Stony Clove Notch
| Stony Clove Notch | |
|---|---|
Stony Clove Notch behind Notch Lake.
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|
| Elevation | 2,220 ft (677 m) |
| Traversed by |
 NY 214
|
| Location |
Town of Hunter, Greene County, New York, United States |
| Range | Catskills |
| Coordinates | 42°09′54″N 74°12′06″W / 42.16500°N 74.20167°W |
| Topo map | USGS Hunter |
Stony Clove Notch is a narrow pass, roughly 2,220 feet (677 m) in elevation located in the Town of Hunter in Greene County, New York, deep in the Catskill Mountains. It is traversed by New York State Route 214, although in the past the Ulster and Delaware Railroad went through it as well.
The notch divides Hunter and Plateau mountains. There is just enough room for the road, and the steep, soaring slopes of both mountains are some of the Catskills' most striking scenery, with landslides and rocky cliffs visible. It sits at one end of the range of mountains known as the Devil's Path, and early visitors found it a terrifying place to visit.
Today it is a popular destination not only for tourists in the region but for outdoor recreationists as well. One of the Catskills' major hiking trails crosses the road near the notch, and ice climbers and snowboarders have lately been attracted to the cliffs and slopes in winter.
Stony Clove Notch was created during the end of the last Ice Age, when meltwater that had accumulated in what is now the Schoharie headlands to the north of the notch gradually began eroding its way through the gap between the mountains, eventually becoming the Stony Clove Creek
When the first Europeans were taken through the notch, it was narrow enough that not only was travel through it possible only on foot, those travelers had to go through in single file. As painter and writer Charles Lanman said in the 1840s:
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Wikipedia