Kaaterskill Creek is a 25.9 miles (41.7 km) tributary of Catskill Creek

Catskill Creek

Catskill Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River that drains the east northern Catskill Mountains of the U.S. state of New York. From its source at Franklinton Vlaie in Schoharie County it flows southeast through parts of Albany County and Greene County to its mouth at the village of Catskill on...

 in Greene

Greene County, New York

Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Its name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. Its county seat is Catskill...

 and Ulster

Ulster County, New York

Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...

 counties in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Via Catskill Creek, it is part of the Hudson River

Hudson River

The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

 watershed.

Kaaterskill Creek rises in the town of Hunter

Hunter (town), New York

Hunter is a town in Greene County, New York. The population was 2,732 at the 2010 census.The Town of Hunter contain two villages one named Hunter and the other called Tannersville. The town is on the County's south border.- History :...

 within the Catskill Forest Preserve

Forest Preserve (New York)

New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...

, northwest of the village of Tannersville

Tannersville, New York

Tannersville is a village in Greene County, New York, USA. The village is in the east-central part of the town of Hunter on Route 23A. The population was 539 at the 2010 census.- History :...

. It flows south to the hamlet of Haines Falls

Haines Falls, New York

Haines Falls is a hamlet located east of Tannersville, New York in the Town of Hunter, in Greene County, New York. Haines Falls is located at .-Transportation:...

, where it turns east and drops precipitously into Kaaterskill Clove

Kaaterskill Clove

Kaaterskill Clove is a deep gorge, or valley, in New York's eastern Catskill Mountains, lying just west of the village of Palenville. The clove was formed by Kaaterskill Creek, a tributary of Catskill Creek rising west of North Mountain, and is estimated by geologists to be as much as 1 million...

, paralleled by New York Route 23A

New York State Route 23A

New York State Route 23A is an east–west state highway in Greene County, New York, in the United States. It serves as a alternate route of NY 23 through the northern Catskill Mountains...

 and receiving Spruce Creek from the north, which drops over Kaaterskill Falls

Kaaterskill Falls

Kaaterskill Falls is a two-drop waterfall located near in the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York, on the north side of Kaaterskill Clove, between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County's Town of Hunter...

. Kaaterskill Creek exits the mountains at the hamlet of Palenville

Palenville, New York

Palenville is a hamlet in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 1,037 at the 2010 census.Palenville is in the southwest part of the Town of Catskill, located at the junction of Routes 23A and 32A. It lies at the foot of Kaaterskill Clove, nestled against the base of the...

 and takes a zigzag course, crossing back and forth between Greene and Ulster counties, before finally turning northeast and flowing to its mouth at Catskill Creek near Cauterskill, New York, just west of the village of Catskill

Catskill (village), New York

Catskill is a village in Greene County, New York, USA. The population was 4,081 at the 2010 census.The Village of Catskill is in the northeast part of the Town of Catskill. Catskill is the county seat of Greene County.-History:...

.