On March 31, 2021, took another family drive. This one looping around the Ashokan Reservoir.
The route started out along State Road 55 past the Neversink Reservoir, and spurring off onto Route 55A, which goes along the other side of the Roundout Reservoir.
Spurring onto Sundown Road, we headed into the Sundown Wild Forest. The 30,100-acre Sundown Wild Forest covers a large swath of the southeast Catskills, including several ridges and 10 mountains over 2,000 feet. We had planned to stop by the Peekamoose Blue Hole, but missed the turnoff and only saw it from a distance. It is a depression in the streambed rock of the Rondout Creek, a unique natural feature formed by sand and swirling gravel in an ancient whirlpool.
The route continues into the Slide Mountain Wilderness, which encompasses more than 47,500 acres and is the largest and most popular wilderness area in the Catskill Forest Preserve. This brought us into the Town of Olive, which is inside the Catskill Park. The Catskill Park is 700,000 acres, of which 287,000 acres are owned by the state as part of the Forest Preserve.
Heading through forest, we finally reached state road 28A and the Ashokan Reservoir. The Reservior, part of the NYC water system, and is the city’s deepest reservoir at 190 feet. It was built between 1907 and 1915.
The Ashokan Reservoir, of all the ones we’ve visited in the last year, has the most walking and biking trails. This includes the 11.5 mile Ashokan Rail Trail. While I’m always disappointed at the loss of rails, this was well executed.
We stopped to eat our lunch at the Woodstock Dike Trailhead. It was windy, and it is cold this year. But at some point in the future, we may return to walk the trail further.
The return trip looped around the remainder of the Reservoir, before cutting back to Accord, NY. When my mother was a child, she stayed at bungalow colonies in Accord.
We passed through Ellenville on Route 209 back to our starting point.
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