Devil’s Kitchen of the Catskills

The Catskill Region area known as Devil’s Kitchen had an official tour from local politicians in mid September of 2010 because of several recent deaths in this particular location. This past year Devil’s Kitchen had a high profile death that gained the attention of many media sources. This area of Devil’s Kitchen where the death occurred is also known as the ‘Grand Canyon’. It  has been reported the hiker was attempting to look at a waterfall named Red Falls. Red Falls is one of the many waterfalls located in Platte Clove.

The death involved a female hiker named Olivia Rose Belfiglio who was 17 years and died on June 4 from injuries suffered in a 100-foot fall from a cliff in the area of Red Falls near Platte Clove Road. The police report was quoted from several sources that noted Olivia Rose Belfiglio and three classmates decided to go hiking on “Senior Cut Day” and none were wearing proper footwear for the area known as Platte Clove.

New York  State Senator James Seward has since reviewed the concerns related to two deaths in the Platte Clove and Devil’s Kitchen area of the Catskills.

According to CBS Channel 6: “Devil’s Kitchen is a treacherous section of the Catskill Mountains.”

Links:

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/09/14/news/doc4c8ed07d0f560560988401.txt

http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/kitchen-1278361-area-lawmakers.html

Platte Clove Artist-in-Residence Cabin

Article Source: Wikipedia.org and CatskillCenter.org:

The Catskill Center offers each year to a selected number artists who have applied to their program a cabin that is located in the historic area of the Catskills where the first American school of landscape painting was initiated in 1825.  This is known as the The Hudson River School and it was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism.  Many painters including Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Thomas Doughty, Frederic Edwin Church and others searched the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain Region of New York for untainted wilderness. The paintings for which the movement is named depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, including the Catskill, Adirondack, and the White Mountains.

The Platte Clove cabin sits where mountain and valley meet, providing a tranquil and rustic workplace and retreat for artists working in a variety of disciplines in the living landscape where American art began. At  the Platte Clove Nature Preserve cabin artists can refine their artistry amidst the solitude and grandeur of nature on 208 acres of pristine wilderness with multi-tiered waterfalls (including Plattekill Falls) and old growth forest.

Platte Clove Artist-in-Residence @ http://www.catskillcenter.org

Blue Trail (from Platte Clove)

A huge rock formation along the blue trail. It is a huge rock in the ground suited like a tombstone for a giant. I thought it to be Hercules grave-site if Hercules was to have a grave.

Clum Hill Road and Cortina Valley Road

The section of the old Ulster & Delaware Railroad right-of-way (ROW) that CatskillSearch explored in regards to this Post is opposite the entrance of the Tannersville Bike Path. The newly developed Tannersville Bike Path starts at Clum Hill Road and ends to the west at Bloomer Road.

The Tannersville Bike Path is for riding and walking and it is open to the public. The Tannersville Bike Path offers to the public a 2.7 mile stretch of graded dirt path which is the old ROW of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad.

CatskillSearch traveled by car east on Cortina Valley Road and found an old railroad abutment over a small creek. The current wooden bridge is a very shaky and does not feel very steady as one walks across.  On the southside of the road is the Cortina Valley Ski Resort which appears to be out of business.

Further east on the road we explored an area which is now known as the Cortina Valley Estates as stated by a large posted sign as one enters the area. It appears in very recent times developers attempted to develop many plots/ parcels with large state of the art log cabins and homes. At this time there appears to be 2 to 3 model homes that were built and none of these homes appear to have any residents.

The two photos below show the current wooden bridge where the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad would have crossed. This obviously is not the original bridge:

The view beyond the wooden bridge looking at the Ulster and Delaware Railroad ROW:

Homes located in the developed area of Cortina Valley Estates. None of these homes appear to have a resident:

A large piece of equipment appears to be just left to rot and rust along the roadway:

The above piece of equipment probably was one of the vehicles that was used to build this roadway with a very large drainage ditch.

The Cortina Valley business’ sign at Route 23A and Clum Hill Road. Both the Resort and Hotel appear not to be in business at this current time.

