Giant Ledge & Panther Mountain (Catskill Park)
Hike Type: Out-and-Back
Distance: 6.81 miles
Elevation: 2031 feet
Time: 3 hours, 46 minutes (3 hours, 39 minutes moving)
Hiking Challenges: Catskill 3500 Club
It’s February vacation! Before I made my obligatory visit to NJ to see the family (and get a haircut…), I decided to tackle one of the Catskill 3500 peaks. The club requires four of it’s mountains to be climbed in the winter for the 35’er patch, which happily narrowed down my choices! I ended up hiking Panther Mountain via Giant Ledge, which ended up being an excellent choice (my other idea was Blackhead, which according to FB posts was an icy disaster). I left Boston around 4:45am, and got started on my hike just before 9:00am. 18-degrees at the trailhead, I was playing with my layers until finally deciding on leggings, sweatpants, darn toughs, long sleeve base layer, fleece zip up, and merino wool buff. I wore the puffy for the first 10 seconds and then packed it in. Overall, my layers worked great. I definitely failed at not sweating, but I was able to alternate between rolled up just baselayer to full gloves/buff/fleece relatively comfortably. EITHER WAY, let’s get hiking!
I crossed the street at the hairpin turn and got started hiking by crossing a footbridge and IMMEDIATELY sipping in a way only Scooby Doo could do and falling hard on my right side. Thankfully I was able to walk it off, but WHAT a way to start the hike. I decided to not take iPhone notes during this hike just to unplug some more, which was a lovely plan that I thoroughly enjoyed. I don’t mind taking notes during the hike, but when I’m doing a bigger hike (i.e., up an actual mountain), I like to be more in-the-moment.
The first part of the hike follows the yellow-blazed Phoenicia East Branch Trail, gently ascending up a ridge. There was crusty snow on the ground with a few icy patches, but nothing too slippery. There was one steeper area that was 100% ice flow, but a footpath/trail has been made around that section. It was relatively breezy this morning, and I couldn’t tell if the loud tree knocking was because of the breeze, an animal, or Bigfoot (probably Bigfoot). Again, I was trying not to sweat, but to no surprise, failing miserably.
A little under a mile in, the trail reaches a junction with the blue-blazed Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow Trail. The first part of this section had lots of woodpeckers and was fully flat and frozen - I only fell through a few spots. I had the pleasure of following a rabbit’s footprints during this section. I could tell when warm, this section of trail would be soaked. Looking at the AllTrails app, I could see there was a steeper climb coming up, so I took a moment to take my fleece off and put the spikes on for this section, which was a good move. There were only two sets of footprints ahead of me, but they got a little lost at the steeper section, leaving me to “break trail” (thankfully only though 1” of snow). Near the top of Giant Ledge, there are a bunch of campsite spurs, which I definitely got lost on, but was able to bushwhack my way shortly back to the trail and the first viewpoint, where I found the duo ahead of me. They were having truly a fantastic morning - they had food and a stove for a hot beverage. Good for them! I thanked them for their footprints and continued on my way.
There were a few more viewpoints along the trail showcasing the incredible view from Giant Ledge - I’m really looking forward to getting to know the Catskills more so I can know what I’m looking at! There was a bit of old graffiti at one of the viewpoints, which I always find to be super cool. The trail begins to gently, and then steeply descend to a col between Giant Ledge and Panther Mountain. It was COLD in this col - I fully re-bundled up. Some new animal tracks appeared in the col - likely a coyote (could be a bobcat, could be a wolf if they have those?), that accompanied me for the rest of my trip.
There were seasonal views up to Panther through the trees, and then I started to climb again! The climb overall was rather forgiving - any steep sections were followed by a relatively flat section. There was one excellent view of Giant Ledge & Slide Mountains. The trail itself traversed some beautiful, rocky scenery, and I got to see a few OLD blazes, which was fun. There was one final STEEP section, which was more daunting visually than it was in practice, which leads to the 3500’ sign! The coyote tracks would disappear and reappear, clearly avoiding more challenging terrain.
The final stretch of trail was much more gentle with a few tricky ice flows that thankfully were not too steep. The tracks led me right to the summit area, which has a small view and tree with a “P” carved in. I saw the AllTrails track continued past the summit area, which could have been nothing or it could have led to another view, but I figured I could check it out when I have to do Panther again in a non-winter month. It turns out I would never meet my coyote friend, which was truly okay, but I did appreciate how the tracks made me feel like Snow White for a little while.
The return trip started as-expected, I passed my friends again as they were heading up panther and a couple other hikers, made my way down the steep section safely, and noticed the snow and ice was starting to melt. Giant Ledge itself was an absolute madhouse of tourist hikers, which is fine, but not my cup of tea, so I picked up my pace to get away from the crowds. The flat part of the trail was a wet, icy, muddy, swampy mess, but the final stretch on the yellow-blazed trail was peaceful with less people. I signed the register and made it back to my car, where it was now a balmy 37-degrees. One man approached me asking where the trailhead is, how long it took me, and how far I went, and then commented on how my pace was “good” and how that was “good for me,” which wasn’t necessary but well-intentioned. I did my journaling, and then made my way to NJ!
Step-by-Step
Park at Giant Ledge parking area.
Follow yellow-blazed Phoenicia East Branch Trail
At junction, turn left onto blue-blazed Giant Ledge-Panther-Fox Hollow Trail.
Summit Giant Ledge, continue on, summit Panther, and retrace steps to car.
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