Backpacking the Burroughs Range Trail Loop in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York

Looks like a really great hiking area this fall has been amazing in Ontario

ohhhh, and who filters water from a spring :)

Looks like a beautiful place to hike. We are in Wurtsboro and have ventured further into the Catskills for new hiking trails

I hiked Slide and Cornell on a whim last summer. I parked at the Slide Mtn parking area, and didn’t read the signage well enough to know that also hitting Wittenberg was more than doable. It wasn’t until I was back at the parking lot, while talking sigh some other hikers that I realized my “mistake”!

Also, is there a way to add Giants Ledge to this loop?

Great video. A question about the map that you show in the beginning and in the end, can you link where I can buy this map? Thanks.

Thank you! I'm making this my 1st backpacking trip

How many moving hours did this take y’all? I’m trying to do this in one day tomorrow

Great video! My 13 year old and I are thinking about tackling this trail on the first nice weekend in April. Are we crazy?

Great video! Heading there this weekend. I have a few questions:

1) From the top of Wittenberg to the primitive campsite after Cornell.. how many miles is that?

2)Is there any water sources near the beginning of that route you took?

Any advice would be super helpful! 🙏

What was your brother's waterproof boots?

Lot's of ticks hope you checked yourself 😉

Good Intel. I am doing a portion this weekend. But starting from Slide mtn parking to Wittenberg and back.

Wow! Like I said on my comment on your other video, your content is super great. This is exactly what I am looking for when I am researching an area to backpack. Your combined use of visual aids like the map as well as showing trail conditions/water sources/campsites was super helpful. This loop is exactly what I am looking for for the college club trip I’m leading . Any advice for doing this in late February?

Great video- BTW at the 12Min mark there is some animal running by left to right in the background. Too small to be Bigfoot 🙂

Awesome video brothers. Im planning a hike in the next couple of weeks. You guys should make an updated video!

I've hiked Slide many times, but its been nearly 20 years since I've been up there. Back in the 70s the summit view was unimpeded since the trees were short / stunted. Views out over the Ashokan reservoir and to the North were incredible. Amazing to see how much the trees have grown now. Me and an ole friend camped on its ridge and summit in all seasons. Winter was the most incredible time to be on Slide. With 2 ft of fresh snow all the way up, cold winds and clear skies dropped the temps way below zero. Even though we were only 3 hours (with heavy packs) from the nearest road, the isolation was intense. We felt like were in Alaska or on some distant frozen planet. Surprisingly on that trip there was one other party camping in the snowy Mountain Spruce Firs just before the summit. We saw their tent but they were hanging inside. Fellow hardy men challenging the conditions. Our last great campout on Slide was on the long summit ridge where we were just over the 3500 ft elevation. It rained heavily part of one day but we perservered. The above 3500 ft No Camp rule was set because Catskill Summits were seeing threatened species of birds and more so the fauna and trees were getting trampled and in some cases cut down for firewood. Social trails and campsite clearings began to spread on top. From March to Dec 20 the 3500ft rule is in effect . However in Winter you can camp on summits as long as there is adequate snow cover.

is it passable in the winter?

My dad and I did a winter backpacking trip in this area. Unfortunately we had a late start to our day so we couldn’t make it very far before sunset. We parked at the slide mountain and could only make it to the first shelter along the trail to slide mountain. That night there was a massive blizzard that rolled in and we had to hike down that .25-.75 mile trail in the pitch black (roughly 4 AM) in order to get out and not be snowed in. Sketchiest, but most exciting trip of my life. Do not recommend.

Doing the loop in 2 days leaves enough time to do Panther, or at least Giant Ledge. Giant Ledge has a terrific view.

You don't need to do 2 miles of roadwalk. There's an old carriage road across the Winisook Cliub that's still a public right-of-way. It branches off just a little bit north of the club buildings, and hits the Woodland Valley trail near the trail to Giant Ledge.

There is a spring closer to the campsites between Cornell and Slide, south of the trail, but it's nasty, while the one on Slide is the best-tasting one in the Catskills.

My first time up Cornell, there was a group on the summit who had a 110-pound German Shepherd who was balking at going down the crack, and he'd already balked at going up the slab on Slide. I don't know what they did - I was a little pressed for time. I offered to show them the workaround for the crack, but they were staying put because one of them had already hiked back over Slide to get into Margaretville and get more dog food. Some people....