On Overlook you come up a 19th-century carriage road to a fire tower, the Hudson Valley spreading out with the old Catskill Mountain House site in the view. East on the escarpment, Kaaterskill Falls drops in two tiers into a plunge pool you hear before the ledge opens. You hike both, then sleep at a DEC tent-and-trailer campground. The Overlook Mountain Wild Forest trailheads on Meads Mountain Road are day-hike parking.
In Woodstock itself, Kenneth L. Wilson Campground has tent-and-trailer sites, a dump station, and no hookups. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, RVs for rent in New York are the step up. Book the site on ReserveAmerica first, because the van is the second booking.
When Wilson is full, or you want the night under the falls, you go to North-South Lake Campground at Haines Falls, near Tannersville and Catskill. DEC calls it the biggest and most popular state campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve. The loops put you at the falls and the old Mountain House site, and there are two beaches on the lakes.
Saugerties is a Hudson day with the lighthouse on the water, and Kingston is the other river town for a walk and a meal. Neither is an overnight. The Helderbergs and the Capital District parks belong to Albany. Bethel Woods and the Upper Delaware belong to Middletown.
Slide Mountain and the Esopus
From Woodland Valley Campground you start up Slide Mountain, the tallest peak in the Catskills, on the Slide-Wittenberg trail. Woodland Valley Stream runs through the campground, and the Esopus is close at Phoenicia.
From Devil's Tombstone you wake up at Hunter, on the Devil's Path and under the mountain. As of September 2026 this is the first of the four DEC campgrounds around Woodstock to close, in early September.
Below Phoenicia the Esopus runs Class II whitewater, standing waves through the creek. Town Tinker Tube Rental runs that stretch, with a life jacket, helmet, and foot protection required. As of September 2026 they run Memorial Day weekend through late September, weekends only after Labor Day.
Ashokan Rail Trail
The Ashokan Rail Trail follows the reservoir shoreline on compacted crushed stone, a flat ride from the Ashokan Station trailhead on NY-28. Other trailheads are at Boiceville Bridge and Woodstock Dike. Ulster County keeps it open sunrise to sunset year-round as of September 2026, with trailheads plowed in winter and the surface left as is. There is no camping on the trail.
Hunter, Windham, and Belleayre
Ski season runs at Hunter Mountain, Windham Mountain, and Belleayre. Ski weeks land after Kenneth L. Wilson, North-South Lake, Woodland Valley, and Devil's Tombstone have closed, so a van here for snow has no state campground.