Our hike begins on a beautiful July day at the trail head on Platte Clove Road. For directions to the parking area, which is about 250 yards up the road, jump here. From the trail head we will be hiking about 1.2 miles (one way) on the Green Trail to the Devil’s Kitchen Lean-to. The Platte Clove is connected on both the north and south sides by the Catskill Forest Preserve. Before you head onto the trail, make sure you sign the trail register.
	Within the first few hundred feet, you come to this great-reconstructed kingpost bridge, built as a smaller scale replica the original bridge that stood in this place over 100 years ago. The old bridge was part of the old Overlook Road that still runs through the property. The Overlook Road provided access to not just the Overlook Hotel when it was in its prime, but also to many bluestone quarries as well.
After crossing the bridge, you come to what is left of the Overlook Road. When this road was constructed back in the mid 1800’s no one took into consideration that building a road straight down the side of a mountain would erode as badly as it has. Because of such erosion the hiking trail has been detoured around this section of the road. From here you can see just how much soil has been washed away, creating a deep groove in the landscape. Farther up the road, the groove reaches a depth of close to 8ft. This is just one of the many examples one will see on this hike of the power of free flowing water has.
	A great big white pine tree stands over the trail in your left. At the base of the tree, you will see one of the many interpretive signs stationed throughout the Platte Clove Preserve to education and inform hikers about their surroundings. As an example jump here to read about white pine.