Devil's Path (Catskills)

[db144]

Has anybody here walked the entire Devil's Path trail? If so, can I have an idea as to what you thought of the trail and the total length of the trip in days.


Thanks,


d

[Two Tents]

It can be done in a weekend. There are some pretty extreme scrambles and lots of elevation gain. I have done it a few times. We were going to do it in winter once but the snow was way too deep after the climb out of Mink hollow even with snowshoes. I think the total trail is just under 25 mi. I really like this trail. Probably my fav. in the Catskills. You won't regret doing this one. Water can be scarce and the Catskill camping regulations are no camping over 3500 ft. elevation ( depending on the time of year).

[Syb]

Devil's Path is one of my favorite hikes. Tough but a lot of fun. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I liked the length (2 days for us) but some people were doing it in one day and that would beat me up too much. It was challenging at parts and easier on others. We met a bunch of people at the shelter and enjoyed some time around the fire. I'm meeting friends up there in December but we're doing the Colgate Lake area. Again, I'd do Devil's Path at a moment's notice.

[Meriadoc]

I hiked the Devils Path this Oct. 21-23. We felt like being lazy* so we did it in 2.5 days. Lots of lovely scrambles and plenty of views. It's a very nice pine forest - and a welcome break from the mid-atlantic.

The Catskills were full to bursting with water after a record season. Water was flowing freely down most of the trails and was plentiful. We skipped all the springs noted on the map - the other water sources were better.

With that record season and hurricane Irene, there were road washouts that were still being repaired. We had to detour for a fairly long section to get to the trail head.

*Edit: Didn't address the main question

It is a fairly difficult trail, but in three days I think any solid backpacker could do it. Two days might push some people to exhaustion and take out some of the fun factor. Then again, I'm pretty sure that if I pushed it, I could cover the whole thing in one day with my backpacking backpack. My companion was pretty tired at the end of each day.

I think it depends what type of terrain you are used to; I'm not sure what is available in Rhode Island. I know that the terrain in the mid-atlantic won't prepare you for the DP. I'll compare it to other places I've hiked.
White Mountains of NH: easier than the whites but not too different difficulty wise. There are scrambling puzzles on the DP that the Whites don't really have..
14ers in the Colorado Rockies: easier than the rockies by dint of lower elevation - the DP was no challenge aerobically.
Terrain is steep similar to those two. Don't expect many switchbacks.