Over the 4th of July weekend, we went on a hike with some family members. The destination was the summit of Overlook Mountain in Woodstock, NY. It is a fairly easy hike — 2.5 miles up a fire road with a change of elevation of 1400 feet. The not too large, but steady grade of the trail makes it popular for casual hikers and runners. The fact that it is an access road trail makes the hike rather boring in terms of the scenery. We did not see much in the way of wild life either except for lots of tiny wood frogs. Timber rattlesnakes are suppose to nest in this area. They probably do not hang out on the trail so we had entertain ourselves by looking out for an old abandoned logging road.

The main motivation behind the hike (besides getting outdoors and all the other usual reasons) was the chance to explore the ruins of an old hotel near the summit. Back in the late 19th century the in thing to do if you were a developer was build a hotel on the top of a mountain in the Catskills. It took a long time to travel anywhere then and the richer residents of New York City needed to go somewhere to beat the heat. A hotel on the top of a mountain was the perfect solution. There are a few left, but most have been allowed to decay or have burned down. This hotel was the third try on this spot. All that is left is the concrete shell. The forest is slowly taking over. Trees are growing inside the structure. It takes a lot of imagination to picture what this six story structure could have looked like.

It is just a half a mile after the ruins to the top of the mountain. Given the name of the mountain, you might guess there are some views from the summit and you would be right. The best views are found by climbing up the fire tower. It was clear enough to see the Hudson River, but too hazy to take any good photos so you will have to be satisfied with a photo of my fellow hikers taken from the fire tower. One advantage of hiking up access roads is that they can be used to transport picnic tables to the summit.