I was curious to see how many Catskills High Peaks I could hike self-supported in a 24hr period. I had spent January to August of 2025 building hiking experience in the Catskills and eventually built solo self-supported long days of 20 miles and more. This was a personal goal and for fun, not for any record, just curiosity to see how far I could push myself. I drove myself, hiked by myself and resupplied using food and water I had packed in my car for the duration of this 24 hr attempt. I did not stop to purchase food or water or gas. It was a fun!
Group 1: Eastern Devil's Path, Indian Head, Twin, Sugarloaf & Plateau.
My 24 hr ultra started at 11:10 pm on Thursday September 25th at the Prediger Trailhead for the Eastern side of the Devil's Path. My first goal, start summiting at midnight or just after and hit as many summits as I could by midnight on Friday September 26th. It was import for me as a mini goal to summit as many peaks as I could in a single calendar day (midnight to midnight) which gave me a little extra time to get to the first summit. I took the Jimmy Nolan Notch trail out and back to grab Indian Head & Twin. My first summit was Indian Head, just after midnight and my mini goal clock started. I grabbed Twin, headed back to my car and drove to Mink Hollow/Eastern Devil's Path trailhead.
After grabbing a snack in my car I headed up the drainage to connect with the Sugarloaf Loop/Notch, grabbed Sugarloaf then pushed up Plateau. I had not seen another human all night and came across a tent planted right on the trail, pushed to the summit and back down to my car.
Group 2: Panther as a single
I drove to Giants Ledge trailhead just as the sun was rising and hiked up to Panther as a single out and back. I hiked back to my car, filled up my bladder, ate snacks and headed to the Slide Trailhead.
Group 3: The Neversink 9 as a loop. Slide, Cornell, Wittenberg, Friday, Balsam Cap, Rocky, Lone, Table, Peekamoose and Table again.
I started this final loop around 10:30 am on Friday the 26th. I went clockwise, Slide first and Peekamoose last, hiking down the Peekamoose/Table trail and connecting to the Phoenicia East Branch Trail looping back to the Slide Trailhead and my car to finish around 9pm.
This final group took a lot out of me and my pace slowed significantly. My mini goal with this last group was to get through the bushwhack sections and canister summits before sunset, which I accomplished. I watched the sun set from the lookout on lower table and hiked the remaining 5 miles or so out in the dark. It was a beautiful sufferage and transformative to do solo.
I hit 14 peaks in around 22 hrs including drive times, and self supported with all summits made in a single calendar day.