hey david
unfortunately, a good long loop in the catskills is not that easy to come by, at least fully trail-bound.
there are a few fantastic shuttle hikes, the devil’s path and escarpment trail being the two most well known.
the classic loop is slide/cornell/wittenberg, but that’s only 17ish miles. it’s possible to widen that loop by going off trail, but bushwacking in dense forest is a special vocation.
you should definitely buy the ny/nj trail conference maps, they are the definitive source: https://www.nynjtc.org/maps/catskill-trails-map
and i haven’t studied it much, but it’s interesting that technically the catskills aren’t even “mountains.”
from dr. wikipedia:
“The Allegheny Plateau,<sup id=”cite_ref-1″ class=”reference”>[1]</sup> the Cumberland Plateau,<sup id=”cite_ref-2″ class=”reference”>[2]</sup> the Ozark Plateau,<sup id=”cite_ref-3″ class=”reference”>[3]</sup> and the Catskill Mountains<sup id=”cite_ref-4″ class=”reference”>[4]</sup> in the United States and the Blue Mountains in Australia are examples of dissected plateaus formed after regional uplift. These older uplifts have been eroded by creeks and rivers to develop steep relief not immediately distinguishable from mountains. Many areas of the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland Plateau, which are at the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, are called “mountains” but are actually dissected plateaus. One can stand on the top of one of these high “mountains” and note that all the other tops are nearly the same height, which represents the original elevation profile of the plain before uplift, and thereafter the subsequent weather erosion.”
.
