{"id":60286,"date":"2018-05-07T09:19:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T13:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=60286"},"modified":"2025-09-02T02:59:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T06:59:55","slug":"catskills-trout-tales-outdoor-adventures-in-upstate-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/60286\/catskills-trout-tales-outdoor-adventures-in-upstate-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Catskills Trout Tales: Outdoor Adventures In Upstate New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As summer approaches, New Yorkers are turning their sights North towards the Catskills. No longer just a vacation spot for comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Mel Brooks, this easy to get to destination remains a popular weekend getaway.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Each year, local businesses team up to show off the best of the Catskills by curating the\u00a0Catskills Trout Tales\u00a0itineraries.\u00a0From guided hikes to fishing expeditions to sampling local food and drink, the trout tales offer the perfect mix of activities and fine hospitality.<\/div>\n

Last weekend, I took a trip up to the Catskills to try out one of the itineraries. Here’s the inside scoop:<\/p>\n

Spillian: An Elegant Catskills Lodge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"spillian

Catskills Trout Tales was co-founded by Leigh Melander, who also co-owns Spillian: A Place to Revel<\/a>, a lodging venue and\u00a0events and retreat center in village of Fleischmanns.<\/p>\n

Spillian is a Victorian-era property that was once the summer home for the Fleischmann family (known for the baker\u2019s yeast produced by the company of the same name). Built before the turn of the century, the woodland estate was part of a 160-acre compound with a spring house for drawing and processing stream water, an ice house, tennis courts and accommodations for various Fleischmann relatives.<\/p>\n

The Fleischmann family sold the estate sometime in the mid-1910s. The property was a hotel for many years and a Japanese meditation center. Sitting vacant for almost two decades, the home was purchased by Melander and her husband, Mark Somerfield, in 2012. The couple invested their time and money in bringing the home back to its original splendor before opening in 2013.<\/p>\n

Today, the couple operates the estate as a retreat. Each guest bedroom is decorated with a theme correlating to the 18th-<\/sup>century (the Jules Verne Room features a telescope). In keeping much of its past in the present, the upstairs bedrooms are adjoined by shared bathrooms (as they did in those days) yet connect to modern comforts like Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

Local Food <\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Honey

Hiking<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"hiking

“Today the Catskills have 287,500 acres of forever wild land within the 700,000 acre Catskill Park,. With 98 peaks over 3000\u2019, 350 miles of trails, and world famous trout streams, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the outdoors,” Soter notes.<\/p>\n

Our group went along a section of land known as the Emory Brook Parcel, off of Route 28 along the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway and a short drive from Spillian. The Emory Brook Parcel is adorned with an impressive creek, waterfalls, moss-covered banks, and hemlock groves.<\/p>\n

As a true outdoorsman, Soter is also knowledgeable in the topography and history of the Catskills. While guiding us along Emory Brook, Soter shared what he learned about this parcel from time spent with local long-timers who fish or hike on the property.<\/p>\n

Prior to the arrival of the railroad in the 1870s, old roads here carried stripped bark to tanneries (hemlocks produce tannin, which was used by factories in treating animal hides into leather: the Catskills\u2019 industry contributed greatly in providing boots for Union soldiers during the Civil War) as a link to aligning farms and communities. While the Fleischmanns chose to settle here in the summer, this particular area was also a popular summer getaway for decades until the rise of automobile travel led people to go farther from the area.<\/p>\n

Fly Fishing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"fly

The fisherman took us to Esopus Creek, a scenic tributary, where we got into our wadders and watched as they gave us a short 101 on \u201clures\u201d attached to weighted lines and how to properly cast.<\/p>\n

Get to the Catskills from NYC<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Trailways bus from Port Authority to Fleischmanns takes around 2 hours. Spillian can pick you up at the bus stop.<\/p>\n

For more information the Catskills, visit www.iloveny.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Mark Loete<\/em><\/p>\n

Additional images: The author and Phoenicia Honey Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As summer approaches, New Yorkers are turning their sights North towards the Catskills. No longer just a vacation spot for comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Mel Brooks, this easy to get to destination remains a popular weekend getaway. Each year, local businesses team up to show off the best of the Catskills by curating the\u00a0Catskills […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":60320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[325,757,817,786,747,787,334,776,791,770,1267,769,788,969,814,1867,1,316],"tags":[238,293,143,145,483,48,299,133,282,473],"class_list":{"0":"post-60286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"category-activity-2","9":"category-biking-adventure-activity-2","10":"category-boating-adventure-activity-2","11":"category-bus-2","12":"category-camping-adventure-activity-2","13":"category-catskills-new-york-destination","14":"category-farms-food-drink","15":"category-fishing-adventure-activity-2","16":"category-food-drink","17":"category-hiking-getaways","18":"category-historic-sites-culture","19":"category-kayaking-adventure-activity-2","20":"category-locations","21":"category-sports-2","22":"category-transit-type","23":"category-uncategorized","24":"category-weekend-getaways","25":"tag-adventure","26":"tag-budget-friendly","27":"tag-bus","28":"tag-dining","29":"tag-family-friendly","30":"tag-historical-site","31":"tag-locally-sourced","32":"tag-outdoors","33":"tag-romantic","34":"tag-views"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":60320,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Fly-fishing_Catskills-e1525454734958-350x197.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}