Devil’s Kitchen Lean-to (Tree Images)

A short hike by CatskillSearch to the Devil’s Kitchen Lean-to and the stream that forms Black Chasm. CatskillSearch started at the Platte Clove Preserve entrance and headed south on foot from the Platte Clove Road. CatskillSearch immediately passes a trail register sign-in . CatskillSearch proceeds to cross the ‘King Post’ constructed bridge which was located in the the Platte Clove Wilderness. The green marked hiking trail of the Platte Clove Preserve lasts for less than a mile before you enter into State Forest Preserve. While in the Platte Clove Preserve there are several interpretive signs that The Catskill Center installed to educate visitors and hikers of Platte Clove Preserve. These Platte Clove Preserve interpretive signs speak about the history of the area and help identify many of the common trees of the forest. At the State section signs are present to alert you are entering State land and the trail markers change to blue. At the junction of Devil’s Path we continued on the blue trail heading south. This brought us to the Devil’s Kitchen Lean to. Along the way we walked by many interesting large rocks and boulders, tree roots growing above ground, and small quarries before reaching the Devil’s Kitchen Lean-to.

This trail further travels to Codfish Point and also Echo Lake on the yellow marked trail.

Below is a interesting tree and it’s root. When I first saw the tree I instantly recognized it from Catskill photographer Vincent  Bilotta photographs.

Front View of Tree:

Side View of Tree:

Back View of Tree:

Front View of Tree:

Platte Clove Neighborhood Center

Platte Clove Neighborhood Center… Need to find out more information regarding the organization.

Platte Clove Nature Preserve

Black and white images from Platte Clove Nature Preserve taken with the Nikkor 10.5 fisheye lens. Up and close on top of Plattekill Falls with an extreme wide angle lens. The first few images have an artistic abstract look with last few having a more natural look. The first few taken with the subject matter close to the lens.

Tribute in Light 2010

The image below was taken on September 11, 2010 from the Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn. The upwards lights shining high from lower Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge is the Tribute in Light. Each beam of light represents a tower from the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

The Tribute in Light first ran as a temporary installation from March 11 to April 14, 2002. The Tribute in Light was launched again in 2003 to mark the second anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. As of 2010,  the Tribute in Light has been repeated every year on September 11. It was announced that 2008 would be the Tribute in Light’s  final year. The tribute was continued in 2009 and on December 17, 2009 it was confirmed that the Tribute in Light would continue through to the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks in 2011. (Source: Wikipedia- Tribute in Light)

Personal Statement from CatskillSearch:

Many, many thanks goes out to Fred of Foto Care. Foto Care is located in NYC and from their website:

“At Foto Care, we are extremely passionate about photography but even more passionate about the lifelong journey that photographers embark on. We will do absolutely everything we can to support that journey.” http://fotocare.com/

This is a very truthful statement.

View past Tribute in Light photos on Yellowecho.com: http://www.yellowecho.com/site/category/tribute-in-light/

Tribute in Light and September 11, 2001

The photo in this post is from the 2008 Tribute in Light which is held on September 11th in remembrance of the attacks on that day in 2001 . In 2008 New York City had an art exhibit where the city built make-shift waterfalls across the city (mostly on the East River). The waterfalls officially began flowing on June 26, 2008. The NYC Waterfalls ran from 7 am to 10 pm (under illumination after sunset), until October 13, 2008 (Source: New York City Waterfalls). One of these waterfalls can be observed on the left tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. This photo of the Tribute in Light was taken from the Manhattan Bridge.

The Tribute in Light is an art installation of 88 searchlights placed next to the site of the World Trade Center to create two vertical columns of light in remembrance of the September 11 attacks. It initially ran as a temporary installation from March 11 to April 14, 2002, and was launched again in 2003 to mark the second anniversary of the attack. As of 2010,  it has been repeated every year on September 11. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribute_in_light)

View more Tribute in Light photographs at: http://www.yellowecho.com/site/category/tribute-in-light/