The Mohonk Mountain House sits overlooking a clear mountain lake high atop a forested plateau on the Mohonk Preserve in New York’s Catskills Region.  Bordered on most sides by sheer cliffs, the plateau is a geographical feature called a Sky Island.  The 265- room hotel ascends out of cliffs with stone walls, towers, and spires as though it had been plucked from the Bavarian Mountains……it’s a castle in the sky.   

My wife Karen and I arrived at our fairytale destination with only a few hours of daylight remaining.  Inside the hotel we were instantly hit by Old World charm that once lured families for entire summers to retreat to the mountains. Dark wood paneling, finely upholstered furnishings and fireplaces seemed to be everywhere. Our mountain-view room faced west over an endless sea of green treetops stretching to the horizon. With the warm sun dipping low, it was the perfect time for a glass of Chardonnay.  The balcony included several wooden rocking chairs and a small table. Perfect!  We sipped and rocked, rocked and sipped.   

Our sunset show, however, was interrupted by dinner plans.  A reservation at 7:30pm meant missing the last bit of daylight fade to twilight and darkness. We dressed up for the ‘jacket and tie’ dinner and headed to the restaurant. The hostess offered us a choice of the main dining room or the “quiet room” downstairs.  The resort caters to couples and families. On this busy Saturday evening, the main room sang with a cacophony of excited young voices. The “quiet room” was an easy choice. The semi-circular room overlooked the mountains with tall windows stretching up to the high ceiling. Karen selected a Thai stir fry for her entrée and I chose the catch of the day. Oddly enough, we had to ask to see the wine list which included many fine wines for under $30 a bottle.  Meals are included in the room price, but alcoholic beverages are extra.  We had already enjoyed a glass of vino on the balcony, but what is fine dining without fine wine? A California Chardonnay blended naturally with our dinner. My dessert was Boston Crème Torte, an upscale version of a Boston Crème donut. Karen usually doesn’t like sweets,  however, she chose the Pear and Blackberry Crisp upon the waiter’s suggestion.  The torte was good, but the crisp was fantastic with fresh blackberries and succulent pears. I should’ve listened to the waiter! 

We retired to our room and built a fire.  Even on warm summer days, the air is crisp and cool at night. There are 138 fireplaces and 238 balconies - quite a change from the humble beginning when Albert Smiley purchased 280 acres and a 10-oom inn in 1869.   Family-owned for almost 140 years, the resort now includes 83 buildings on 7,800 acres.    

We grabbed a quick breakfast in the morning and headed to the spa.  Built in 2005, the airy spa still feels brand new.  The pool with an infinity edge is the most beautiful indoor pool I’ve ever seen.  Like the dining room, the pool room transitions to the outside with high ceilings and tall windows.  While I got the hot stone massage, Karen tried their signature service - the Mohonk Red Massage, a combination of Hawaiian Lomi Lomi and Swedish massage techniques with Thai stretching. This is followed by a warm towel face and foot wrap.  The towels are infused with locally grown Mohonk Red Witch Hazel.  Time flies when you’re at the spa - it was almost noon as we left.  So we returned to the dining room for Sunday brunch which, of course, included a glass of champagne.  

Then it was off to search for more wine.  There are three wineries within a half hour’s drive of Mohonk - Adair Vineyards, Whitecliff Vineyard and Rivendell Winery.  It rained on and off as we drove the along quiet country roads, up and down though mountain passes and along open fields and pastures rising and falling with the rolling terrain. This is a perfect place for riding motorcycles, except maybe for the rain. We had my truck, not quite as thrilling.  The tasting rooms were packed. It seemed a lot of other people had the same plans for the wet afternoon.  The sun finally came back out as we drove up the long winding road to the castle with a total of a half case of wine.  The drive left us both exhausted so I checked out the room service menu and noticed that dinner delivered to rooms involved just a minor charge.  Excellent!  We were able to enjoy sunset on the balcony as we wined and dined. 

Next morning was our big adventure - rock climbing in the Shawangunks – or Gunks.  The Gunks is one of the premier climbing destinations on the East Coast and is comprised of the cliffs that surround the Mohonk Preserve.  There are over 1,200 climbing routes on cliffs up to 300 feet high.  We met up with guide Ryan at Alpine Endeavors Climbing Store in New Paltz—only 20 minutes from Mohonk.  We followed him to the main climbing area as dark skies threatened.  Ryan led an easy route called Frog’s Head to start.  Karen followed and I took up the rear.  One hundred feet up the rain hit and pelted us for about 10 minutes as we tucked close to the rock.  The shower passed and we continued up to the top for a fantastic view.  Small rain clouds drifted across the valley on all sides.  Black cloud shadows separated by patches of sunshine made the forest appear as a strange green checkerboard.  We rappelled back down and tackled three more climbs of increasing difficulty.  Rain squalls continued to fly across the sky.  We, however, got lucky and stayed dry the rest of the day. Ryan noted that there is also climbing on the resort property. Karen had mentioned that she had noticed this on the Mohonk web page.  Somehow I missed it.  I had told her she was crazy.  Thus, I had to hear “I told you so” for the rest of the afternoon. 

We thanked Ryan and made it back to the hotel for the tail end of lunch.  Breakfast, Sunday brunch and lunch are served buffet style with wait service for drinks. As on the previous day, skies cleared in the late afternoon and we took a canoe out on the lake.  The castle reflected off of the water for a stunning view.  The only thing missing was a glass of wine…. back to the balcony and the rockers. After ‘dress-up’ dinner, we sat on the balcony looking at the stars, enjoying the fresh mountain air.  A glass of Cabernet sure took the chill off our bones. 

Mohonk offers a standard late check out of 2 p.m.  This allowed us plenty of time to explore the show gardens, get lost in the Victorian hedge maze and hike up to the Skytop Tower Overlook. There are several paths up to the tower, including a carriage road and a wooded trail. We chose the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth is a strenuous rock scramble that cuts into and out of cliffs, up ladders and over tall boulders. It’s an absolute gas!  In many ways it’s more fun than rock climbing because you don’t have to deal with ropes and carabineers and harnesses.  The whole thing is like a big rock jungle gym.  We emerged from the rocks onto the carriage road and walked the last few hundred feet up to the overlook at 1,542ft.  The tower stands near a point that juts out from the plateau.  The stone structure is a memorial to Albert Smiley and was built in 1921.  We climbed the 100 stairs to the top to find a panoramic view.  You can see six states-- New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Pennsylvania. The view includes the numerous cliffs, the lake, the hotel, farm fields and trees, trees, trees - an unimaginable expanse of forest.   

Karen and I treaded back down the narrow stone staircase and followed a pathway to a lily pond and then down to the lake. All long the trail there are benches and gazebos to sit and relax.  The preserve has over 75 miles of hiking trails. The trail map indicates dozens of scenic outcroppings.  We returned to check out and realized that we’d need to come back and spend several days just hiking.  It might be difficult, however, to carry wine with us to enjoy at all of the overlooks.  Maybe I’ll just hide the bottles in Karen’s backpack.  

I’m sure she won’t mind.