Hiking from Manhattan to The Catskills

On the first day of summer 2024, photographer Casey Kelbaugh stepped out into the blistering heat from his New York City apartment building in Alphabet City and headed west on 4th Street, bound for his home in the Catskills.

It turned out to be a 27 day, roughly 300 mile journey on The Long Path, a long distance hiking trail.

Kelbaugh wrote about his experience in the New York Times last September and Radio Catskill contributor Tracy Gates spoke to him about his hike on the little known trail.

Image: Casey Kelbaugh hiking in Harriman State Park, which he says was a small detour from the trail, but “I took a lot of small detours.”