The Esopus flows out of artificially created Winnisook Lake, at above sea level the highest lake in the Catskills,: on the northwest slopes of Slide Mountain, the Catskills' highest peak,: in the town of Shandaken, within 300 feet (100 m) of the West Branch of the Neversink River on the other side of the divide between the Hudson and Delaware watersheds, amid expansive forest. At the source it is crossed by a small wooden footbridge, followed by Oliverea Road (Ulster County Route 47), which it immediately begins to parallel through the forest.