West Stoppel Story

Howie and I did a hike in the northern Catskills today. We climbed West Stoppel .... which doesn't really have an official name, but it's on a ridge west of Stoppel Point. Started from Colgate lake at the first parking area. There were no swimmers today. There isn't a trail to the top of the ridge, so once we got around the lake, it was a bushwack. The woods were fairly open though, with no real steep parts. There was snow, but it wasn't deep enough really for snowshoes (about 4-6 inches deep). I couldn't really determine which point at the top was the highest. So, I made an executive decision ... declared this one clearing in the middle of some pine trees to be the top. No one objected. After a quick snack, headed back down. Then the sun finally decided to come out.

Summit Elevation: West Stoppel 3105 ft
Round-trip Distance: 4.0 mi
Elevation Change: 1070 ft

West Stoppel