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89-498: Within those three towns, the Slide Wilderness might be better described as contained within the lands bounded on the north roughly by Esopus Creek and Route 28 , the east by Ulster County Route 42 (known in different towns as Sundown Road or Peekamoose Road) almost to the shores of Ashokan Reservoir , the west by Ulster County Route 47, and on the south by Sugarloaf Road and Red Hill Road. The area's wilderness character

178-477: A pitch pine - scrub oak barren, is found on the summits of Hallihan and Jockey hills in the town of Kingston , just northwest of the Saw Kill confluence. While there is some development clustered along Route 28 next to the stream, there is no significant agricultural use. Among the mountains within it or on its boundaries are 21 peaks over 3,000 ft (910 m) in elevation, including all or part of 16 of

267-457: A commercial landowner. Use of the land is limited to minimal-impact passive recreation such as hiking , camping , hunting and angling . No powered vehicles are allowed within (The use of chainsaws for trail maintenance is also permitted only by explicit written authority of the DEC commissioner ). There are no designated equestrian trails within the wilderness. While mountain bike usage

356-493: A game species in the springtime. In all, 98 species of birds are believed to make their home here. The streams of the Catskills, including those in this wilderness, are famous for their trout , and the brook , brown and rainbow varieties can be found here, although not in sufficient numbers to allow for intensive fishing. The 37 amphibian and reptile species found in the area include six deemed to be of special concern by

445-531: A half-mile (800 m) below Winnisook Lake it returns to the road's side and receives its unnamed first tributary from the east, draining another of Slide's hollows. Bending to the west northwest, the Esopus forms part of the boundary of the Big Indian Wilderness Area to its south as it receives Giant Ledge Stream from the north, draining the peak of that name and Panther Mountain ,

534-481: A half-mile with an apartment complex and strip mall on the south side and woodlands on the north of the 180-foot-wide (55 m) channel, Tannery Brook empties into the Esopus from a buried culvert just below where Route 28, now concurrent with Interstate 587 , crosses the creek for the last time. A half-mile past I-587, amid woodlands on both sides, the Esopus meanders parallel to the Thruway. Three-quarters of

623-412: A higher fault density in the bedrock on the Esopus, in the late 20th century. Later, the crater began to fill in with silt and became a crater lake . As the delta uplifted into a single plateau , the stream bed began to form along the heavily jointed and weaker shale and sandstone above the buried rim of the crater wall. As with the Catskills as a whole the newly forming streams began dissecting

712-605: A large bend that takes it below 600 feet (180 m) in elevation, the Esopus enters Ashokan Reservoir , 12 miles (19 km) below Allaben, the end of the creek's 26-mile (42 km) upper section. Four miles (6.4 km) from where it widens into the reservoir, just before Travers Hollow Brook and the Bush Kill drain into it, the main stem of the Esopus flows out of the reservoir's spillway . The reservoir continues for 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to its spillway near Olive Bridge . The reservoir's eastern section, slightly to

801-597: A long curve to the north and back southeastward over its next half-mile to where it crosses under the New York State Thruway just south of Exit 19, where the Catskill Park Blue Line leaves the stream to run along the west edge of the highway property. Another half-mile further downstream, Washington Avenue crosses; a state-owned public-access area with boat launch is located on the north bank along Sandy Road 500 feet downstream. After

890-682: A mile downstream on a meandering course with a narrow channel, the Kingston city line leaves the stream on the east. The meandering creek draws near to the Thruway in a mile and begins to run parallel to it. Just past a turn to the northeast the Town of Ulster maintains another public access area near the ballparks on Buckley Street on the south side of the 145-foot (44 m) channel. The Esopus crosses under Route 209 near Lake Katrine 1.1 mi (1.8 km) north of that point. A half-mile past that bridge, it receives another significant tributary,

979-502: A mountain stream — shallow, rocky and swift, with most of the stream's trout taken by anglers there. The upper portion is itself divided into a "small" and "big" stream by the outlet of the Shandaken Tunnel . Below the reservoir's spillway the stream begins again, becoming flatter, deeper and slower to its short estuary . The Esopus flows out of artificially created Winnisook Lake , at 2,660 feet (810 m) above sea level

