Over in the US for Thanksgiving last month with our son’s in-laws, we spent a fascinating three days in the Catskill mountains in upstate New York. Settled in the early 1600s by Europeans from Germany, Holland, England and Ireland, the area has plenty of similarities with Cumbria’s Lake District, including an industrial past. The photo opposite shows an early settler’s house in New Paltz. In both areas people can often trace their families back over many generations.
Both areas are equidistant from their nearest large cities, Manchester and New York and provide second home and weekend destinations for many from these conurbations. They both are a mixture of wild mountain terrain and populated areas, unlike the normal US National parks, which are entirely wilderness. Houses are often tucked away in the woods (See photo).
Established initially in 1885 by New York State, the Catskill Mountain Park (CMP) has now a Forest Preserve (FP) of 450 square miles, of which the NY State owns 41%. With an overall size of 1,095 square miles and population of about 50,000, it is a little larger than the Lake District National Park (LDNP), with its 885 square miles and population of 42,000.
A NY State resolution of 1894 stated that the FP had to be kept as wild forest lands and 400 black bears now live in the area as well as bobcats, coyote and rare birds. But across the park, farming is important – as it is in the LDNP – with apple and pear orchards covering large areas of the Ulster County section of the park.
Land and property is cheaper in the Catskills than in the LDNP, where strict planning regulations make it difficult to build housing outside of existing settlements and inhibit unsuitable development. One consequence of this is that the Catskills has attracted artists, idealists and others who are seeking simpler living and an alternative lifestyle; the memory of the 1969 legendary Woodstock Festival (in the centre of the Park) attended by ½ million people has lived on.
Major controversy at present in the CMP surrounds the practice of ‘fracking’, a process which involves pumping millions of gallons of water with chemicals into the ground to fracture the rock and extract oil from the ground. The worry is that the chemicals will contaminate the water table and endanger water supplies.
The Catskill Mountains are only two hours’ driving from New York and well worth a visit. If you are wanting walking and mountains, there’s plenty of hiking on offer – woodlands, trails, lakes and mountains. Slide Mountain is the highest (4,180 feet) with 34 others over 3,500 feet and a total of 98 peaks over 3,000 feet. It makes the Lake District seem quite modest with only Scafell, Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Skiddaw over 3,000 feet. Despite this, it’s not as popular an area as the LDNP receiving only half a million visitors a year compared with the Lake District’s 8½ million!
