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You will walk a mile on the snow-covered road before hitting the trail that will take you to your first viewpoint, the Catskill Mountain House Site and then onto the Blue Trail to Newman's Ledge. The Catskill Mountain House was built in 1823 and opened in 1824 in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley. After leaving the Catskill Mountain House Site, we continued on the trail to the Escarpment Trail, a blue-blazed trail following the Long Path along a rocky ledge. We had lunch at Newman's Ledge after a 2.7-mile hike in and not seeing a single hiker on the trail from the Mountain House Site to this ledge.

A trek to this two-stage waterfall which cascades 260 feet is referred to as one of America's "oldest tourist attractions" and standing at the base of the falls or on the platform above it's easy to see why. To get to the viewing platform, the trail climbs a set of ice and snow covered STEEP stairs (microspikes and crawling on all fours required) before leveling out and slowly climbing to the upper viewing area. From the trailhead off Route 23A (at the base of Bastion Falls at the hairpin turn in the road), follow the yellow trail along Spruce Creek to the base of Kaaterskill Falls. From the trailhead off Route 23A (at the base of Bastion Falls at the hairpin turn in the road), follow the yellow trail along Spruce Creek to the base of Kaaterskill Falls.

Spring is starting to slowly show up here in New England and with the longer days and melting snow, I was staring at my hiking boots with that lusty longing look that hikers get as the winter starts to fade. Spring is starting to slowly show up here in New England and with the longer days and melting snow, I was staring at my hiking boots with that lusty longing look that hikers get as the winter starts to fade. As I squealed with excitement on finally winning something, I began to envision a simple March weekend in the Catskills, Sunday morning waking up in about 200 square feet in a quiet little tiny home nestled in the woods. but I crave the simplicity of a tent pitched in a quiet corner of the woods or in this case....when snow is in the forecast and you want to be in the woods but warm, a dog-friendly tiny home resort nestled in the Catskills.

The original loosely formed plan was to ski the Epic Resorts (Beaver Creek, Vail and Breckenridge) maybe sprinkle in a little Copper Mountain or ski a bit of A-Basin. So instead - I skied a little, laughed a lot, and can tell you what I thought of Beaver Creek, my half day spent skiing Vail and an afternoon with a swollen ankle at the Express Lift Bar. Beaver Creek was a mountain I hadn't heard much about in the years I have been skiing. We sat at the bar in exhausted happy ski girl bliss with Vail on our minds for Day 2 of skiing. It wasn't the epic ski trip I envisioned, but it was two (ish) days of powder skiing at world-class resorts, high ticket prices and warm cookies included.