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North South Lake LbNA #42744

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 10, 2008
Location:
City:Haines Falls
County:Greene
State:New York
Boxes:3
Planted by:suzietoots
Found by: 2AussMom (2)
Last found:Sep 3, 2022
Status:aFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Aug 10, 2008
North South Lake
Camping and Day Use

No ink in the 3 letterboxes.

Enter park and follow main road to North Lake picnic and swimming area. A lower circular parking lot is where you will need to park. The trail signs for the Catskill Mountain House will be past the pavillion on your left. As you enter the Blue trail you will see a metal gate with a stop sign attached to it. From this gate you will see a large Oak tree with a small tree growing along side of it. It will be on your right side on the back side of the tree.

Box #1: "Camping in the Catskill's" is under rocks. Please careful that the box does not slip down the hill. Continue on the trail. The trail will intersect with another trail that heads back to South Lake. Turn left at this intersection. You will see 2 old stone pillars.

Box #2 is on your left. The base of the stone pillar hides: "Summertime Sun." The box is covered with a flat stone. Please take care when you rehide. This is a very popular trail and is extremely busy, so stamp in and use stealth. Continue up hill to the Bluff. The ledge does not have railings and is a huge drop so WATCH your children. This is an unbelievable view of the Hudson River and on a clear it is said that you can see 6 states. The ledge rock has carvings that date back to 1860's. Bring your camera.

The Catskill Mountain House-History:
"The hotel was built in 1823 and opened a year later by a group of merchants from nearby Catskill on a plateau with sweeping views of the Hudson Valley on one side and two lakes on the other side that provided water and recreation.
In 1839, Charles Beach, whose father ran a stage coach line from the town of Catskill to the Mountain House, leased the hotel from the owners for six years and then bought it outright. Beach rebuilt the Mountain House, changing the original Federalist design into a neo-classical structure.

The view that made the Mountain House famous came at a cost-getting up the 1,600-foot climb from the valley required a five-hour stagecoach ride. As more competing hotels that were easier to reach began to be developed, the Mountain House built the cable-operated Otis Elevating Railway to bring its guests directly from the Hudson to the hotel. But the railway proved to be expensive to operate, and was finally sold for scrap in 1918 during World War I. Beach died in 1902. Just as the fame of the Mountain House was to be eclipsed by other area hotels, so were the Catskills eclipsed by the Adirondacks as the fashionable playground of the wealthy. The Mountain House continued to operate until the start of World War II — 1941 was its last season.
In 1962, the State of New York acquired the property. Preservationists pointed to the hotel's historic value, but were ultimately unsuccessful when it was burned by the state Conservation Department in 1963 in accordance with Forest Preserve management policies forbidding most structures on "forever wild" land.

The state now operates a large public campground, North-South Lake, near the site of the hotel. The Mountain House site is an easy walk from it along the popular Escarpment Trail.

All that remains of what was once America's most fashionable resort is the gateposts and the sweeping views from the cleared site."

To letterbox #3:
The "Catskill Mountain House" box is hidden slightly off the trail that heads south west or to your right. Walk towards the large boulder that sits on the edge of the bluff. Before you reach the large rock you will see an old metal post in the ground. (Could this post be what is left of the flagpole?)Just above this post is a tree that is marked with a yellow "No Camping" sign. Walk 15 "steps" into the woods You will see a 4 armed small limbed Red Maple tree. At the base of this tree covered by sticks and bark is the box.