"Original plan was to do Tremper in the AM then do Eagle by itself afterwards. I had a pleasant hike up and down Tremper, via the Phoenicia trail, in the cool and breezy weather. With recent rains all the water crossings were running well with water running down the trail in many areas. Spent time removing limbs and opening up some failing water bars on both my way up and down. On my way into Rider Hollow PA I decided to abort hiking to Eagle as rain had began to fall. It was already cool and breezy and I really didn’t need Eagle that bad. Heading home early will allow me to run some errands and get home at a reasonable time." — Nimblefoot • Jun 1, 2025

"A day of onesies. Started off doing Hunter via the short and sweet Becker Hollow trail. Met Cassidy from Connecticut in the parking lot. She was doing Hunter followed by Slide to finish her Northeast 111(115) quest. We chatted about northeast peak bagging and other challenges before descending. Being younger and fitter she flew down to the TH way faster than I could. Did Hunter for the 4K peak per day challenge- #235/366. Next headed over to Deep Notch on Rt 42 to head up to the canister on Halcott for the month of october and round #2 of the 35R peak everyday( Hikers Anonymous.com)- 284/366. Nice quiet hike not seeing a sole on my round trip. There was a second car in the PA so that person(s) most have taken a different bushwhack or herd path route. Felt a little sluggish and tight calves after the faster hike on Hunter. Quick lunch break before driving over to Rt 212 outside of Phoenicia. The parking lot at the Tremper mtn TH was totally full, not surprising for a Friday and the Fall color looky loos. Went back to one of the small lots, used by those fishing the Esopus, to hop on the trail via the old gated access road to the tower. This saved me half a mile on my last clim..." — Nimblefoot • Oct 11, 2024

"Tom and I left the trailhead at 8:45 under blue skies at 68 degrees. The trail was dry with loose rocks all the way to the summit. We took a break at lean-to #1 and then on to the summit. 360 degree view was enjoyed from the tower cabin. We had the tower to ourselves. We met a total of 9 hikers and 3 dogs on our descent. Up and down in 2 hours 59 minutes. My 2nd tower in the Catskills. 28/32" — garyogden • Jul 21, 2024

"Easy hiking day visiting some fire towers and a single peak for my grid. Very warm day(70’s) so I was glad I wore shorts. After tagging Roundtop from Gillespie road I headed down to Phoenicia to climb Tremper, my #4 out of 6 for the ‘24 DEC Fire Tower Challenge. A quick stop in Phoenicia to pickup some fluids then out to the Catskill Visitor Center for an easy stroll to the Upper Esopus fire tower,#5 of 6. Continued on to Woodstock to drive up to the Meads TH for the final climb of the day, Overlook. On my descent I ran into two friends who had driven down from ADK Loj in Lake Placid after Mondays eclipse viewing. We finalized a hike for the next day which is unfortunately forecasted to be cooler and a bit wet with showers(ugh). Overlook completed my fire tower challenge now it’s time to report to the DEC and get my patch." — Nimblefoot • Apr 9, 2024

"First I did Bearpen and Vly out of Johnson Hollow then headed back to Phoenicia for a hike up to the fire tower on top of Tremper. BP and Vly completed my 57th round of the Cat35 then Tremper completed my ‘23 Fire Tower challenge of the DEC." — Nimblefoot • Jun 19, 2023

"It was a tough but beautiful climb. Steady uphill. Flowers coming into bloom, black flies are coming out. Lovely trail but a lot of loose rocky scramble. Tower was locked. Not much view" — melaniehaskell • May 3, 2022

"Getting Windham and Tremper for the month of February. Shortly after leaving the PA on Peck road I had rare sighting of two wolves or wolf-like creatures crossing the trail ahead of me. They were separated a bit and moving fast. The trail to WHP was rutted up and frozen so it was often easier to microspikes to the side in the hard crust. The trail to Tremper was a mix of bare ground and ice patches then eventually all ice or hard crusty snow. Carried snowshoes up to WHP and back without using so on Tremper left them in the car." — Nimblefoot • Feb 16, 2022

"We did this hike on a perfect November day with temps starting in the upper 40's and ending in the mid 60's. Took the Phoenicia Trail. Trail was very wide with a portion being on an old Jeep trail. A few switchbacks and steep sections, but no scrambling or "rock hopping" required. The leaves on the ground made for slick footing at times. Two lean-tos were observed along the trail with one about 0.8 miles from the summit and the second adjacent to the summit (both with privies). The tower cab was open and provided great views of adjacent mountains. There was also a landscape photo on one side of the tower ceiling indicating the names of the mountains from that viewpoint. Hiking time about 3 1/2 hours. " — TJandMS • Nov 9, 2021

"We took the Willow trail for 9.5 miles round trip & 1846 feet of elevation gain. Beautiful trail full of mushrooms—we found fresh maitake & lion’s mane. This was our 23rd fire tower, & it was a beautiful hike to finish the fire tower challenge on!" — EmilyDoucet729 • Oct 17, 2021

"Climbed 2/27/2021. Had 1-2 inches of wet snow during the night before. Temperature was warm for February, 37degrees. Hiked from the Phoenicia Trail (CR 40). Trail was packed down except for the recent wet snow the night before. Used snowshoes. 6.8 miles roundtrip with 2163 feet of elevation gain. Had trouble with my new TSL snowshoes so I had to switch to micro-spikes. Trail able to carry my weight without post holing. Weather was a fine rain and very foggy going up. No views from the fire tower due to the fog. Cab was open. Skies started to clear during our hike down. Half the hikers weren't using snow shoes." — Tree2topper • Feb 27, 2021