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1068-442: A protected habitat on lands now part of the wilderness area, winter here. Cottontail rabbit and beaver also maintain lower population levels. Fisher were reintroduced to the area in the late 1970s and have thrived in numbers significant enough to make life difficult for the porcupine, always abundant in the Catskills. Birds are an especially important component of the local ecosystem for historical reasons. Bicknell's thrush

1157-401: A series of five cascades that drop 68 feet (21 m) over the course of the next 2,000 ft (610 m) of stream, Below Glenerie Falls, the Esopus, now below a hundred feet (30 m) in elevation, again turns north, paralleling U.S. Route 9W for a mile through a narrow, steep valley. After Glasco Turnpike (Ulster County Route 32) crosses the 100-foot channel, Route 9W veers off to

1246-402: A thousand feet downstream. It bends to the northeast again, and after another 2,000 feet (610 m) reaches the western corner of the city of Kingston , the largest settlement along the creek, after which it becomes the city's northern boundary. Another 1,500 feet (460 m) downstream, a bridge along the abandoned Ulster & Delaware right-of-way crosses the Esopus. The stream takes

1335-576: A wide braided bend, Wynkoop Road (Ulster County Route 29A) crosses the 120-foot (37 m) channel just east of the hamlet of Hurley and the Hurley Mountain Inn . North of that crossing, the Esopus bends away from Route 209 through fields, with some braiding and diversions, to the Ulster town line a mile downstream. Here its north bank becomes part of the Catskill Park Blue Line as well, bending east southeast and crossing under Route 209

1424-527: Is impounded at Olive Bridge to create Ashokan Reservoir , the first of several built in the Catskills as part of New York City 's water supply system . Its own flow is supplemented 13 miles (21 km) above the reservoir by the Shandaken Tunnel , which carries water from the city's Schoharie Reservoir into the creek. The creek, originally known by the Native Americans in the area as Atkarkaton or Atkankarten and by Dutch settlers as

1513-572: Is a 65.4-mile-long (105.3 km) tributary of the Hudson River that drains the east-central Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York . From its source at Winnisook Lake on the slopes of Slide Mountain , the Catskills' highest peak, it flows across Ulster County to the Hudson at Saugerties . Many tributaries extend its watershed into neighboring Greene County and a small portion of Delaware County . Midway along its length, it

1602-595: Is also a trail referred to as the Dutcher Step Trail that traverses the private property of the Winnisook Club. Anyone attempting to hike this trail should seek permission from the club first. The trail has some interesting views that the main trail does not. The club seems willing to allow hikers on a limited basis as long as you leave the trail as you found it and sign a release first. Esopus Creek Esopus Creek / ɪ ˈ s oʊ p ə s /

1691-620: Is buffered not only by restrictive local zoning and conservation of neighboring private lands but also by bordering on two other large state-owned tracts, the Big Indian- Beaver Kill Wilderness Area to the west and the Sundown Wild Forest to the east. According to Catskill forest historian Michael Kudish , the Slide wilderness contains the most extensive tract of first-growth forest in

1780-573: Is currently a matter of debate as the CPSLMP is updated, and not specifically prohibited, it does not seem likely that it will be allowed. No structures may be erected on the land except those DEC creates within UMP guidelines. Tents are permitted; hunters' tree stands are not. As of 2005 there are 35.3 miles (56.8 km) of officially maintained and marked trails (more are planned). There are three lean-tos , and 29 officially designated campsites in

1869-514: Is itself governed not only by the state's Environmental Conservation Law but Article 14 of the state constitution, which requires that the Forest Preserve be kept "forever wild" and free for public use beyond any reasonable fee required for a particular activity. In a departure from the usual practice of most American public land management, the state pays full property taxes on the lands to all local governmental entities as if it were

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1958-440: Is mainly an aesthetic and ecological resource, although the estuary at Saugerties is a popular bass fishery . The Esopus's role in the state and regional economy has led to a concentrated effort to protect and manage it, particularly on the upper stretch. The interests of the various stakeholders have not always converged, particularly where it concerns the city's management of its water needs. Turbidity created by discharges from

