Mine Kill State Park

Mine Kill State Park, nestled in the picturesque Schoharie Valley, provides a scenic vantage point overlooking the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project by the NY Power Authority. The lower reservoir is a fishing haven, stocked with trout, walleye, bass, and more, catering to motor boating, kayaking, and water skiing. The park features an Olympic-sized pool, wading pool, and diving pool, free for the public to use (no fees are collected at this park due to hydro plant subsdies). Swim lessons are available in summer. Warm weather pursuits include hiking, mountain biking on the 8-mile trail network, and soccer on regulation fields. The park’s namesake, Mine Kill Falls, an 80-foot cascade through a gorge, is accessible via overlook platforms and the Long Path trail. Winter brings snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling opportunities.

Good Evening – September 12, 2021

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Good afternoon! That water in the Mine Kill Pool is so cold. 🏊‍♀️

It’s just so tough to swim in 60 degrees water. I can do a few laps before my muscles get hardened up from the cold.

Partly cloudy and 77 degrees at the Mine Kill State Park. ⛅ There is a west-southwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 66 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 11 am.

Did some nice hiking yesterday. I hiked the Windham Path outside of Windham – a scenic nature trail right outside the village and then did the Catskill Scenic Trail 🚶 – a lightly traveled rail trail between Grand Gorge and Hubbell’s Corners, through the deep gap where there headwaters of the East Branch of the Delaware River run. 🗻 I wasn’t planning to drive through Windham but I ended up going that way as I got gas in Durham and got on the wrong road heading up over the ridge. ⛽

I always forget how big and dramatic the mountains are in the Catskills around Windham ⛰ as I rarely get up this way – and the places with the good camping on backcountry roads tends to be relatively flat. I like the mountains a lot but my feelings about the Catskills and all of New York State are kind of mixed. 💭 I just feel like taxes are so high in New York State 💵 and the state really likes to punish rural communities.

I was hoping to camp at Duck Pond again but that campsite was taken. 🏕 So I ended up camping on Betty Brook. I kind of like that campsite, it’s fully off the grid and is small so it’s easy to light and set up although it’s always a bit of a challenge to get Big Red backed in between the trees. 🌲🌲🛻 It got pretty muddy as I decided to take Red up Burnt Hill Road from Blenheim and that section is kind of rough. Muddy too, Big Red will need a bath 🛀 this week.

Looking Glass Pond was drained, 🎣 so no fishing while I was up there, although there was a dad and their kid working a trap line 🐀 harvesting muskrats along the shore line when I was walking there. 🌽 Got sweet corn and veggies at Shauls and then went for another swim. 🏊‍♂️ But alas the water 💦 is so cold so it’s hard to swim.