Blackhead is one of four required winter peaks for the Catskill 3500 Club, which makes it a regular winter objective. It is also the tallest summit on the 24-mile Escarpment Trail, the blue-blazed route that runs through the Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness.
The classic outing is a loop over the mountain. Longer days connect westward to Black Dome and Thomas Cole along the Black Dome Range Trail, a combination hikers often tackle as a three-peak loop.
The summit itself has no vista, so the views come from a number of spots along the trails, with the broad hump of Black Dome the obvious neighbor across the way. Water shed from the mountain heads three ways from a single summit: southwest by the East Kill to Schoharie Creek, north into the Batavia Kill, and east through Trout Brook toward Catskill Creek. The wilderness around it holds high-elevation spruce-fir habitat above the northern hardwoods. Camping is prohibited above 3,500 feet from March 21 to December 21, so any overnight stay belongs lower on the mountain, well below the top.