2047-914: Is the Kaaterskill Creek basin, with the West Kill draining the Spruceton Valley to the northwest into Schoharie Creek , a long tributary of the Mohawk River , itself the Hudson's longest tributary. On the western boundary, water drains into the East Branch of the Delaware River ; the two upper branches of the Neversink , the Delaware's largest left tributary, rise along the Esopus basin's southwest boundary, with

2136-586: The Devil's Path range and its southeastern corner. A very small portion overlaps the Delaware County line west of Pine Hill . The upper Esopus basin, above the reservoir, is 256 square miles (660 km ) with the lower basin accounting for the other 169 square miles (440 km ). To the south it is bordered by the combined watershed of the Rondout Creek and Wallkill River . On the northeast

2225-528: The Lenape band that inhabited its banks, some of whom entertained Henry Hudson on his voyage up the river in 1609 after possible earlier contact with fur traders. European traders began plying the river in greater numbers, eventually establishing permanent settlements for the purpose. Dutch settlers established Wiltwyck, today's Kingston , on the high ground between the Esopus and the Rondout in 1649. After

2314-452: The Native Americans used the flat flood plains of the lower Esopus for cornfields, and there are accounts of the area around Olive, today inundated by the reservoir, planted as an apple orchard . The Natives did not settle the area permanently, and only ventured into the higher reaches of the valley to hunt as there was less arable land there. The Esopus would be important to the area's early European colonization . It took its name from

2403-630: The New York City water supply system . There are, however, no lakes or ponds within it. The tract is almost completely wooded. DEC identifies five distinct forest communities within the Slide Wilderness: three subtypes of the boreal forest found at higher elevations in the Catskills ("mountain fir", "mountain spruce-fir" and "spruce-fir rocky summit"), hemlock-northern hardwood forest and beech-maple mesic forest northern hardwoods , such as sugar maple , beech and yellow birch , are

2492-703: The Revolution , aggravated by inadequate surveys of the region. Encumbrances remained on many properties into the 20th century. The complications with the land claim delayed an accurate survey of the Catskills until 1885. In the meantime, permanent settlement of the Esopus valley began in the mid-18th century and finished with the establishment of the Slide Mountain post office in 1805. Most of these communities were supported by local forest-products industries: loggers harvested trees for sawmill operators, and furniture makers set up shop nearby. A road,

2581-510: The Saw Kill . The riverside is more developed here, with homes and docks on the east bank. The channel narrows to 60 ft (18 m). A mile north of the Saw Kill, the Esopus bends northeast again and Leggs Mill Road (County Route 31) crosses as the stream descends slightly over a weir and some exposed bedrock. Backyards and docks line both banks over the next half-mile, where the channel widens again to 250 ft (76 m), after which

2670-668: The "Esopus Kill ", takes its name from the Esopus tribe of the Lenape , who were living around the lower Esopus when the Dutch first explored and settled the Hudson Valley in the early 17th century. The creek's wide valley made it an ideal trading route for the Esopus and other Lenape who harvested the beaver pelts the European traders desired. Later, under the English , it became the beginning point for contentious land claims in

2759-418: The "Groot Esopus". In some other accounts, the es prefix is read as a diminutive , making the name mean "little river". Another interpretation is that Esopus means "high banks", referring to the stream's history of heavy floods. The Esopus is usually discussed as an upper and lower stream divided by the reservoir. The upper portion, where most recreational use takes place, has the characteristics of

Slide Mountain Wilderness Area - Misplaced Pages Continue

2848-410: The 35 Catskill High Peaks exceeding 3,500 ft (1,100 m). Slide Mountain , the highest peak in the range, is also the highest peak in the Esopus watershed at about 4,180 ft (1,270 m). It has the highest average elevation of any of the watersheds that feed New York City's reservoirs. Tributaries, named and unnamed, add another 330 miles (530 km) of streams to the watershed. From

2937-561: The Catskill High Peaks. This protects not only the Bicknell's but other species such as the black-and-white warbler , black-throated blue warbler , Canada warbler , red-eyed vireo , Louisiana waterthrush , scarlet tanager and rose-breasted grosbeak , some of which require large unbroken forests to nest. More common birds observed in the area include ruffed grouse and wild turkey , the latter being common enough to be

