Woodstock Overlook Mountain public access has been improved
by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Officials
took the wraps off the work on Friday.
WOODSTOCK – Officials from the state Department of Environmental
Conservation opened a new parking lot and trailhead spur at McDaniel Road
in Woodstock on Friday, improving public access to the popular Overlook
Mountain Wild Forest. The area has been hampered for years by parking
problems.
The Meads Meadow Trailhead parking lot comes at a cost of $102,000, provided
by state senators through the Catskill Watershed Corporation. The breathtaking
views made more easily available by the improvements, however, are priceless.
A half-mile spur trail now connects easily to the pre-existing Overlook
Mountain Trail, providing convenient hikes up towards the summit and fire
tower. Two family friendly shorter loops have also been built. Sanitation
and information kiosks are added to the 30-spot tourist destination.
Mysterious castle-like ruins located nearby are actually a failed restoration
attempt from an old 19th-Century resort, aborted during the 1920s. Further
down the mountain are ancient aboriginal cliff dwellings, for which Rock
City Road is named. In recent decades, hippies from town have been gathering
on Overlook Mountain each month under the full moon, to play drums.
Buddhist monks from a nearby monastery, dressed in maroon robes, mingled
among park rangers, state officials, and local hikers to watch the ribbon
cutting on Friday morning, timed in commemoration of Earth Day.
DEC Regional Director Kelly Turturro thanked partners who helped finalize
the project.
“We had a lot of support from the Town of Woodstock, and our partners
in the Catskill Watershed Corporation, the Catskill Center, and the funding
assistance came from State Senators Amedore and Seward,” Turturro
said.
The project is part of the governor’s Adventure New York Initiative,
a $50 million program to connect New Yorkers to the great outdoors.
