Hiking Slide Mountain: The Highest Peak in the Catskills

Just 2.5 hours north of New York City stands Slide Mountain, the tallest mountain in the Catskill Mountain Range.  Slide Mountain is the perfect moderate-to-difficult sort of hiking trail that just about anyone can do.  

This out and back trail might be tough for a beginner and a little easy to an experienced hiker, but it’s absolutely worth doing.  And it’s dog friendly, which our yellow lab loved!

And did I mention the layers and layers of mountains that greet you at the top!?  The Catskills are beautiful, but here is why you should make time to hike Slide Mountain.  

But first, here is some important information for you!

Important Links 

Slide Mountain Wilderness website

Slide Mountain Out and Back – AllTrails link

Park Here – Google Maps Link

Backpack Checklist – FREE checklist!

Location

Slide Mountain is located in the Slide Mountain Wilderness section of Catskill Park.  This area alone has 35 miles of hiking trails and some of the most amazing views.  With little to no service in the area, you’re definitely going to want to download an offline map so you don’t get lost.  

The trailhead is just 2.5 hours north of NYC, 1 hour and 45 mins south of Albany, NY, and 3 hours southeast of Syracuse, NY.  In other words, this is a great day trip or weekend getaway location if you need to get out of the city.  

Parking

Slide Mountain is a trail that has an actual parking lot.  On the plus side, this lot is free to park at.  On the down side, this lot is not particularly big… So get here early!

We arrived right at 7am and the lot was about 2/3rds full when we arrived.  There are several trail options from this parking lot, so you aren’t competing for JUST this trail.  

You’ll want to park here for quick access to the Slide Mountain out-and-back trail.  

Ok, that’s enough details for now, let’s get to it!

Trail Stats

Slide Mountain has several different ways of reaching the Catskills’ tallest summit.  But we are going to be talking about the out-and-back trail option.  We picked this trail for a few specific reasons, but after hiking it, just about anyone can complete this trail!

Stats: Slide Mountain Out-and-Back

• Distance: 6 miles
• Elevation Gain: 1640 feet
• Time on Trail: 3 hours 20 mins
• Difficulty: Moderately Hard

I know “Moderately Hard” isn’t typically a classification, but this trail was harder than moderate because of the elevation, but the lack of distance felt more like a moderate trail.  So just roll with it.

Anyway, we chose this hike because my husband had to work that afternoon and we wanted a challenging but short trail so we could get him back in time to shower and get to work.  But I digress, this trail had a perfect touch of challenge without being overly difficult.   

What to Expect When Hiking Slide Mountain

The Slide Mountain Out-and-Back trail is what people often think of when they think of hiking.  The trail leads you up the whole way and then when you return, it’s down the entire time.  

The trailhead begins at the back of the parking lot and is marked with the standard trailhead kiosk filled with information.  If you don’t have the downloaded map for this trail, I highly recommend you take a photo of the map on this kiosk so you can look back for reference.  

You’ll then start on the Phoenicia East Branch Trail for about 0.75 miles.  This first section is filled with stairs and has an elevation gain of over 400 feet.  

At this point you will come to a split in the trail, and you’ll go left onto the Wittenburg, Cornell and Slide Trail.  (You can access all 3 of these mountains from this trail).  

Initially the trail will seem to level out from here, but then comes approximately 1,100 feet of elevation gain over the next 1.2 miles to smack you in the face.  It’s steep but shaded and very doable.  Don’t be afraid to stop for a water break if you need a second to catch your breath.  

By now, you’ll have hiked just over 2 miles, the trail levels out for a little while and then you’ll begin your final 200ish feet of elevation gain to the top.  Luckily, this last incline is spread out over the final mile, so it’s an easy end to get to the view.

Important Note

If you skipped all the details above, that’s fine.  But you’ll want to pay attention to this next part, I promise!

There is no view at the summit of Slide Mountain!  The summit is completely below the tree line.  

The view that you can see above is actually about 0.2 miles prior to the summit.  So if you are just looking to get a good view and peace out, you don’t even need to get to the summit.  

Descent or Continuation?

At this point, whether you are at the scenic view of Slide Mountain, or you continued onto the summit, you have a choice.  From here you can continue onto Cornell Mountain and Wittenberg Mountain, or you can head back to your car.  

Cornell Mountain is an additional 2 miles from the summit of Slide Mountain, and then Wittenberg is another mile past that.  Essentially, if you hike all the way to Wittenberg, you’ll be adding a total of 6 more miles to your hike.  

Only you can make this call.  But if you did not have a good time hiking up Slide Mountain, then you probably don’t want to continue on.  Please choose wisely.

At this point, we headed back to the parking lot so my husband could get to his afternoon shift at work.  And the trail back is just as steep down and should be taken carefully.    

Our Experience

My husband, myself, and our dog hiked this trail on a Saturday morning in July of 2024.  We wanted something less than 7 miles with a touch of challenge to it. And Slide Mountain fit the bill perfectly!

Plus, who doesn’t want the bragging rights of saying that you hiked the tallest mountain in the Catskill Mountain Range?  

We hiked up to the view and then back to the parking lot in 3 hours and 20 minutes.  We ran into 2 other groups of hikers on the way up, and about 10 or so other groups of hikers on the way back to our truck.  

This trail was a great way to start our day and while we would have liked to continue onto Cornell and Wittenberg, we were very glad to have gotten in the hike we did.  

Camping

The Catskill Park area has a lot of camping options.  So many, in fact, that it took me hours to sort through them all and find one that we wanted to stay at.  

Because we travel full time and my husband works his job remotely, we need to have phone service and power.  We opted to camp at Interlake RV Park and Campground in Rhinebeck, NY so we could have those luxuries.  

If you want to hear more about our camping experience, check out my post about camping in Interlake RV Park.  

Or if you prefer to stay closer to the hiking action, here is a website with lots of camping options in the Catskills that I found helpful.  

Conclusion

The Catskill Mountains are home to dozens of mountains, but only 35 are over 3,500 feet tall.  Of all of these mountains, Slide Mountain holds the title of “Tallest Peak in the Catskill Mountains”.  And with that title, comes a great hiking opportunity!  

Slide Mountain stands at 4,185 feet tall and offers stunning views of the layers and layers of mountains below.  This out and back trail is a dog friendly hike and was a great way to shake off the rust and get hiking in upstate New York.  

Just 2.5 hours north of New York City, you won’t want to miss this lesser-known part of New York State.

As always, feel free to reach out to me at averagewildexperience@gmail.com with questions or comments about Slide Mountain.  

Happy Hiking!