3026-610: The Catskills. Much of the area remained out of reach during the peak years of logging and barkpeeling from eastern hemlock trees, to make tannin for leather production in the mid-19th century, and thus remained largely untouched. Indeed, the upper valley of the East Branch of the Neversink, located centrally within the SMWA, is the only completely wild valley in the Catskills. It is possible to look out over it from several points on

3115-474: The Esopus drove them out of the settlement in two wars , colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered that it be enclosed in a stockade so it would be safer from raids by Indians and the other contending colonial power in the area, the English . The latter took over the New Netherland colony in 1664, taking a more nuanced approach to the native peoples of the area. The settlement's location above

3204-547: The Esopus from the north, increasing its flow. This point on the stream is known as the Shandaken Portal or just the Portal. South of the Portal, what is now the "big" portion of the upper Esopus turns southeast after Broadstreet Hollow Creek, with one smaller northern channel remaining closer to the road while the larger southern one bends closer to the base of Garfield Mountain , forming another one-mile portion of

3293-491: The Esopus reaches Phoenicia , the first major settlement along its course. Route 28 crosses again just west of where the stream receives Stony Clove Creek from the north, where it drains southern Greene County . The creek widens but remains shallow; the Catskill Mountain Railroad parallels its banks. The stream bends into a southerly course between Mount Tremper to the east and Romer Mountain to

3382-568: The Indians as they migrated north. Most of the chestnuts died in the chestnut blight of the early 20th century. Catskill forest historian Michael Kudish found that other southern hardwood species can be found in the Esopus valley all the way to Oliverea, a mile or so below the creek's source. Human habitation or use of the stream's lower reaches has been recorded as far back as 4,000 years ago. As with many other streams in Ulster County,

3471-492: The Neversink's East Branch headwaters flowing a thousand feet from the Esopus' source at Winnisook Lake. The upper Esopus watershed is rugged and 95 percent forested, with 58.5 percent part of the "forever wild" Forest Preserve and protected from almost all harvest or clearing. Three different types of forest predominate: montane spruce-fir boreal forest on the higher mountain summits, beech-birch-maple northern hardwood forest with some Eastern hemlock groves that survived

3560-541: The Saw Kill and Plattekill Creek subwatersheds, much of which remain within the forests of the Catskill Park . The history of the Esopus, like the creek itself, has several distinct eras, starting with a meteor falling on the future Catskill Mountains. The Esopus's upper course was set 375 million years ago in the Devonian period, when the Catskills were still a river delta of low sedimentary beaches and

3649-489: The Shandaken Tunnel after a 1996 flood led to a successful lawsuit against the city and a state regulation; downstream of the reservoir the city has been criticized for contributing to flooding problems by releasing too much water during heavy rainstorms since Hurricane Irene in 2011. Boaters and anglers have also clashed, and invasive species are beginning to enter the upper creek as well. Historians agree that

Slide Mountain Wilderness Area - Misplaced Pages Continue

3738-595: The Slide Mountain Wilderness boundary; the two converge at a public parking lot used to put in canoes and kayaks. Three miles (4.8 km) downstream, the creek turns to the south for another mile before turning east where Woodland Creek , the largest right tributary of the Esopus, flows in from the south following the east side of the former Panther crater wall, from its headwaters on Wittenberg Mountain , just east of where Woodland Valley Road crosses. Another 0.8 miles (1.3 km) in that direction,

3827-704: The Slide wilderness, five of which serve as hiking trailheads. The sixth trail, the east end of the Burroughs Range Trail which traverses Wittenberg , Cornell and Slide Mountains , starts at the Woodland Valley State Campground , which adjoins the wilderness area. Similarly, camping is available at the southeast corner in the Peekamoose Valley Wild Forest , near the Bull Run trailhead. There

3916-524: The Ulster, Delaware and Dutchess Turnpike, was improved from an old colonial path that led up the valley and then into Delaware County past Highmount . By the middle of the century it was paralleled by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad . Timber was not the only product taken from the mountainsides and sent down the valley. Tanners brought up cowhides via those routes to treat in water boiled in hemlock bark, and charcoal kilns were more numerous in

