Slide Mountain, at 4,180 feet, is the Catskill’s highest peak and the site of the original discovery of Bicknell’s Thrush. The peak is reached via a moderately difficult 2.8-mile foot trail. At higher elevations there is an extensive balsam fir-red spruce boreal forest where Bicknell’s Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher nest. The lower elevation deciduous forest hosts numerous species of breeding thrushes, warblers, woodpeckers, and Scarlet Tanager, Winter Wren, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Crossbills, Pine Grosbeaks, and rarely Boreal Chickadee are potential winter invasion species.
Directions: Take SR 28 west of Kingston to Big Indian. Turn left onto CR 47 and continue 8.5 miles through the valley and uphill. After a hairpin curve, look for the Slide Mountain parking area on your left just past Winnisook Lake which is the headwaters of the Esopus Creek.
Latitude, Longitude: 42°00’43″N, 74°24’53″W
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