Skills/Info
Outdoor Skills and Helpful Tips
New York’s Catskill Mountains are located between the mid-Hudson River and the upper Delaware River about 120 miles northwest of the Atlantic Ocean and 200 miles southeast of Lake Ontario. The climate is moderate with about 60 inches of precipitation annually. Check monthly averages here.
With few hot summer days and cool to mild spring and fall seasons, the Catskills are a great place to hike. Winters are cold and snowy, offering perfect snowshoeing conditions.
As with hiking anywhere, it’s important to know the kinds of weather conditions you may have to deal with and to have the proper gear to make your hike comfortable and safe. Because of their location, the Catskills get significant precipitation in every month. The many kills (streams), so picturesque most of the time, can become raging torrents with little warning immediately after a significant rainfall. Likewise, winter can bring blizzard conditions that can add feet of fresh snow over several hours, covering well-broken trails and fresh tracks quickly. Temperatures on summits are usually around 10 cooler than at trailheads. As a result, you may encounter ice and deep snow at high elevations when the snow is gone in the valleys.
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