4005-413: The attention of fast-growing New York City, which was able to acquire land and build the reservoir and tunnel after overcoming local political opposition. The reservoir divides the creek into an upper stretch, mostly a wild mountain stream, and a lower stretch closer to the Hudson that gradually becomes more estuarine . Above the reservoir, its water quality is closely monitored, not only for its role in

4094-537: The biome for the flowering plants . One ravine has been found to support a colony of nodding pogonia , an orchid that grows in only three other locations in New York. Mammals that favor forest habitat predominate within the Slide Wilderness. Among the 49 species known to exist there, black bears have done exceptionally well, as have snowshoe hare , gray squirrel and porcupine . White-tailed deer , who were successfully reintroduced into New York in 1887 via

4183-478: The circular route around Panther Mountain, paralleled by Creek Side Drive on its north. Another thousand feet downstream, Fire House Road (County Route 47) crosses, after which the Esopus turns sharply to the north, then northeast at a large gravel bar, for its next mile. At the Millbrook Hollow Brook confluence, it bends eastward, with another northern tributary, Seneca Hollow Brook emptying into

4272-484: The city's water supply but to preserve its local economic importance as a recreational resource. As the upper Esopus is one of the most productive trout streams in the Northeast , fly fishermen come in great numbers to take trout from its relatively accessible banks. Canoeists and kayakers have been drawn to its whitewater , which has also spawned a busy local tubing industry in the summer months. The lower Esopus

4361-619: The colonial frontier so that it might be better protected from the French to the north and west, but those officials dallied, only making such grants when they could enrich themselves and their friends in the process. The Catskills and the Esopus Valley, with little land that could be cleared for farming, were not suitable to that end. In 1704 a group of farmers in Hurley petitioned the colonial governor , Viscount Cornbury , for some of

4450-575: The creek again turns north, the channel narrowing to 150–200 feet (46–61 m), and the CSX River Subdivision 's freight tracks parallel the Esopus on its east. The stream flows north on a straight course, trending slightly east, for 1.75 miles (2.82 km) until it receives its last major tributary, Plattekill Creek , from the east at the Saugerties town line. At this point it bends eastward again and goes down Glenerie Falls ,

4539-490: The east bank. At the end of this reach, just southeast of the village of Saugerties , the Esopus receives its last tributary, Tannery Brook , from the north, turns east and enters the village. A half-mile of meandering past some marshy flats on the south side, a bridge carries Route 9W and New York State Route 32 over the stream, its last crossing. Below the bridge it flows over 25-foot (7.6 m) Cantine Dam, creating Cantine Falls. It bends north, then south, and returns to

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4628-567: The east, as docks and structures abound on either side. After 1.3 miles (2.1 km) the Esopus empties into the Hudson, 88.5 miles (142.4 km) north of its mouth in New York City at Saugerties Light , a few feet (1-2 m) above sea level. The Esopus' watershed covers 425 square miles (1,100 km ). Most of it is in Ulster County, like the stream itself; the Greene County portion includes most of that county south of

4717-428: The first Dutch settlers named the stream for the Lenape band that inhabited its banks. The Lenape themselves may have called it Atkarkarton or Atkankarten , meaning "smooth land" in their language, probably in reference to a meadow alongside the river near Kingston. Lenape use of that name is recorded in 1657; it later became the name of a hamlet in the area. From the mid-17th century Esopus , sometimes Sopers ,

4806-405: The forest. The stream's headwaters descend from there northward into Big Indian Hollow, dropping 169 feet (52 m) per mile (1.6 km) with an average slope of 13 percent, through its first three miles, a narrow and rocky mountains stream through this section. Along it there are three waterfalls—Otter Falls, and Parker and Blossom Falls below. At first trending westward, away from the road,

4895-402: The former meteor crater whose walls determine the creek's upper course. Another half-mile further west, the Esopus receives its first left tributary, Hanging Birds Nest Brook, which drains the north face of Spruce and Hemlock mountains to the south. From there the Esopus flows due northwest for its next mile, as the valley floor of Big Indian Hollow opens up and some cleared land begins to abut

4984-606: The highest lake in the Catskills, on the northwest slopes of Slide Mountain , the Catskills' highest peak in the town of Shandaken , within 300 feet (100 m) of the West Branch of the Neversink River on the other side of the divide between the Hudson and Delaware watersheds , amid expansive forest. At the source it is crossed by a small wooden footbridge, followed by Oliverea Road ( Ulster County Route 47 ), which it immediately begins to parallel through

