New York State Route 23A

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NY Route 23A

Length:

34.56^[1] mi (55.64 km)

West end:

NY 23 in Prattsville

East end:

US 9W in Catskill

Counties:

Greene

New York State Routes
< NY 23		NY 23B >

New York State Route 23A runs east-west across Greene County as an east-west alternate route of NY 23 in the northern Catskill Mountains. It is one of the most scenic routes in the region, passing seven of the 35 Catskill High Peaks, including Hunter Mountain, the second-highest peak in the range, and then dropping into the Hudson Valley via the historic Kaaterskill Clove.

However, the latter feature remains unavailable to travelers as landslides following the heavy rains of June 2006 caused the New York State Department of Transportation to close the road for repairs through the clove. It would not reopen until the Thanksgiving holiday period in late November of that year.

1 Route description
2 Communities along the route
3 Major intersections
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Route description

23A begins at a three-way junction a couple of miles east of Prattsville, where 23 turns left to continue toward Windham while through traffic is now on the new spur. It continues the parent route's course alongside the picturesque Schoharie Creek, where numerous state-maintained parking areas and fly fishermen during the season attest to its popularity as a trout stream. At one of these, it crosses the Blue Line and enters Catskill Park.

With or without the creek in view, 23A will follow the valley of the upper Schoharie to within a few miles of its source. At the first bend taking the stream away from the road, NY 42 comes up from the hamlet of Lexington to the immediate south, the first of four state highways to terminate at 23A. The road, previously level, begins to climb gently and steadily into the center of Greene County.

Around the crossing of the East Kill, Rusk Mountain, the first major peak, comes into view to the south. When NY 296, a connector route to 23 at Hensonville, comes in from the north, the ski trails striping the Colonel's Chair, a corner of Hunter Mountain that hosts the eponymous ski area, reveals itself behind Rusk.

The highway enters Hunter, the most populous incorporated community in the Catskill Park, and becomes its main street. Traffic, usually low here, becomes heavy on weekends during ski season as this is the only way to the adjacent resort, and most of its visitors come for day trips from outside the region.

Once past the village, the fire tower on Hunter's 4,040-foot (1,234 m) summit becomes visible to the south as the climbing continues, and then 23A reaches its junction with NY 214. The spectacular narrow cleft of Stony Clove Notch, the gap between Hunter and neighboring Plateau Mountain, heralds the beginning of a stretch of several miles in which the creek valley provides drivers with an unobstructed view of the Devil's Path, one of the Catskills' best-known ranges. After Plateau, Sugarloaf, Twin and Indian Head rise to the south as the road continues east.

The Schoharie and the Devil's Path recede to the south as the highway enters Tannersville, the only other village in the Catskill Park and the state's highest. Beyond it, the road crests at 2,300 feet (701 m) in elevation in New York's highest settlement, Haines Falls. There, a road runs north to the Catskill Park's most popular destination, the state campground complex near the former Catskill Mountain House site at North-South Lake.

The distinctive ridgeline of Kaaterskill High Peak and shorter neighbor Round Top appear just east of the hamlet as before lies the dramatic drop into Kaaterskill Clove, a view that inspired many Hudson River School paintings. In the next two miles (3.2 km), 23A drops 2,000 feet (609 m) in elevation through this gap in the Catskill Escarpment. It passes the tenuously located trailhead for Kaaterskill Falls, where pedestrians must use the narrow shoulder for a considerable distance, and below it many swimming holes and steep, rugged cliffs along Kaaterskill Creek.

Finally, just west of Palenville it levels off once again, crosses the Long Path hiking trail and leaves the Catskill Park. The small hamlet is marked by a traffic light at the northern end of NY 32A, a connector that shortens the trip to the Hunter-Tannersville area for those coming south on the New York State Thruway.

Going further east, 23A reaches NY 32 itself at an undeveloped intersection, crosses the Thruway near the grades of an abandoned interchange, and finally reaches its eastern terminus at US 9W near Catskill.

[edit] Communities along the route

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile	Road(s)	Notes
Greene	E of Prattsville	0.0	NY 23
	Lexington	6.4	NY 42	Northern terminus of NY 42 (northern segment).
	W of Hunter	14.0	NY 296	Southern terminus of NY 296.
	E of Hunter	17.0	NY 214	Northern terminus of NY 214.
	Palenville	26.3	NY 32A	Northern terminus of NY 32A.
	E of Palenville	28.6	NY 32
	W of Catskill		I-87/Thruway	NY 23A passes over I-87/Thruway; a partially constructed abandoned interchange is visible from Thruway.
	Catskill	34.6	US 9W