Rain, rocks, Plateau Mountain

A strenuous four mile trek to climb Plateau Mountain, one of the Catskill 3500 peaks.

Parking: 42.143324, -74.157906 583 Mink Hollow Rd, Elka Park, NY 12427
Miles: 4 +/- 
Hours: 3 hours in the rain, faster in dry conditions I'm sure.

Gear: 

• Daypack (29L) with rain cover, 2L water 
• First aid pack for 1 person, tape, knife, multitool, water filter 
• Casio Patherfinder Watch with compass, altimeter and barometer, compass
• Counter Attack Bear Spray
• Smartphone for GPS
• Hat, Buff headband, gaitors, waterproof hiking boots
• Trekking poles
• Map - New York New Jersey Trail Conference #141
• NO COTTON - Why no cotton?  Cotton is a thicker material and isn't as breathable as synthetic materials.  Once it's wet, it becomes heavier and takes longer to dry.

Plateau Mountain is one of four mountains along the Devil's Path that rises above 3,500 feet (the others are Sugarloaf, Twin and Indian Head).  It has a two-mile long summit ridge, with the elevation of 3,840 feet being its highest point.  

The route I took for this particular hike was a lower mileage trek that avoids a more strenuous loop involving the other 35 peaks near by.  I was actually hoping to bag three of these in one day on a loop but circumstances led me to hike all four separately.  The one mile approach and one mile vertical climb makes for a very strenuous hike; throw in soaking rain conditions and you also have a high potential for injury.  

Hiking in the rain can be fun, and miserable.  It's really an inevitable task given the amount of time I spend hiking.  Several times has it rained on me during a hike or overnight, but I can't remember starting many hikes in the rain.  I would have to learn to love it if I wanted to move on to bigger mountains and longer trips into the wilderness (and I do).

The first mile of this hike is the warm-up to the 1,240 foot climb that awaits.  It is easy but enough to make you sweat.  From the parking lot and proceeding to the unmarked trail, I read the bear activity warnings posted at start of the path.  I took comfort in the bear spray attached to my hip, just in case I have another encounter with a black bear.  Better safe than dead, right?  

The thick canopy above held the rain and gave it to me in uneven increments as the leaves on the limbs of branches swayed with the wind.  My hat kept it out of my face and it wasn't really an issue.  What WAS the issue was the abundance of wet, slippery rocks that littered the trail.  One misstep, one slip could turn an ankle or twist a knee.  The risk is no less going downhill.  In my experience I think the risk is higher going down in wet conditions than going up.  Should you injury yourself and require aid to get out, your options at that point are self rescue or wait to see if there are other nuts hiking the same trial in the rain.  There is no cell service so calling 911 becomes a bit difficult.  

After a half mile I reached the junction with a yellow trail.  It continues to rise at about the same rate as it merges and moves towards the Devil's Path.

Where the yellow trail picks up the unmarked trail a Spring sign marks its direction. The trail terminates at that spring.  Looking left I saw the trail markers and continued up the mountain.

I took a breather at the Devil's Path junction as I reviewed the topography of the map and had a snack.  I'd sure need it.  It looked to be steep for half a mile and then really steep for the remainder of the ascent.  

What would have been a couple of nice views were only cloud cover.  Its difficult to depict in a photo the real sense of these steep inclines.  I hadn't hiked in a few months and I was huffing and puffing a little bit.  I don't know how long it took but I reached the summit ridge of Plateau Mountain.  I confirmed with my altimeter that I was standing at the highest point of the ridge.  With nowhere to go but down, I turned around and proceeded to retrace my steps.  It got a little hairy on the descent having slipped a few times; luckily I caught myself before hitting the ground hard.  The rain had begun to come down harder as I made my way along the trail.  Before long I was back at the junction with the yellow trail. Turning right it took about twenty five minutes to get back to my car.  Being soaking wet always sucks when you return to your car.  Changing clothes in the car and retrieving items from the trunk via the folded down rears seats makes for strange and careful movements.  I don't think it would make sense to change outside.  It was raining for shit sake!

After the hike I headed to a primitive campsite for the night.  The next day I was to summit Twin Mountain.