5073-551: The lands in prior eras. The forest rangers of DEC's Office of Public Protection provide law enforcement services to the unit. New York's wilderness-area management guidelines are similar to, if a bit looser than, those followed by the federal government. Any development of new facilities within the unit requires a change to the Unit Management Plan (UMP), or is added only at the UMP's periodic updates, both of which require public comment and extensive review. The UMP

5162-407: The lower Esopus as well, as the long glacial ridges closer to the Hudson channeled the stream north to Saugerties after they melted. As the glaciers melted slowly, they created ice dams and glacial lakes . The most significant of the latter along the Esopus's course left behind the large plain at Shokan. In the 20th century the original lake would be recreated as Ashokan Reservoir . The Esopus

5251-617: The most predominant, with associate species such as black cherry , white ash , red maple , basswood , big-tooth aspen and red oak can be found at some locations. White pine and hemlock also carve out some groves of their own, particularly in areas closer to streams. Hobblebush and serviceberry are common shrubs at the higher elevations. Vascular plants to be found in the forest understorys include several fern varieties (predominantly woodfern and hay-scented), stinging nettle and jewelweed . trillium , wood sorrel , clintonia , bunchberry , starflower and foamflower round out

5340-554: The mountains. After independence , the Esopus corridor became the main route into the Catskills, first by road then later by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad , for forest-product industries like logging, tanning and charcoal making . Those industries declined in the late 19th century, shortly before the creation of the Forest Preserve and the Catskill Park made the region more attractive for resorts and recreation, particularly trout fishing. The renewed Esopus also attracted

5429-586: The next mile of flow almost due south. Over the next 1.2 miles (1.9 km) the Esopus bends back and forth through similar terrain, paralleling New York State Route 213 for a thousand feet (305 m) below a steep bluff, to where its valley widens and cultivated fields become dominant in the surrounding landscape. Two miles (3.2 km) to the south, with the channel again widening to 150 ft (46 m), Hurley Mountain Road ( Ulster County Route 5 ) crosses. Another 1,500 feet (460 m) south of that bridge,

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5518-403: The next mile, along with gravel bars along the banks. Bending past more braided sections and bars, the Esopus reaches the small former hamlet of Oliverea 0.6 mi (1 km) further north. Here McKenley Hollow Road crosses, in a section with retaining walls on either side of the channel. Another 500 ft (150 m) to the north, the similarly named tributary, carrying water from

5607-493: The north, is not part of the creek's course. The Esopus drops below 500 ft (150 m) in elevation as it leaves the reservoir. A thousand feet (300 m) downstream the reborn stream crosses under Route 28A again, amid a wide, forested canyon. It turns south, then east again, through Cathedral Gorge past the Ashokan Center on the north, through channelized and widened sections. Narrowing again, after another bend,

5696-435: The northeast, away from the stream, while the Esopus continues north through its narrow wooded gorge, for the next three miles (4.8 km), widening to 300 ft (91 m). Development around the stream is limited to a quarry on the east a mile downstream of the bridge, and then a dead-end residential street on the west bank during the last of the three miles; the 161-acre (65 ha) Esopus Bend Nature Preserve buffers

5785-542: The original legislation not for conservation purposes, but to settle a tax debt Ulster County owed to the state. The SMWA, like all lands in the state's Forest Preserve, is managed by the Division of Lands and Forests within New York's Department of Environmental Conservation . DEC is the successor agency to the Conservation Department, Conservation Commission and Forest Commission, all of which managed

5874-443: The park at Fording Place Road east of the hamlet of Lomontville, the Esopus starts paralleling U.S. Route 209 , meandering slightly as it widens, with farmland on its west, sometimes widening from 60 ft (18 m) into 500-foot-wide (150 m) pools. Two miles north of Fording Place Road, another tributary, Stony Creek , flows in from the west at the Hurley town line. Another 1.75 miles (2.82 km) downstream, just past

