Above: Zula the zebra, in a widely distributed photo of the animal by Richard Myer.
Many humans have fallen to their deaths hiking in Kaaterskill Clove, a steep and scenic gorge that runs along windy Route 23A through the Greene County hamlets of Palenville and Haines Falls. Now a zebra has been added to the clove's body count.
Above: The window of the Phoenicia Pharmacy. Photo by Julia Reischel.
Residents of the Catskills will soon have fewer places to get prescription drugs. Two independently-owned pharmacies, Miller's Drug Store in Margaretville and the Phoenicia Pharmacy in Phoenicia, have announced plans to close.
Fred and Rebecca Miller, owners of Miller's Drug Store in the Delaware County village of Margaretville, made the announcement in a Facebook post.
A 58-year-old man died on Monday, May 16 when his pickup truck left the roadway, struck a culvert and overturned in the Delaware County town of Kortright, according to a press release from the New York State Police.
The driver was 58-year-old Michael C. Berry of East Meredith, police say. He was driving on West Kortright Church Road around 5:46 p.m. when his 1996 Dodge Ram left the roadway for an "unknown reason," according to the press release.
Above: Will Yandik, from the candidate's campaign Facebook page.
Above: Thirteen "American Bikers United Against Jihad" vehicles drive by hundreds of Islamberg supporters in the Delaware County town of Tompkins on Sunday, May 15. Video and photos by Julia Reischel.
A planned motorcycle protest against Islamberg, an African-American Sufi Muslim community in the Catskills, backfired on its organizers on Sunday, May 15, when they were vastly outnumbered by hundreds of cheering Islamberg supporters who gathered to defend the community from charges that it is an “Islamic jihad training camp.”
Above: A landslide on Platte Clove Rd. in the Greene County town of Hunter. Photo via the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.
A landslide on Sunday, May 8 blocked narrow Platte Clove Rd. in the Greene County town of Hunter, according to the Daily Freeman and photos from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, which posted about the incident on Facebook.
The seasonal road, which is closed in winter, had just reopened to traffic on April 15.
Above: Another view of the landslide.
Tall trees and large boulders fell and blocked the road around 11 a.m. on Sunday, Hunter's town highway superintendent John Farrell told the Daily Freeman:
Farrell said workers were on the scene all day Monday breaking up the large boulder, which he said included “layered” rock and shale. He said that the landslide was slow enough not to damage the surface of the road.
Farrell told the newspaper that the road would hopefully be open again by 9 a.m on Tuesday, May 10.
Update, 5 p.m.: Platte Clove Rd. was cleared of debris and open by noon today. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has a photo of the open road, below:
Above: A "Lime Trude" fly fishing lure tied by Ed Ostapczuk, photographed by Mark Loete and included in "The Art of Artifice," an exhibition of Catskills fly tying that opens this Saturday in Woodstock.
What lured Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter to the Catskills?
Above: Early morning at Colgate Lake by Elaine Warfield. This photo was entered in the 2016 Catskills Outdoor Guide Photo Contest.
Saturday, May 7 is "I Love My Park Day" in New York state, and state and local parks across the Catskills region are celebrating by inviting volunteers outside to help clean up and get ready for the summer season.
Chris Gibson, the Republican U.S. Congressman who represents the 19th Congressional District, which covers much of the Catskills, announced today that he has decided to retire from politics and will shelve his plans to run for governor of New York state against Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
