3 Fire Tower Overlook Mtn Catskills

Onto the third of our Fire Towers.  We needed to head to Pennsylvania so we planned to attack one of the fire towers in the Catskills.  The weather seemed iffy and calling for rain right about the time we expected to be at the mountain so we waited to make a decision until we arrived at the exit.  Overlook Mountain was near the Thruway near Woodstock, NY so if it looked like rain we would drive by and arrive in PA earlier than planned.Overlook is a 5 mile round trip with an elevation change of 1400 ft.  Difficulty is considered moderate and never very steep.

We began the day with a hearty breakfast at the ADK Cafe in Keene. It was a warm and dreary day.  The rain held off so we leashed the dogs, Foster and Brodie, and headed up.  It was a continuous, steep, excuse me, moderate climb, at least 2 miles on an old stone and gravel carriage road way.  The trees were thick along the road which alloweafforded no views.  We did see a shell of a hotel, originally built in 1833, burned to the ground on April Fool's Day 1874 (no one believed a small child tried to convince the staff that there was smoke from the chimney darker than usual) rebuilt in 1978 and burned down again in 1924.  The struggle to keep it opened ended in 1939.   Past the ruins is a large ugly communications tower.  From there it was a short climb to the fire tower.  The rain held off and the overcast sky did not block the 360 views of the Hudson River Valley to the east, Hunter Mountain to the north, Ashokan Reservoir to the south, and Slide Mountain to the west. At the base of the fire tower is a path for more views.  We were on a cliff that looked down on the tops of trees and the Hudson River.  Brodie seemed keen on jumping off the cliff to get something in the trees.  Thankfully he was on a leash.  Paul noted the changing winds and movement of the clouds and suggested we start heading down, fast.  About 3/4 of the way down the mountain the sky's opened and we were drenched by the time we reached the car.