This detailed guide provides complete coverage of more than 300 miles of trails in the beautiful Catskill Mountains.
Licensed Wilderness Guide, Educator, Forester.
Tree Contractor, Timberline Tree & Landscape, Inc.
Author of books and magazine feature articles, 1985-present:
WW Norton & Company, Countryman Press (Backcountry Guides), Sailing magazine, Cruising World magazine, Backpacker magazine, Conservationist magazine, CutureFront magazine, Outdoor Traveler magazine, Adirondack Life magazine, Adirondac magazine (former staff writer), map and book reviewer, New York State Conservationist, NYNJTC Trailwalker
I grew up in an active scouting family and became an Eagle Scout. I received degrees in forestry and English. I've spent most of my life out-of-doors and became a part-time writing teacher, freelance writer and a tree surgeon in order to free myself of the usual constraints of the typical career, mostly so I could explore Canada's subarctic rivers (The Wheeler, Whale, George, Albany, and so on). I also made considerable personal sacrifices to explore the Hudson Bay Territories several times by small sailing vessel, going as far as Hudson Strait in the year 2003, in a Beneteau First 210 sloop. This obsession with journeying, in the immortal words of Robt. Frost, 'has made all the difference'. (Anyway, one must never confuse having a career with having a life).
As a result of my canoe and sailing trips in the Ungava region of sub-arctic Canada, I was recruited by a handful of Cree acquaintances, under the auspices of the Cree Grand Council in Ottawa, into the James Bay Speaker's Bureau, for which I worked and lobbied against the massive Hydro-Quebec power projects of the 1980s and 90s. This richly rewarding work resulted in some long time friendships and ties with the Cree and Inuit people of Nunavik and the James Bay/Hudson Bay territories. Today, Canada's indigenous people continue their struggle against the same, unwieldy provincial utilities that destroyed (by flooding and mercury pollution) a great deal of their ancestral homeland and food supply.
I spent most of the summers of my youth on a defunct family dairy farm in the Saugerties-Woodstock area of the eastern Catskills in upstate New York. I got to know the Catskill trails intimately during that time, and they would become a subject of special interest to me in later years. I'm a NYS licensed guide, and have led trips in the Everglades, on Maine's St. John and Allagash rivers, and throughout the Adirondacks (The Raquette River, St. Regis Ponds, Oswegatchie River, and so on). After writing all I could about the Catskills and the Hudson Valley, I moved to mid-coastal Maine. In the two years since, I've served as an Allagash Ranger in the headwater districts of Chamberlain and Churchill lakes.
My Amazon.com titles naturally evolved out of the things I love most--adventure travel, cycling, canoeing, and hiking/backpacking. Recently, I've been working on canoe guidebooks. My mixed experiences with the world of commercial publishing have resulted in my increased interest in self-publishing, which is an option many regional authors are finding both more attractive as well as practical.
Please use your judgement before embarking upon any of the adventures described in these books. People and ability levels, perceptions and agility of course vary significantly, and an author cannot account for these differences except to offer them in terms of his or her own personal experience. Please feel free to contact me or the publisher(s) of my books if you have questions or can provide input regarding any of the trips that are described within them.
Cordially,
Peter Kick
peterkick@aol.com
