Peak fall foliage and a holiday weekend brought thousands of tourists to the Hunter area this month, leading officials to evaluate how to manage traffic and environmental impacts.

“Based on what I’m hearing from the businesses and a lot of the residents, this was the busiest weekend, like, ever,” said Hunter Supervisor Sean Mahoney. “I think that’s a great thing. It’s a great thing for our town.”

Catskill Center stewards counted 3,346 individual visitors at Kaaterskill Falls on Oct. 10, over Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend. That’s the largest daily count since the steward program began tracking visitors in 2018.

“We’re definitely seeing high visitation numbers,” said Finn Parnell, Catskill Stewards program manager. “People are trying to get outside and enjoy nature. Obviously we are happy to see that and happy that our stewards are able to engage with that many people at these high-use trailheads.”

The Catskill Center’s stewards provide trail information, educate visitors about safety and protecting the environment, and track visitation at popular outdoor destinations. Since stewards staff the area only from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the total number of visitors to the falls was higher, Parnell said.

“This number is not a reflection of actual visitation because there are folks who are there staying and watching the sunrise and some there after 4 p.m.,” Parnell said. “While we recorded and observed well over 3,000 people, it is likely that number is far higher.”

This year, the Catskill Center employed 12 stewards at locations around the Catskills, offering information and education to visitors. The program began, Parnell said, in response to large numbers of visitors to Peekamoose Blue Hole, a popular swimming destination in Sundown, a hamlet in the Ulster County town of Denning.

While other areas had large numbers of visitors this month, Kaaterskill Falls had “by far” the most, Parnell said.

“Locations like Overlook Mountain, the fire tower trail near Echo Lake, tend to see quite a few people there, but nothing in comparison to this visitation,” Parnell said.

Visitor spending in the Catskills reached $2.766 billion in 2025, up 5.2% from 2024, according to a September report prepared by hotel and real estate development platform DD|HA using tourism economics data. Ulster County led the four-county region with a 10.5% increase in total visitor spending. Spending on lodging in Ulster rose 12.2%, more than twice the statewide rate of 5.7%.

In Greene County, visitor spending totaled $335 million in 2025, up 5.3% from 2024 and 73.9% from 2019. The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation.

The crowds have also drawn attention on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. One Instagram video from the holiday weekend, with more than a million views, showed a long line of cars on state Route 23A near the entrance to the Kaaterskill Rail Trail. The video also depicted large crowds on the trails.

Traffic also backed up farther west in the village of Hunter over the holiday weekend as visitors made their way to Hunter Mountain for “Colors in the Catskills,” a fall festival held during foliage season. The northern Catskills were at peak color over the holiday weekend, according to the I Love NY Fall Foliage Report.

Last weekend, despite foliage being less vivid than the week before, “Colors in the Catskills” still drew crowds to the resort off Ski Bowl Road. Some visitors waited almost an hour to ride the resort’s chairlift, known as the Scenic SkyRide.

Sarah Slutzky, director of mountain operations, said she sees the fall festival as a tourism driver for Hunter Mountain and the surrounding area, with many visitors coming from downstate.

“All of these three weekends, people are taking advantage of a drive from New York City, a bus from New York City, to come up and see this place,” she said. “They’re not only seeing Hunter Mountain, but they’re going to hike to the tallest fire tower in New York state. They’re going to North-South Lake State Park. There’s a lot to see if you want to go outside.

Over the holiday weekend, the resort coordinated with local officials and law enforcement agencies to help direct traffic, said Chuck Randles, vice president and general manager.

“Our director of base operations was in the intersection with the local police and sheriff’s department to help manage the ingress and egress,” he said.

Randles declined to share visitor numbers for the festival’s three weekends or the holiday weekend specifically, but said the resort did well on Oct. 10.

The Hunter Mountain and Haines Falls areas weren’t the only places with backed-up roads. Mahoney said heavy traffic also affected parts of Platte Clove Road near Elka Park.

“The way that the bridge is a one-lane bridge right now, that kind of is a choke point,” he said. “With the volume of people, every single parking spot was taken. People were creating parking spots.”

“How do we get traffic to flow in an efficient manner I think is the challenge,” he said. “We need to make sure that people and EMS can still get through and people can access their property, get out of their property.”

Mahoney suggested adding signs and having more local law enforcement officers available to direct traffic when needed.

“We had to adapt to where traffic control measures needed to be over the holiday weekend,” he said. “We had people at the bottom of Hunter Mountain. We also had people at North-South Lake Campground. The Sheriff’s Office had multiple deputies up here helping us with that, the state troopers were helping us. It was a full-on team effort.”

Area agencies are also feeling the pressure. Increased visitation has prompted the Catskill Center to work with volunteers to clean up trails and with other agencies to manage crowds. Parnell said stewards have seen a “fair amount of trash” at Kaaterskill Falls.

“That’s a larger conversation piece that is going to take multiple agencies to work through and not just, ‘Hey, this is what I think will work,’” Parnell said. “Working with the DEC is something that would make the most sense to have a long-term approach. Typically, these things start with a conversation.”

Stewards’ conversations with visitors can help reduce litter and other environmental impacts, Parnell said. DEC is the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

“I strongly believe that people really want to do the right thing, they just might not know how to go about that,” Parnell said. “That’s where stewards bridge that gap.”

Some visitors, Parnell said, aren’t aware that even banana peels and pistachio shells need to be carried out. There are no trash cans at Kaaterskill Falls; visitors are expected to take everything they bring back home, according to the Catskills Visitor Center.

“They think it’s natural trash, that it’s okay, and it’s just that key element of educating,” Parnell said. “The conversation and connection is really what makes a huge impact when we speak with visitors.”

Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter, and surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.