic backpacking trip began and I couldn't wait to get started.
We had actually initially intended to do the hike last summer but changed our plan at the last minute. We hadn't spent the appropriate time planning for the trip so we opted for an "easier" hike nearby. If you read my tale from last summer, you may remember that hike ending with us being stranded a few hours from camp and having to be rescued by State Park Rangers.
Nevertheless, I was determined to take on Devil's Path. We made the mistake of not taking last year's trip seriously enough, a mistake we would not make again. I spent weeks reviewing trail maps and charts and putting together a carefully crafted plan for the trip complete with packing lists, elevation charts, extra maps, and meal plans.
Planning
Since we had no experience with the trail, we opted not to take on the entire thing. Our initial plan was to split the full 24 miles into 3 days, but instead, we decided to hike two full days, about 17 miles, and then take a short 1-mile hike out to our car on the third day.
I went over everything at least once a day in the week leading up to the trip, but finally, last Friday, it was time to go. Three of us left Long Island at 5:30 am to get to the trail at a reasonable time, we had 8.5 miles planned for the first day and three summits. After dropping off a car at our anticipated finish we headed to the eastern trailhead and set off into the wilderness at around 10:30.
Day 1
First up was Indian Head Mountain with just over 1,300ft of climbing. The ascents were steep but we were excited for the trip to be underway. We hit our first scenic outlooks once we were near the top and I can promise that the views were worth the climb.
The accomplishment of reaching the summit was short-lived as we immediately began our descent, we still had two mountains to climb. Twin Mountain was an easier climb than Indian Head but climbing Sugarloaf was a swift reminder of what we'd gotten ourselves into.
Although the descents offered a break from the exhausting climbs, they were significantly more uncomfortable. My legs ached with every jolting step down and my toes were beginning to blister from spending so much time jammed into the front of my boots.
By 5:30 we'd completed the 8.5-mile hike and climbed close to 3,500ft for the day. We picked a spot between mountains at Mink Hollow to camp for the night because it offered a shelter so we wouldn't need to set up tents for the night. We headed to a nearby spring to refill water for the night and quickly got a fire going.
We'd packed a few freeze-dried meals for the night and I was pleasantly surprised that they were actually pretty delicious. This is perhaps my favorite part of any backpacking adventure aside from the scenery. The feeling of accomplishment you get sitting around a fire after a brutal day of hiking can't be beaten.
Day 2
Waking up Saturday morning, everyone was moving a bit more slowly than we had the day before. Plateau Mountain was next on the list and we'd heard from other hikers on the trail that it was a beast. It did offer a few miles of flat ground once you reached the peak though! There was another spring just under a mile onto the trail so we stopped to fill up on water.
The process of filtering spring water can be a bit slow so we had plenty of time waiting until everyone was full. It was clear that my two hiking partners were in much worse shape than I was and morale was low. Little was said as we started climbing again, we just kept trudging forward eagerly awaiting the terrain to level out.
Once we reached the top, the mood of the group changed drastically. We found ourselves on a narrow trail lined with pine trees. There was something almost mystical about the way the mist hung in the air as we slowly hiked down the trail. At almost 4,000ft we stopped at a few of the scenic outlooks to watch the clouds blowing through the surrounding valleys.
It wasn’t long before we started heading down again and it was 1,700ft to the bottom. Maybe it was the fatigue from how far we’d already come, but the descent down from Plateau was the most painful by far. It began raining about halfway down and my friends once again became noticeably silent.
There was one more mountain between us and the finish line for the day but we wouldn’t make it that far. By the time we made it off of Plateau, the rest of the group was finished. There was a campground at the bottom and we decided to call it quits. Luckily the campground had a payphone and we were in a cab headed back to our car within an hour.
I was disappointed we didn’t make it as far as we’d hoped, but we came close and had an awesome hike regardless. 14 miles, 4 mountains, and an ungodly amount of elevation change. It was our first time on the trail and if anything, I feel like it just prepared me more for a return visit.
I'll Be Back
Before we had even finished hiking down Plateau, I was already planning a return trip and I'm confident now that I can make the full hike. Some hikers take on the challenge of completing the full 24 miles in one day and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't drawn to the idea.
I didn't choose this trip because it would be easy, and even though I had an amazing time, there was certainly plenty of shared misery on the trail. I chose this hike because I knew it would test my limits. I knew that there would be plenty of suffering but that it would just make the accomplishment so much more rewarding by the finish.
The path may have beaten us this time but I'll be back and I can't wait to return to the trail.