5963-470: The plateau into mountains and valleys. This process led the Esopus, with its particularly deep and wide valley, to fill up its bed with the red clay that clouds the waters of the stream in high water and floods. More recently in geologic time, about 12,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glaciation filled the valley, carving the slopes on its sides more steeply and eroding more sediment into the river. It shaped

6052-580: The point where the Esopus came out of the Catskills made it an ideal trading post for Indians responding to the European demand for beaver pelts to make the beaver hats then in vogue. In the later 17th century, with European settlement well established around the eastern Catskills, land replaced fur as the Indian-held commodity most desired by the new arrivals. The English government in London charged local officials with granting large chunks of land on

6141-514: The reservoir to Marbletown, the lower Esopus is also surrounded by forest. Downstream of that point, its flood plain becomes heavily farmed, with 2,000 acres (810 ha) of worked agricultural land, mostly cornfields, abutting the stream between there and the Leggs Mills Road bridge at Lake Katrine. The mountains continue to influence the lower stream, with one High Peak, 3,573-foot (1,089 m) Indian Head Mountain , contributing to

6230-403: The same point along the Esopus near Kingston and going out to the Delaware River , taking not only all of Ulster County to the west but much of today's Delaware and Sullivan counties as well. The Hardenbugh Patent, as it became known, is the source of many of the land titles in the Catskills today, although its legitimacy was contested from the beginning, a dispute which continued until after

6319-576: The shallow channels between them to a large inland sea that corresponds to the location today of the Allegheny Plateau . A meteor impact during this time left an approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) wide crater whose walls correspond to the courses of the upper Esopus and Woodland Creek today. Geologist Yngvar Isachsen of the New York State Geological Survey discovered the traces of the meteor impact, including

6408-414: The small former village of Pine Hill to the west, opposite a large gravel bar, and then bends northward. The former channel of the Esopus cuts this corner, rejoining the main stem at the site of the two streams' former confluence a thousand feet (300 m) downstream. Through this section it widens through a valley floor with more frequent cleared areas amid forested mountains, meandering gently along

6497-472: The south, just east of the Fox Hollow Road bridge, and Peck Hollow Brook from the north 500 feet to the east, opposite another gravel bar. At this point the Esopus drops below 1,000 ft (300 m) in elevation. The creek begins to bend southward, past Shandaken's town hall, over its next mile to where the 18-mile (29 km) Shandaken Tunnel brings water from Schoharie Reservoir into

6586-531: The state: Jefferson salamander , blue-spotted salamander , spotted salamander , spotted turtle , wood turtle and eastern hognose snake . While the wilderness area designation is rather recent, formally dating to the 1985 adoption of the Catskill State Land Master Plan, the area has been part of New York's constitutionally protected Forest Preserve for a century before that. Ironically, the lands around Slide Mountain were added to

6675-496: The steep slopes of Haynes and Balsam mountains to the west, joins the Esopus from the west as the stream's main stem turns northwest, further away from the road, then curving northeast with more bars and braiding marking a wider channel. After 1.6 mi (2.6 km) of this gently curving course, Hatchery Hollow Brook flows in from the east. With the valley floor widening, the Esopus flows more northward. It receives its last Big Indian Hollow tributary, Lost Clove Creek , from

6764-514: The stream a half-mile further along. The Esopus receives Bushnellsville Creek from the north after a mile, then crosses to the south side of Route 28 at the small former hamlet of Shandaken 1.25 mi (2.01 km) to the east. Its next half-mile serves as part of the northern boundary of the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area . At Allaben, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Big Indian, it receives Fox Hollow Brook from

6853-429: The stream bends again, reaching the southernmost point along its course at a Marbletown park just above its confluence with an unnamed tributary flowing in from the south. From there the Esopus begins flowing northeast, as portions of the stream are diverted into nearby ponds for the farms that surround it and its riparian buffer on the increasingly level terrain. After the old ford 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north of

6942-529: The stream flows into the town of Marbletown another thousand feet east, also crossing the Blue Line and leaving the Catskill Park . From there the creek bends to the west northwest, through a narrow gorge, with few structures breaking the forest around it. One mile into Marbletown it widens suddenly and bends to the south as a result of receiving the reservoir's other outlet stream. Gravel bars and some cleared areas on either side, still sloped steeply, mark

