Shavertown Trail

A steep hike to a wonderful lookout, with a break in the middle at a sweet pond with its own view.

Hike Length: 2.9 miles (4.67 km)

Total Ascent: 980ft (299m)

Intensity: Moderate Catskills Hike

Route Type: Out-and-Back

Includes: Blazed Trail, Road Walk

Parent Perch Lake

Similar Entries In: Catskills, The Moderate Hikes, , , , , .

Shavertown Trail / Tremperskill Overlook in the Catskills

Tremperskill Overlook

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 A moderate climb to a sweet pond and some great views.

Hiking Trail Description

The Shavertown Trail offers a super sweet hike through mixed woods to two open spots: a wonderful pond and a wonderful lookout. It’s a touch steep in places but you’ll definitley be glad you spent two hours here.

As you’ll see below, with so much deciduous forest, this is a great spot for a short fall hike.

Shavertown Hiking Trail

The Shavertown Trail includes…

  • Beautiful forest
  • A few steepish sections
  • No rock scrambles
  • A weather station
  • A large pond with a view
  • A sweet lookout
  • A demon tree

Park in the lot near the bridge that crosses the Pepacton Reservoir, then walk away from the bridge. About 200 feet from your car, on the opposite side of the road, you’ll see the sign that marks the trailhead.

Shavertown trail trailhead
Shavertown Trail trailhead is roadside / be careful

Shavertown Trail Notes & Gallery

The Shavertown Trail was built on NYCDEP land by the Catskill Mountain Club. There are private land parcels  around this area, so stay on the trail to avoid trespassing.

Snake Pond

You can climb directly to the lookout, but Snake Pond is a nice diversion, and a good place to catch your breath on the way up.

Trail Note: If you loop around it from below, following the woods road, you’ll pass a sweet weather station.

Snake Pond / Shavertown Trail
Snake Pond

The view from the west side of the pond is pretty sweet…

shavertown trail snake pond view
View from Snake Pond

…and there’s a sweet bench with the words “HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU” carved into the seat…

dog on wooden bench
My friend Foxy Roxy on the bench

Tremperskill Overlook

Make your way down to the junction, turn right, and head uphill.

After about 400’ of elevation gain, you’ll pass these giant boulders…

boulders on shavertown trail
Boulders at the top of the hill

…and then the trail turns left and downhill to the view at Tremperskill Overlook.

Shavertown Trail / Tremperskill Overlook in the Catskills
Tremperskill Overlook

shavertown trail view
Partial view from Tremperskill Overlook

scenic reservoir view
Pepacton view

This was the day I finally met my longtime online friend @NatureAddictLady, who shoots amazing Hudson Valley landscapes.

hiker friends and dog looking pretty happy
@NatureAddictLady & @TotalCatskills finally got to meet

Return to Trailhead

From here, you can head straight back down to the trailhead. The walk out is lovely. On our way back down, we passed this amazing demonic tree I didn’t notice on the way up…

shavertown trail demon
Demonic tree

Pepacton Dark Sky Site

Of great interest to amateur astronomers and astrophotography nerds is the obscure factoid that the bridge that crosses over the Pepacton Reservoir sits smack bang under the darkest skies in the Catskills Park.

Check darksitefinder.com for reference.

This trail guide is free to all readers thanks to my Patreon subscribers who kindly support this content

Similar Hikes

This route is a little too steep to be considered an easy Catskills nature walk, but it is definitely a short, moderate and scenic hike!

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The parent mountain for this hike is Perch Lake.

If you do this hike, LMK how it went…

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Trailhead Info for this Hike

Trailhead is right on the road, so be extremely watchful for traffic.

Google Maps Location: 42.089951, -74.819029

The map below shows the exact topographic location of the trailhead

Cell Service

Very patchy in this area. My network is Verizon. YMMV.