Graham is off limits. The summit and the land around it are privately owned by descendants of the Gould family, who for years let hikers climb with permission. The landowners closed the summits of Graham and Doubletop to all public access in January 2021, and the Catskill 3500 Club's required list went from 35 to 33 peaks as a result. Anyone on the property is trespassing. Do not climb it, and do not go looking for the old herd paths.
That is a loss, because Graham was an unusual mountain. The summit forest was a pygmy hardwood stand of black cherry and mountain ash barely taller than a person, instead of the balsam fir that dominates neighboring summits. In the early 1960s a relay station went up on top and was abandoned before 1969. Its ruins were still there for hikers who climbed it before the closure, along with a run of false summits on the approach.
What remains for the public is the view of it. The three steel supports of the old relay station are visible from surrounding peaks, so a clear day on a neighboring summit still lets you pick out the mountain you cannot visit. Its north slopes drain toward the East Branch Delaware and the New York City water supply, and its south slopes feed the Beaver Kill. Nearby Balsam Lake Mountain and the rest of the state-owned trail network are the legal alternatives.