7031-658: The stream. After the Maben Hollow Brook confluence, it turns west and braids into several smaller channels for 1,200 feet (370 m), reuniting just before crossing under Eagle Mountain Road. It receives, another eastern tributary, the Elk Bushkill , which drains Fir and Big Indian mountains to the southeast, just south of the Burnham Hollow Road bridge. The Esopus then bends back in a northward direction. Short braided sections return during

7120-537: The surrounding mountains and see no evidence of civilization. Within its boundaries lie 10 of the 35 Catskill High Peaks , including the highest Catskill peak , Slide , 4,180 feet (1277 m) of elevation; and lowest, Rocky . Three important regional streams arise within the wilderness as well: the Neversink River , largest tributary of the Delaware ; and Hudson tributaries Rondout and Esopus creeks, both of which are impounded to create major reservoirs for

7209-429: The tanbarking area on the slopes, and an oak–hickory forest closer to the stream's banks. The summit of 3,090-foot (940 m) Ashokan High Point , overlooking the reservoir, offers an anomalous pine-oak heath barren. Downstream of the reservoir the forests become a mix of the lower two. The floodplain forests are a mix of silver maple and elm ; river birch clusters around the banks. Another unusual community,

7298-399: The undeveloped land to their west along the creek to use as common pasture and firewood, since they were getting squeezed by Kingston to their east and Marbletown to the south. The petition was put off for several years while it was ostensibly being surveyed, and in 1706 a grant of 2 million acres (8,000 km ) was made to Johannes Hardenbergh and a group of investors starting from

7387-484: The west bank. The Esopus trends to the south southeast over its next mile and a half to the mouth of the Little Beaver Kill at Beechford, where it leaves Shandaken and enters the town of Olive . The shores get more developed over the next 0.8 miles (1.3 km) as the stream turns south and reaches Boiceville , its largest settlement since Phoenicia, where NY 28A crosses it at Five Arches Bridge. After

7476-502: The west where it drains Balsam and Bellayre mountains, just below the Lost Clove Road bridge. At the mouth of the hollow, in the small hamlet of Big Indian , 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from its source, the Esopus turns east and crosses under New York State Route 28 , which it closely parallels all the way to Ashokan Reservoir, at 1,200 feet (370 m) in elevation. At the bridge, it receives Birch Creek , which drains from

7565-495: The west. After two miles, more gravel bars and some islands in the channel mark a turn to the southeast. Another mile and a half (2.4 km) downstream, the Esopus receives the Beaver Kill at the hamlet of Mount Pleasant . It then crosses under Mount Pleasant Road and, 800 feet (240 m) downstream, Route 28, for the last time above the reservoir, near the hamlet of Mount Tremper . Here flood control measures stabilize

7654-546: The wilderness area. Outside of those, camping is not permitted within 150 feet (45.7 m) of any trail, road or stream. In areas above 3,500 feet (1,067 m) in elevation, it is only allowed between December 21 and March 21, when snow protects the ground. Open fires are forbidden above that location as well. It is the most popular of the four wilderness areas currently located within the Catskill Park. The state has built 10 separate parking lots along or near roads that abut

7743-401: Was first observed on the summit of Slide in 1881; today, after recently being declared a separate species from the gray-cheeked thrush , it is considered a threatened species and its summer breeding areas in the boreal forests important enough that in 1999, New York governor George Pataki augmented the wilderness status of the area with Bird Conservation Area status that applied to almost all

7832-455: Was in common use. It was believed to have been derived from seepus , meaning river, in the Delaware languages . The name was not always applied to today's Esopus. Alphonso T. Clearwater's 1907 history of Ulster County recounts that in 1677 the local Native tribes deeded to the English the land between the Esopus, which he identifies as Saugerties Creek, and the Rondout , which he calls

7921-567: Was one of three valleys that trees followed into the Catskills, as revegetation of the mountain slopes took place in the glaciers' wake. First to come were the boreal species, such as balsam fir , that today persist only on the summits of the range's higher peaks . Next were the northern hardwoods , primarily beech , birch and maple species, that dominate much of the Catskill forests today. Last were southern hardwood species, mostly oak , hickory and American chestnut , probably following

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