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Balsam Mountain is one of the High Peaks of the Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York. Its exact height has not been determined, so the highest contour line, , is usually given as its elevation. It is located in western Ulster County, on the divide between the Hudson and Delaware watersheds. The summit and western slopes of the peak are within the Town of Hardenburgh and its eastern slopes are in Shandaken. The small community of Oliverea is near its base on that side. Most of the mountain is publicly owned, managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as part of the state Forest Preserve, part of the Big Indian-Beaverkill Range Wilderness Area in the Catskill Park. The summit is on a small corner of private land. As one of the High Peaks it is a popular destination for hikers, especially peakbaggers seeking membership in the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club, since along with Slide, Panther and Blackhead it is one of four peaks that members must climb twice, at least once in winter. The Pine Hill-West Branch Trail (PHWB) crosses its summit; hikers usually approach from either side via the Oliverea-Mapledale Trail, which intersects the PHWB south of the summit, and make the ascent from there. The northwestern approach makes a loop route possible via the Mine Hollow Trail; the southeastern ascent, from McKenley Hollow, has the steepest stretch of trail on any ascent of a Catskill High Peak.〔 ==Geography== Balsam Mountain is one of several peaks on an officially unnamed range that carries the watershed divide to Winnisook Lake near Slide Mountain. It is the second northernmost peak on the range after Belleayre Mountain, and the northernmost to exceed , the threshold for inclusion as a High Peak. A ridge almost two miles (3.2 km) in length separates it and Belleayre. South of Balsam the ridge turns to the southwest, connecting it to Haynes Mountain after a mile (1.6 km). The summit, a small bump, is at the south end of a narrow ridge in length with a slight dip between it and the false summit on the northern end. On its east the slopes drop generally steeply down to Big Indian Hollow, the valley of the headwaters of Esopus Creek, around above sea level. There some more gently sloped areas at mid-mountain level, around , on the southeast side. Tributaries and subtributaries of the Esopus drain even steeper valleys radiating out in a fan-shaped pattern from Lost Clove at the northeast to McKenley (also McKinley) Hollow in the southeast.〔 The valleys on the west side are also steep but not as numerous, and converge at a higher elevation, than the base on the eastern side. A narrow valley carries the combined streams down to Dry Brook, a tributary of the East Branch of the Delaware River. The northernmost valley, Mine Hollow, is the only one with an official name, the result of a failed attempt to mine gold believed to be in the area.〔 The larger valley it forks off from is known informally as Rider Hollow. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Balsam Mountain (Ulster County, New York)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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