As Ulster Coun­ty begins Phase Two of Reopen­ing, many restau­rants are now offer­ing out­door seat­ing. Sev­er­al restau­rants even offer a view of our local streams!

Din­ing out at the Peekamoose Restau­rant in Big Indi­an puts you near Birch Creek.

If you’re in Big Indi­an, the Peekamoose Restau­rant offers out­door din­ing with an over­look of Birch Creek. Orig­i­nat­ing on Hal­cott Moun­tain, Birch Creek is a trib­u­tary of the Eso­pus Creek. Birch Creek was dammed to make Pine Hill Lake. In 1988, the New York State Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Con­ser­va­tion (NYSDEC) rebuilt Pine Hill Lake after the dam had been washed out twice.  In their design, the NYSDEC made sure the lake was hab­it­able for the cold-water trout that live there. Since warm water stress­es trout, the NYSDEC built a dam that is locat­ed off the stream to keep the water cold.  Addi­tion­al­ly, a “fish lad­der” was con­struct­ed to help trout trav­el over the dam.

The Phoeni­cia Din­er and Wood­notes Grille are all with­in walk­ing dis­tance to the Eso­pus Creek.

The Phoeni­cia Din­er in Phoeni­cia and the Wood­notes Grille at the Emer­son Resort and Spa in Mount Trem­per offer an excel­lent view of the Eso­pus Creek while you are din­ing out­doors or wait­ing for take­out. The Eso­pus Creek is the largest and most well-known stream in the Ashokan Water­shed.  The Eso­pus Creek pro­vides water, eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties, and recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to our local com­mu­ni­ties.  It also pro­vides aquat­ic habi­tats and ripar­i­an habi­tats for an assort­ment of plants and ani­mals. It is divid­ed into the Upper Eso­pus locat­ed above the Ashokan Reser­voir and the Low­er Eso­pus locat­ed below the Ashokan Reser­voir. The Upper Eso­pus has at least 330 miles of trib­u­taries and drains some of the largest moun­tains in the Catskills. It is used for many recre­ation­al activ­i­ties such as fish­ing, canoe­ing, kayak­ing, and tub­ing.

The Catskill Rose is just a stone’s throw away from the Beaver Kill.

One restau­rant with a view of the Beaver Kill is Catskill Rose in Mount Trem­per.  The Beaver Kill starts on Plateau and Sug­ar­loaf moun­tains in the Town of Hunter and con­tains three dif­fer­ent geo­mor­phic sec­tions.  It starts as a very steep, nar­row stream. In the mid­dle sec­tion, it flat­tens and widens out and has lots wet­lands next to it. Even­tu­al­ly, it becomes steep and nar­row again until it flows into the Eso­pus Creek.

To learn more about parts of water­sheds and riv­er sys­tems check out the new video on Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Program’s YouTube Page.

For a com­plete list of restau­rants that are cur­rent­ly open in Ulster Coun­ty please vis­it the Ulster Coun­ty Alive Take Out and Deliv­ery Guide.