7.0 miles | 591 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★★

Fahnestock is a beautiful, surprisingly quiet park. We had only been there once a few years back. It was a holiday weekend and we didn’t see anyone in our 10-mile journey. Up by Cold Spring, New York, the Appalachian trail runs the length of the park. When my boss insisted we had a two week window to see the mountain laurel blooms, we knew we had to go.

A June weekend in the 90s. Never ideal. Luckily the woods and water provided such much needed relief. Starting from Canapus Lake, we crossed Rt 301 and headed into the woods on the blue Three Lakes Trail. You can see evidence of the old road – it’s flatness, faint foundation structures along the side. After .75 mile the trail turns right into the woods and down by a creek. After crossing the creek, the trail guide identifies us climbing up into a handsome forest. What makes a forest beautiful vs stunning, I’m not sure. But it was lush and stunning. A little further down, we cross the AT which would be our road home.

It’s at the mile point that our trail guide identifies the “dense mountain laurel thickets.” Meh. I wasn’t impressed. What we didn’t realize, was this was only the start. For the remainder of the hike we wove in and out of the thickets, sometimes impossible to see their end in sight. Further shockingly, we weren’t at peak. I would say we were probably a few days if not a week early.

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Among the laurels, we passed from woods to water, wandering aside first Hidden Lake then later John Allen Pond. Almost as stunning as the laurels were the lily pads. Flowers in full bloom and their leaves so dense, I can’t imagine canoe or kayak trying to travel through if it tried. The bull frogs were the only sound to occasionally break the pristine silence.

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At the top of John Allen Pond, we left the woods, to follow the blue blazes along a road, then after a bit turning right onto the Old Mind Railway yellow blazed trail, first on a wooded path but then widening to (not surprisingly) an old railway bed. During the civil war, this railway was used to serve the mines, of which we saw one entrance along the trail. We continued, eventually transferring to the AT, still on a rail bed. It felt very strange to essentially be walking on a path high above the forest.

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It was only when we got back to the car that the weight of the heat really hit us. Next time, I might need to plan a jump in Canapus Lake before heading home.

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