Catskills Travel Guide: Discover Hunter Mountain & The Catskills
The mountains rise green and gentle, 100 miles north of the city and a world away from its pace. The Catskills smell of hemlock, fallen leaves, and smoke curling from farmhouse chimneys in valleys that have drawn New Yorkers seeking escape since the 19th century. In winter, snow blankets the slopes, and in fall, the hardwoods turn red and gold for weeks. The air tastes clean. The quiet is renewing.
This is Rip Van Winkle country, where Washington Irving set his tale of a man who wandered into the mountains and woke up twenty years later. The landscape still enchants with pine forests opening to valley views, waterfalls tumbling through shaded ravines, and small towns humming with artisanal energy.
