Windham High Peak

Windham High Peak Information

Windham High Peak really has it all: beautiful trail, scenic lookouts, an enchanted forest — and it’s easy! This is the peak I recommend to anyone who asks about hiking the Catskills for the first time.

Windham High Peak has three excellent routes, two of which are not steep and have no tricky or technical sections:

• The shortest is from Peck Road in the south
• The loveliest is from Cross Road in the north
• The steepest and most dramatic is via Burnt Knob in the east

There’s a lean-to near the intersection of the Elm Ridge Trail and the Escarpment Trail, and at-large backcountry camping is also allowed — campsites must be below 3500 feet in elevation and at least 150 feet away from the nearest road, trail, or body of water. More information can be found at the DEC’s Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness page.

The Long Path, a 350-mile (560 km) long-distance hiking trail from New York City to Albany, is contiguous with the Escarpment Trail which passes over the summit of Windham High Peak.

Windham High Peak is just a super-lovely and approachable mountain that gives new hikers a real sense of the Catskills. It’s also almost always among many long-time Catskills hikers’ favorite peaks.

Before hiking any mountain, make sure you have everything you need for a safe mountain hike, including the ten essentials and some basic mountain hiking gear.