Geography
Balsam Mountain is one of several peaks on an officially unnamed range that carries the watershed divide to Winnisook Lake near Slide Mountain. It is the second northernmost peak on the range after Belleayre Mountain, and the northernmost to exceed 3,500 feet (1,100 m), the threshold for inclusion as a High Peak. A ridge almost two miles (3.2 km) in length separates it and Belleayre. South of Balsam the ridge turns to the southwest, connecting it to 3,420-foot (1,040 m) Haynes Mountain after a mile (1.6 km). The summit, a small bump, is at the south end of a narrow ridge 2,000 feet (610 m) in length with a slight dip between it and the false summit on the northern end.
On its east the slopes drop generally steeply down to Big Indian Hollow, the valley of the headwaters of Esopus Creek, around 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level. There some more gently sloped areas at mid-mountain level, around 2,200 to 2,700 feet (670 to 820 m), on the southeast side. Tributaries and subtributaries of the Esopus drain even steeper valleys radiating out in a fan-shaped pattern from Lost Clove at the northeast to McKenley (also McKinley) Hollow in the southeast.
The valleys on the west side are also steep but not as numerous, and converge at a higher elevation, 2,100 feet (640 m) than the base on the eastern side. A narrow valley carries the combined streams down to Dry Brook, a tributary of the East Branch of the Delaware River. The northernmost valley, Mine Hollow, is the only one with an official name, the result of a failed attempt to mine gold believed to be in the area. The larger valley it forks off from is known informally as Rider Hollow.
Read more about this topic: Balsam Mountain (Ulster County, New York)
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