6.6 miles | 240 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★

The Old Croton Aqueduct trail traces the waterway from Croton Dam to Bryant Park, and provided clean water to New York City in the 1800s. There are still remnants of the aqueduct on the trail, like stone ventilation towers that now skirts between suburban backyards and unassumingly down city streets. Over a few years, we hiked the more common route, from Yonkers to Croton Dam, approximately 26 miles. This time we decided to finish the remaining 15 miles.

Starting at the lower end from the New York Public Library in Bryant Park, we looked for evidence of remnants of the reservoir but construction around the library blocked our views. The walk up Fifth Avenue was strangely familiar, not having been there for over a year and a half because of the pandemic.

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We continued up the east side of Central Park until 79th street where we crossed through, looking for evidence of the aqueduct. When we finally hit the Jackie Onassis Reservoir, we saw two gate houses on the far end.

Crossing Central Park to Columbus Avenue, then Amsterdam at 105th Street, we saw two more gate houses at 113th and 119th. We explored Columbia University’s campus for a bit, during move in weekend, and decided to call it quits for the day. Next time we’ll start from there and wander up to Van Cortland Park, then Yonkers to complete the full hike.

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