Platte Clove Preserve

Platte Clove is a clove, an old Dutch word for a rocky mountain cleft, and it is one of the most rugged in the Catskills. Plattekill Creek gathers on the high plateau above and then tumbles off the edge of the range through a narrow gorge, dropping fast over ledge after ledge on its way toward the Hudson Valley far below. The road that climbs the clove is famously steep and winding, closed in winter, and the creek beside it has carved a green, shadowed canyon of hemlock and cold, clear water.

The Catskill Center's preserve protects the very top of this system, 208 acres wrapped around the head of the clove. Because the land is steep and forested and has been shielded from development for decades, it feels genuinely wild, the kind of place where the loudest sound is falling water and the temperature drops noticeably as you step down into the gorge.

The star of the preserve is Plattekill Falls, reached by the Waterfall Trail, a roughly one-third-mile path that begins near the trailhead kiosk and drops steeply into the gorge to the base of the falls. It is short but genuinely rugged, a scramble down through rock and root, and the reward is a tall cascade spilling into a shaded pool ringed by ferns and dripping stone. Swimming is not allowed and the ledges are slick, so it is a place to look and photograph rather than climb around.

The gentler Nature Trail is a half-mile loop along the south side of Plattekill Creek. It gives easy creek views, a look at the top of the clove, and passes through the stone foundations and scattered ruins of a boarding house that stood here in the 1800s, back when city visitors came up to the mountains to escape the summer heat. A third path, the Overlook Trail, follows the creek west across a rebuilt king-post footbridge and climbs on toward distant Overlook Mountain for those who want a longer day.

It is that variety on a small footprint that guests remember: a big waterfall, a hand-built bridge, and a piece of vanished history, all within an easy walk of the same parking area.

The preserve exists because of a gift. In 1975 the Griswold family donated the land to the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development so that its flora, fauna, geology, and history would be protected for good. The Catskill Center, a nonprofit that has worked to safeguard the region since the 1960s, has kept it as a quiet wilderness preserve ever since, stationing seasonal stewards at the trailhead in the warm months to help visitors and protect the land.

The property also carries a small piece of American art history. Each summer the Center hosts painters and other artists at a modest red cabin on the preserve through its Artist in Residence program, continuing a tradition that reaches back nearly two centuries. In the 1800s Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, and his fellow painters were drawn to the drama of the Catskill cloves and their falls. In 2018 the preserve became the eighteenth site on the Hudson River School Art Trail, marked as the spot where Asher B. Durand and others captured the clove on canvas, so today you can compare the living gorge with the paintings it inspired.

The preserve is open dawn to dusk and reached from the top of the Platte Clove near Elka Park, above the villages of Tannersville and Hunter. The trails start near an informational kiosk at the trailhead; from spring through fall a Catskill Steward is usually posted there on weekends and holidays to answer questions and help protect the site. Because upkeep and stewardship are funded by donations, visitors are asked to leave a suggested day-use donation.

Wear real hiking shoes for the Waterfall Trail, which is steep and can be slippery, and give the gorge the respect it deserves near the falls and the creek. There are no services at the trailhead, so bring water and take care of restrooms and supplies in Tannersville or Palenville first. Give yourself a couple of unhurried hours to walk down to the falls, loop the nature trail past the old ruins, and take in a piece of Catskills landscape that has moved travelers and artists alike for two hundred years.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

This is the most important thing to know: the deep ravine of Platte Clove is genuinely dangerous, with steep, slick rock, powerful waterfalls, and a tragic history of serious falls and drownings, especially during flash floods after rain. Stay strictly on the marked preserve trails, do not scramble down into the gorge or jump into pools, and never enter the ravine when water is high. Treated with respect from the safe trails, it is beautiful; treated carelessly, it can be deadly.

It is a protected preserve in a rugged, wildly scenic gorge, or clove, in the eastern Catskills, filled with waterfalls, deep hemlock ravines, and old forest. A marked trail leads to the pretty Plattekill Falls, giving visitors a taste of the clove's dramatic beauty, and the area serves as a gateway to the famous Devil's Path hiking trail. It is a place of real wilderness character close to the artistic town of Woodstock.

Stick to the established, marked preserve trails, such as the short walk to Plattekill Falls, where you can enjoy the waterfall and forest scenery from safe vantage points. Use it as a scenic stop or a launching point for marked trails into the surrounding Catskill high peaks. The key is to admire the clove's beauty from the trails rather than venturing into the treacherous deeper gorge, which is not a place for casual exploration.

The narrow, extremely steep, and winding Platte Clove Road that accesses the area is famous among drivers and is closed in winter for safety. If you drive it in season, do so with great care, use low gears, and know it is not suitable for large vehicles or trailers. Always check whether the road is open before planning a visit, especially in the shoulder seasons when conditions change.

Late spring through fall is the season, with the Platte Clove Road open and the forest at its best, and autumn bringing gorgeous foliage. Note that after heavy rain the waterfalls are fuller but the rocks and ravine become far more dangerous, so pick a dry spell and always keep to the marked trails. Go early for parking, and combine a visit with the marked Catskill trails nearby.