Halcott Mountain

"A solo hike with Nala on a windy day with slight flurries. On and off the trail with the help of AllTrails! Saw a few guys on the way up. Bare trail with a little ice at the start. Nothing too sketchy or steep to navigate except the waterfall at the beginning!" — lfrancois • Feb 18, 2022

"Joined Richard, Susan, Barbara, Sherri and Mimi for a loop of Eagle, Haynes and Balsam. A nice sunny day with temps barely in the double digits and occasional strong winds that gave us rosy cheeks. Whacked to Eagle right out of the gate from McKenley then trails for the rest of the trip. Met a woman out by herself near the summit of Balsam who was curious about my usual bushwhack route off of Balsam. She promptly headed off from the summit obelisk while we celebrated our final peak with group photos. Miraculously we met her again on the trail just down below the leanto. Since we were back to our cars before 2pm Mimi suggested getting another peak. First it was Panther then Halcott for a shorter onesie. No other takers so it just Mimi and I off to the Rt 42 PA eating our sandwiches on the way. We were able to follow tracks to make it easier and got back before darkness so no headlamps were harmed." — Nimblefoot • Jan 10, 2022

"Twosie of Panther and Halcott on a warm day with temps rising through the 40s. The last few days of warm temps and rain on Saturday the11th wiped away all the early snow. Left the trail near Giant Ledge to stroll over the top of the ledge." — Nimblefoot • Dec 13, 2021

"A trio of peaks for my 3rd and 4th grids. Ran into two guys from the DEC doing some heavy duty trail maintenance with chainsaw etc. Pretty hot/humid day for humping a heavy load up a fairly steep trail. The black flies became annoying on my third peak, Halcott, at 3 in the afternoon like heat and humidity wasn’t enough." — Nimblefoot • May 19, 2021

"Trifecta of Panther, Slide and Halcott. Had a revisit of winter with several inches on the ground, at the higher elevations, and flurries in the air. Occasional holes developed in the cloud bank allowing for bright sun and blue sky to show through adding some cheer to a rather gray day." — Nimblefoot • Apr 17, 2021

"Quick morning hike before an afternoon full of meetings. Started out just after 8 am at 0 degrees, got back at 10 am - still 0 degrees! The bright sun, perfectly packed trail and lack of wind made for a beautiful hike for us and the pups. A short, fairly steep climb of ~ 1750' in 2 miles (4 miles RT). Took us just under 2 hours." — deb-and-rob • Feb 12, 2021

"Mimi and I closed out the crazy year of 2020 with a hike of two onesies, Rusk and Halcott, followed by a visit to Phoenicia Diner for a late lunch. Only the little spikes were used for additional grip in the frozen ground covered with a dusting of the white stuff." — Nimblefoot • Dec 31, 2020

"Completing the month of October for my third grid. Ten months done only April and May left to complete next year. Surprisingly I got the last spot to park in both Bisquit Brook and Halcott trailheads. Nice to have a dry day with blue sky and sunshine. The new snow was nice to see but provided rather slippery footing. " — Nimblefoot • Oct 31, 2020

"Up for an easy twofer of West Kill and Halcott for the month of June. It was a lovely day so I encountered numerous others coming and going on West Kill then no one on Halcott until back to the PA, not too surprising. Much more of a well used herd path on Halcott, once above the Brook, than I’ve seen in recent years. The sign on West Kill is still there but the summit cairn got toppled by a cairn-knocker." — Nimblefoot • Jun 8, 2020

"First hike of the new year. Visiting Bearpen and Vly in the AM from Rt 3 in Johnson Hollow then up to RT 42 to do Halcott in early afternoon. A nice dusting of new fluff on top of icy/crusty snow to the cabin then gradually deeper fluff on the summits. Spikes all day, carried the ‘shoes but never deployed them. A group of 8 and a few singles out enjoying the peaks on a nice day. The low clouds, dropping some flurries, occluded any views. On Halcott I had the peak to myself despite a pickup in the lot. Deeper snow with a crust on top closer to the summit. Very thin snow cover down low. All the tracks seem to be busted out with bare boots so any previous snowshoe tracks have been filled in. " — Nimblefoot • Jan 5, 2020