Deep Notch
Deep Notch | ||
---|---|---|
Elevation 1,900 ft (579 m) | | |
Traversed by | NY 42 | |
Location | Lexington, New York, US | |
Range | Catskills | |
Coordinates | 42°11′40″N 74°24′20″W / 42.19444°N 74.40556°W |
Deep Notch, sometimes West Kill Notch,[1] or Echo Notch,[2] is a mountain pass in Lexington, New York, United States. It divides two Catskill peaks, both subpeaks of high peaks of the range. The narrow groove between the steep, high slopes on either side is traversed by state highway NY 42 and the Shandaken Tunnel, part of the New York City water supply system. It has been called "striking"[3] and "a marvel of grandeur and beauty".[4]
The rocky slopes have required extra fencing at the base to prevent slides from blocking the road, the only paved road from northwestern Ulster County to neighboring towns in Greene County. Their steepness has also made them attractive to ice climbers, a recreational opportunity not widely available elsewhere in the Catskills.
Geography
"Deep Notch" is sometimes used to refer to the entire section of Route 42 from
The two generally level
Both slopes are property of the state of New York, managed by the Department of Environmental Conservation as part of the Catskill Park Forest Preserve. The western land is in the Halcott Mountain Wild Forest and the eastern property in the West Kill Wilderness Area.[6] As part of the Forest Preserve they remain forever wild, in accordance with the state constitution. There is little development in the area save some houses along the road to the south.
South of the notch the land rises gently but steadily into it, gaining about 450 feet (140 m) over two miles (3.2 km) from Bushnellville. To the north it descends more rapidly to the hamlet of West Kill. The highway drops 525 feet (160 m) in a half-mile (1 km) to the junction with Greene County Route 6.[5]
Route 42 is one of only three paved roads crossing gaps in a long chain of ranges that extends from Plattekill Mountain in the east to Utsayantha Mountain, near
All of Deep Notch is within the Hudson River watershed. Bushnellville Creek drains into Esopus Creek to the south, and the north side feeds the West Kill, a Schoharie Creek tributary. The Schoharie's waters ultimately reach the Hudson via a circuitous route ending with the Mohawk River.
History
The Catskills as a whole were formed during the Devonian period, 250–350 million years ago, when the former delta of a river that drained the Taconic and Acadian mountain ranges to the northeast lifted up as one. Erosion dissected the resulting plateau into mountains. The sandstones and shales left from the river deposits make up the notch's rock outcrops and deposits.[7]
Like Stony Clove Notch to the east, Deep Notch was formed more recently, at the end of the last Ice Age. Waters from the glacial lake of meltwater that covered the Schoharie headlands eventually spilled over the gap between the peaks, opening up the valley to the south. Eventually, it carved out the notch and then the water drained away.[8]
Due to its steep slopes, the notch largely avoided any of the exploitation that characterized Catskill forests prior to the establishment of the Forest Preserve in 1885.
Catskill forest historian
In the late 1910s the notch area was slightly disturbed when
Recreation
The steep pitch of the slopes has made Deep Notch attractive to
References
- ^ ISBN 1-930098-02-2.
The road through Deep, or West Kill, Notch is today State Highway 42. It was built as the Greene and Delaware Turnpike by a company incorporated April 21, 1828 ...
- ^ De Lisser, Richard Lionel (1967). Picturesque Catskills: Greene County. Hope Farm Press. p. 148.
- ISBN 9781588431844.
- ^ Pamphlets on Forestry in New York, Vol. 16. Empire State Forest Products Association. 1919. p. 11.
- ^ a b c West Kill Quadrangle — New York — Greene Co (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5 minute series. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ISBN 1-880775-46-8.
- ISBN 0-935796-40-1.
- ^ "Halcott Mountain Wild Forest, Unit Management Plan" (PDF). New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). September 2001. p. 7. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- ^ Kudish, 126.
- ^ Kudish, 121.
- ^ American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society (1918). Annual Report. J.B. Lyon Co.
- ^ "Rock Climbing in Deep Notch, Catskills". rockclimbing.com. 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
- ISBN 0-8117-3103-0. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
New Yorkers had their nearby areas that occasionally froze up sufficiently, like the floes in the Catskills' Deep Notch