[Journal entry for February 15, 2015; the Catamount Mountain and the Sherwood Path]. It’s a beautiful and clear winter day. About two feet of snow lays on the ground. I am dressed in five layers of fleece, for the temperature is about fifteen degrees Fahrenheit and the air is breezy. I park at the Ramapo Equestrian Center, off of Route 202 in Wesley Hills NY, at the base of the Ramapo Mountains. All the horses must be indoors today, for the pasture adjacent to the stables is empty.

The Ramapo Mountains mark the southeastern edge of the Hudson Highlands. They are a line of low hills that rise 600-800 feet above the plains to the south. Most of the higher peaks have names: Horse Chock, Limekiln, Panther, Catamount, Horse Stable, Cobus and Nordkup (from northeast to southwest), though the boundaries between them are ill defined. The Suffern – Bear Mountain Trail (SBM, blazed in yellow) runs along the ridge line. The valleys between the peaks are called hollows. They are narrow and rough, often bordered by sheer rock walls and full of boulders. I know only a few of their names.

I take the Pine Meadow Trail (blazed in red), first crossing the power line right-of-way and then ascending through the hollow between Panther and Catamount mountains. I switch to the SBM and first take it northeast. I make a short detour to view ice falls at a spot where a little rivulet drips down over a cliff face. I pass a huge precariously-perched boulder and then reach a level spot on Panther Mountain, northeast of the hollow. It commands a nice view of Catamount Mountain, across the hollow to the southwest. I then retrace my path, descending back into the hollow, and take the SBM southwestward up onto the ridge of Catamount. I cross several steams, their channels covered with wind sculpted snow, including Pittsboro Hollow Brook. I am treated to several nice views from the ridge crest of Catamount Mountain that look southward into the lowlands of the Newark Basin. The snow along the ridge crest is deep and fluffy. I have fun snowshoeing through it, though my progress is very slow. I doubt that I am going even half the speed that I would normally maintain with boots on a summer day.

The SBM wanders along the ridge crest, passing and snow-covered glacial boulders and knobs of rock and crossing both open meadows and woods. I arrive eventually at Stone Memorial Shelter, on Horse Stable Mountain. It is a three-sided stone lean-to erected in 1935. I have camped in it several times over the years, including once in winter. I am the first to have visited it since yesterday’s snowfall.

I then join the Sherwood Path, a woods road that descends steeply down, following a valley that opens up into Pittsboro Hollow. The afternoon is getting on and the sun is starting to dip below the hills. I am soon in shadow. The Sherwood Path forks several times. I make the downhill and southeast choice and soon come to the power line right-of-way. After a few minutes of following the right-of-way, I am in sight of the Ramapo Equestrian Center.

About three hours.