The Catskills Center has put together a series of hikes as part of the Catskills Adventure Challenge. The Challenge consists of a series of hikes designed to introduce hikers to the region. And Adventure Untamed is taking on the challenge. And if you complete six of the eight hikes that are part of the Catskills Adventure Challenge, you can earn a patch from the Catskills Adventure Center. Adventure Untamed is planning to do all eight hikes in 2026. For this hike, we will hike through a pine forest and by two water features: Pickerel Pond and Onteora Lake. Come discover the Catskills with us and earn a patch!

What’s included:

Are you ready for a bushwhacking challenge? Rising to this challenge will allow us to traverse a beautiful, untouched area of Catskill wilderness. You’ll experience a true bushwhack (hiking off trail), and we’ll navigate using land features (handrails) and a map and compass. If we have time left in the day, we’ll and a peak and bushwhack over to Sherrill.

Note: Must have prior tall-peak hiking experience in the Catskill Mountains or Adirondack Mountains before joining a bushwhack. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to info@adventureuntamed.com.

North Dome is a required for Catskill 3500 Club Membership and is #27 Tall Peak (elevation 3,610’).

What’s included:

This is arguably one of the most beautiful day hikes in the Catskills. We’ll traverse the entire Burroughs Range Trail, which summits three 3,500-foot-tall peaks, including the Catskills’ tallest peak, Slide Mountain. This challenging hike offers spectacular views, interesting climbs over exposed ledges, and steep rock scrambles, including the vertical chimney known as the Cornell ‘crack.’ This classic, rugged Catskill hike is for the intermediate to advanced hiker with a true sense of adventure! You will be allowed to go at your own pace.

This is a great prep hike fore the Full Devil’s Path!

Wittenberg, Cornell, and Slide are required peaks for Catskill 3500 Club Membership and #14, #9 and #1 Catskill High Peaks (elevation 3,782′, 3,858′, and 4,184′).

What’s included:

Adventurers! This has been a long time in the making, and we are so excited! We are doing the Presidential Traverse in three days, spending our nights in two mountain huts (no backpacking gear needed!) – Madison Spring Hut and Lake of the Clouds Hut. This is going to be an exciting, beautiful, challenging journey on the ridge that connects Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce mountains. WOW! We are doing it over three days and two nights to give everyone a chance to finish.

We’ll start our epic journey with a night at the Highland Center lodge and a short hike after the long drive from the City. On Day 2, we are getting up bright and early to climb up to the ridge and get to Madison Spring Hut, our first mountain hut of the trip.

Day 3 is where we will traverse the ridge! We will get a chance to see incredible views and summit many stunning peaks, including Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in the Northeast.

Finally, on Day 4, we will get up early with an Alpine start to tackle the last of the ridge and the descend to the end of the trail. We’ll then drive back to the City (we are trying to keep this trip a reasonable length and over a holiday weekend, so you don’t have to take too many days off to do it).

Day 1 (July 3)

We’ll depart at 6:30 am, stopping for lunch on the road. After arriving at the Highland Center, we’ll get situated and do a leisurely hike. We’ll stretch our legs, have dinner, and turn in early.

Day 2 (July 4 – Independence Day!)

After breakfast and a drive to the trail-head, we’ll start our ascent to the ridge. We’ll do most of the climbing that day. We will do approximately five miles with an elevation gain of approximately 4,000 feet. It will be a challenging climb, but a shorter mileage day, and we’ll get to relax, eat dinner, and spend the night at Madison Spring Hut.

Day 3 (July 5)

After a good night’s rest, we’ll eat breakfast and start our journey on the ridge. We’ll traverse from mountain to mountain, enjoying the amazing wilderness that the White Mountains offer. If the day is clear, we’ll see stunning views all day long. Today we’ll hike for about eight miles and gain approximately 3,000 feet in elevation. We will spend the night at the legendary Lake of the Clouds Hut.

Day 4 (July 6)

Finally, with an Alpine start, we’ll tackle the last of the traverse and descend to the end trail-head. Today, we’ll hike approximately seven and a half miles and descend approximately 3,500 feet. Then we’ll drive back to New York City after an amazing journey!

NOTE: This hike is CHALLENGING+. We are doing it over three days, and you should feel comfortable doing Catskill 3500s and Adirondack 46ers (our CHALLENGING-level trips) prior to attempting this trip. Please reach out to us at info@adventureuntamed.com with any questions. We are always happy to share a training plan!

Accommodations: We will send the first night at the Highlands Center Lodge. Night two and three will be at the mountain huts; Madison Spring and Lake of the Clouds. All accommodations are shared bunk beds in mountain huts.

Meals: all meals provided except for food stops during the drive to and from New Hampshire.

Looking to challenge yourself? The Escarpment Trail forms a link in the 340-mile, New-York-to-Albany Long Path. Hiking the full Escarpment is a challenging weekend adventure, but today you will take it on in just one day. This trail crosses seven summits over 3,000’ elevation on some of the most rugged and demanding terrain in the entire Catskills. We’ll hike through hardwood forests, cross swift-flowing creeks, and scramble up and down steep rock faces. These are the fabled mountains where Rip Van Winkle slept, and the trail has some of the most beautiful views in all of Catskill Mountains.

This is the perfect training hike for the Full Devil’s Path later in the summer! It’s just as long but packs in a little bit less elevation.

Windham High Peak and Blackhead are required peaks for Catskill 3500 Club Membership and #33 and #5 Catskill High Peaks (elevation 3,525’ and 3,941’).

Note: Must have prior tall-peak hiking experience in the Catskill Mountains or Adirondack Mountains before joining this hike. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to info@adventureuntamed.com.

What’s included:

Looking for the ultimate challenge? Hike the entire Devil’s Path in just one day. Known as one of the most challenging hiking trails in the Northeast, the Devil’s Path has steep, rugged ascents and equally difficult descents, slowing down the pace of even the most experienced hikers. Doing the entire hike in two days is considered challenging. Doing it in just 13.5 hours will put your skills and endurance to the ultimate test. But don’t worry, your Adventure Untamed Team will be there with resupply, and there will be bail-out points. AU guides will be on trail to help you succeed!

This is an at-your-own-pace hike. Guides will be sweeping and at timed cutoff checkpoints to ensure everyone’s safety!

On this trip we will summit Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf, Plateau, and West Kill mountains. These are required peaks for Catskill 3500 Club Membership.

What’s included: