5 miles | 499 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★

When we left Brooklyn at 8:30am last Sunday, it was 28 degrees. By the time we got to the Rockefeller Preserve an hour later, it dropped to 24 degrees. With a real feel of 14. And gusts of 20+ mph. It was a bit chilly.

We chose the Raven’s Rock via Lucy’s Loop and Buttermilk Hill for two reasons: 1 – this was not the weekend to climb a mountain or a hill, or anything that left us high up and exposed and 2 – we wanted distance (7.5 miles) but an easy way to cut it short if we chickened out. Which is exactly what we ended up doing.

I knew the Rockefeller Preserve had a number of wide carriage roads, perfect for horseback riding. I didn’t anticipate that to be the only trail type. The narrowest part of the trail was from the parking lot to the start (intersection?) of Lucy’s Loop. From there we followed the curve around and up to some open fields, headed towards Buttermilk Hill, with views of Stone Barns Agricultural Center in the distance. We saw a few trail runners and folks out with the dogs, but the cold kept most away.

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Buttermilk Falls didn’t offer much view, but with a wooded summit, the winter views are probably the best one can hope for. The bare trees did little to silence the hum of the highway below. We continued down the trail but instead of bearing left to the Goat Trail (all trails are marked with blue rods, by the way. Not at all confusing), we turned right on a short cut to our loop, dropping the additional 2.5 mile RT to Raven’s Rock.

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In all honesty, the trail wasn’t very unique and it was cold. On our loop back, we saw a few private homes woven into the land of the preserve, probably the most interesting part of our hike. In short, good for trail runners and horses, not so much for hikers.