Labor Day Is Practically Over. The Best of the Catskills Is Just Beginning.
Everyone talks about Labor Day like someone flips a switch Monday night and summer's officially over.
Not up here.
Around Belleayre Mountain, Labor Day feels more like the opening act for what might be my favorite stretch of the whole year in the Catskills. September arrives with cooler mornings, genuinely comfortable hiking weather, quieter roads, and the first hints of yellow and orange sneaking into the deep green forest. Then fall starts doing its thing, and it does it very well.
If you've been thinking about escaping the city for a few days, don't wait for everyone else to suddenly discover fall foliage in October. Come right after Labor Day, when the mountains start changing and the Catskills go wonderfully, blessedly quiet again.
This Is Hiking Season
Summer in the mountains is great, but hiking at 65 degrees instead of 85? That's just better planning, no heroics required. From Alpine Four Season Lodge in Highmount, some of the best Catskills hiking is right around us. Start with Belleayre Mountain itself, work toward the summit or keep it easy on the shorter trails, options range from relaxed walks to real climbs, all with genuine Catskill views along the way.
Or take the gondola up instead. The Catskill Thunder Gondola keeps running weekends through October 11, one of the easiest ways to get a huge mountain view without pretending to enjoy climbing 2,000 vertical feet before breakfast.
Giant Ledge: Bring the Camera
Want a hike with a real payoff? Head for Giant Ledge, about 3.2 miles round trip with roughly 1,000 feet of ascent to the first overlook. Once you're up there, the views open across some of the biggest peaks in the Catskills. The DEC actually recommends it as a particularly good autumn hike, and midweek is especially peaceful, no elbow-to-elbow selfie lines. This is the kind of place where you sit on a rock for five minutes and somehow 45 disappear. That's fine. That's exactly why you came.
Slide Mountain: Go to the Top
For a bigger adventure, hike Slide Mountain. At 4,180 feet, it's the highest peak in the Catskills, sitting inside the enormous Slide Mountain Wilderness. Real mountain country, forest, elevation, quiet, and views that earn every step. Pack water, bring proper shoes, and once you're back at the lodge, you've genuinely earned whatever's going on the grill tonight.
Heading Toward Woodstock? Hike Overlook Mountain.
Overlook Mountain gives you more than a view. The trail passes the ruins of the old Overlook Mountain House before reaching a fire tower and a spectacular lookout over the Hudson River, the Ashokan Reservoir, and the central Catskills. Pair it with lunch or a wander through Woodstock and you've built yourself a genuinely great Catskills day.
And Then Fall Really Arrives
By late September and early October, the mountains start glowing. Gold. Orange. Deep red. Still a little green underneath it all. Every single week looks different.
Belleayre's annual Fall Festival returns October 3-4 and October 10-11, free admission, free parking, with scenic gondola rides, live music, local food and craft vendors, and mountain views wrapped in full fall foliage.
Don't Wait for "Peak" Fall
Here's my actual advice: stop obsessing over finding the one supposedly perfect foliage weekend. September is beautiful precisely because you get to watch fall arrive in real time. Mornings get cooler, trails get quieter, you start reaching for a sweater by evening, and a fire outside suddenly feels exactly right instead of optional.
Wake up at Alpine Four Season Lodge, coffee with the mountains right outside. Pick a trail, spend the day exploring, come back, light the fire, and enjoy the simple fact that you're not sitting in traffic somewhere in Manhattan right now.
Labor Day doesn't close the Catskills. It opens one of the best seasons this place has.
Come up after the crowds leave. Stay with us at Alpine Four Season Lodge in Highmount, just minutes from Belleayre Mountain, and make September, or October, your Catskills escape.
Book Direct for the best rates: Alpine Four Season Lodge and come watch fall actually arrive in the mountains.
Daniel & The Crew
32 Galli Curci Road, Highmount, New York 12441
