Devil’s Path and Hunter Mountain

Catskill Park, NY Hudson Valley + Catskills

Trip stats

Distance
27.1 mi
Net Gain
8,900 ft
Time
11-15 hrs
YDS Rating
Class 2
Route
Shuttle
Peaks
9

Ratings out of 10

Effort
10/10
Personality
6/10
Beauty
9/10
Solitude
4.3/10
What do these mean? →

Peaks on this hike

Summits listed in route order

Ridgeline of the 9 summits in route order 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
  1. Indian Head
    3,573′ elevation · 453′ prominence
  2. Twin Mountain-South Peak
    3,580′ elevation · 100′ prominence
  3. Twin Mountain
    3,640′ elevation · 820′ prominence
  4. Sugarloaf Mountain
    3,800′ elevation · 1,180′ prominence
  5. Plateau Mountain
    3,840′ elevation · 1,760′ prominence
  6. Hunter Mountain
    4,040′ elevation · 2,140′ prominence
  7. West Kill Mountain-East Peak
    3,720′ elevation · 60′ prominence
  8. West Kill Mountain
    3,880′ elevation · 1,220′ prominence
  9. Saint Annes Peak
    3,420′ elevation · 200′ prominence

Route map + Trailhead

Trailhead Coordinates

42.134210, -74.104280

The directions link below drops a pin on the trailhead coordinates and lets Google Maps pick the route. If the drive has rough roads or access issues that GPS nav might get wrong, I cover that in my trip report.

Get directions (opens Google Maps in a new tab)

Trip report

Jun 26, 2020 — The Devil's Path is an officially named trail that summits a bunch of peaks in the Catskills and requires two cars to set up a shuttle. Adam and I have been talking about doing this route for years, and finally got to coordinate a hike. Although the official Devil's Path route doesn't unclude Hunter Mountain, we added into the mix since it was right off the Devil's Path trail and I woud have been pretty upset if we had walked right by this major summit. The peaks along our route included Indian Head, Twin Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Plateau Mountain, Hunter Mountain, West Kill Mountain, and Saint Annes Peak, as well as a couple of minor named bumps along the way. We parked the end car at the Mink Hollow Trailhead (42.19173, -74.32491), the start car at the coordinates listed for this trip report at the Prediger Road Trailhead. Overall I'd say the Devil's Path is a great route for the first half, but loses its luster after that.

Photos and captions below might be more helpful for describing this route. It's a long day with lots of forested peaks, green tunnels, occasional views, and some nice Class 2 scrambling that added some fun to the well-maintained trail. We lost daylight after West Kill Mountain, but it was more of the same stuff: rocky trail through a forest, with some minor Class 2.

Hire me or show some love!

Hire or refer me as a web developer, or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so it's funded by yours truly. It also takes a ton of work to edit photos and write these reports. I really appreciate it!

Hire me PayPal Venmo Cash App

Photos

79 photos

  1. Prediger Road Trail Head, starting along the Devil's Path.
  3. Heading up to Indian Head.
  6. View along the way up to Indian Head.
  11. A fun Class 2 section on an eroded section of trail.
  12. Looking back down the Class 2 section.
  13. Lookout on the way to Indian Head.
  14. Traversing the ridge leading up to Indian Head.
  15. A fun little notch leading up a cliff band on the way to Indian Head.
  16. The Devil's Path goes over Indian Head's summit, which is forested.
  17. Heading down off Indian Head, Twin Mountain visible on the left.
  18. Jimmy Nolan Notch, the saddle between Indian Head and Twin Mountain.
  19. Heading up to Twin Mountain.
  20. Some short Class 2 sections along the way up to Twin Mountain.
  23. Views on Twin Mountain.
  26. Sugarloaf Mountain visible ahead as we descend off Twin Mountain.
  28. View toward Sugarloaf Mountain as we descend off Twin Mountain.
  29. Pecoy Notch, separating Twin Mountain from Sugarloaf Mountain. Onward to Sugarloaf.
  31. An interesting short scramble using a tree's roots.
  32. Looking back toward Twin Mountain.
  34. Ascending to Sugarloaf Mountain.
  35. Sugarloaf Mountain summit somewhere.
  36. Descending from Sugarloaf Mountain, Plateau Mountain visible ahead.
  37. Ascending Plateau Mountain.
  40. There are a bunch of short Class 2 moves like this one.
  43. Another small notch along the trail to Plateau Mountain.
  44. Views along Plateau Mountain.
  45. Most of Plateau Mountain's summit ridge looks like this, forested.
  46. View before descending off Plateau Mountain's west side.
  47. West side of Plateau Mountain, view toward Hunter Mountain, our next peak.
  48. Descending from Plateau Mountain.
  49. Long descent from Plateau Mountain.
  50. Junction with NY-214, a cute little pond.
  51. Just after crossing NY-214, a footbridge and the second half of the Devil's Path.
  52. I loved the ascent up to Hunter Mountain. It's steep and lush and has a few fun little scrambles.
  56. Continuing up toward Hunter Mountain.
  58. Junction with the trail to Hunter Mountain. We would leave the Devil's Path temporarily (goes left) to hit Hunter Mountain (right).
  59. Very boring trail up to Hunter Mountain.
  61. Hunter Mountain lookout tower.
  62. View from the lookout tower on Hunter Mountain.
  63. Back at the junction with the Devil's Path, continuing west. We passed this shelter.
  64. Descending from Hunter Mountain.
  65. Unfortunately, the Hunter Mountain Trail descends farther than it has to. Instead of sticking to the ridge, it descends about 600 feet of vertical loss farther to the north.
  66. Fortunately, there is a gorgeous little waterfall once the Devil's Path descends from Hunter Mountain, just before ascending to West Kill Mountain.
  67. The trail crosses over a dirt road and then a footbridge.
  68. Close-up of the waterfall, the footbridge we crossed over above. I took a minute to cool off before we would start the final major ascent. This waterfall was probably my favorite part of the hike and was a nice reprieve from the otherwise sometimes monotonous forest walking.
  70. Ascending to West Kill Mountain.
  73. More typical Class 2 fun sections, but nothing particularly of note.
  77. Just before the summit of West Kill Mountain, a nice view.
  79. West Kill Mountain summit. We ran out of daylight, but the descent from West Kill Mountain passes of Saint Annes Peak and through more forest and whatnot. Really at this point we were getting a bit bored of the monotony.

Photo 1 of 1

Hire me or show some love!

Hire or refer me as a web developer, or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so it's funded by yours truly. It also takes a ton of work to edit photos and write these reports. I really appreciate it!

Hire me PayPal Venmo Cash App
GPX track

Devil’s Path and Hunter Mountain GPX route and driving track

The complete GPX track is available to download, so you can load the route straight into your navigation app or device. The trip report, route info, photos and planning details stay free.

Add to cart View cart