Greene County

Greene County

Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Its name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. As of the 2010 census, the population was 49,221. Its county seat is Catskill. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Greene County is located in southeast central New York State, just west of the Hudson River and south of Albany.

The northern and eastern regions are mostly low-lying flatlands. Along the Hudson River the lowest elevation is at sea level. The southern and western areas rise sharply into the Catskill Mountains.

Catskill Park takes up much of the south central region. The park contains some of the tallest peaks south of the Adirondacks. For example, the highest elevation is Hunter Mountain, at approximately 4,040 feet (1,232 m) above sea level; In addition, there are many picturesque waterfalls in the park such as the famed, Kaaterskill Falls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greene_County,_New_York

I arrived at the trail head off Big Hollow Road around 7 AM. I had set my alarm clock early, so I could get up the peaks early, and get some really good photographs. I also had wanted to get back early, so I could be back in Albany to do some political canvasing for Scott Murphy. While the later did not happen, as I was running late, the trail up the mountain was flat for the first 3/4 of a mile, then grew somewhat progressively steeper, as the red Black Dome Trail made it up to to the Yellow trail, the Blackhead Mountain Trail.

It was icy on parts of the trail, particularly as it went further uphill. Then the trail went far enough south to get beyond the very distinctive snow line. There was no snow or ice beyond this line, where the sun gets to the longest part of the day and without the cold northern winds. After the intersection, I went west towards Black Dome. I passed the 3,500 ft elevation sign. The trail gets steeper, and then it seemed to head just far enough north get back in the snow line. It was a bit slippery, but not too bad. Nice southerly views, a bit with trees blocking it.

Then the trail becomes steeper, climbing up a notch in a rock face. A little more snow and ice, then it gets in the woods, and becomes very icy, with the ice melting in the woods. The trail wasn’t all that steep at this point, but I decided not to continue up, and risk getting injured. I turned around, about 100 feet from the peak of Black Dome. I will return to this mountain after hiking up Thomas Cole once the weather warms and the remaining ice is gone.

I then descended Black Dome and continued up Black Head Mountain (the most easterly peak of TriMount). The trail up that was amazing, with some great westerly views, which I was fortunate enough to get some amazing pictures from. I made it up to the top of Black Head Mountain, and the Northern Trail / Escarpment Trail off the mountain was too icy to take back down. It was good insofar as it gave me more opportunities to take pictures on the way down from Black Head looking south-west. Amazing to see all the mountains. Made it back down to the truck around 1 PM.

This DEC trail map I photographed may also be of assistance.