5.6 miles | 656 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium | Rating ★★★★ A couple of weeks back, we skipped out on the city for a much needed r&r weekend. Staying only 20 minutes from Minnewaska State Park, I knew we needed to visit Gertrude's Nose, one of my favorite hikes in the area. Unfortunately, due to a late start, the daylight hours were weening and we needed to find an express route to the lookout.
NY Trails
Hike 48: Giant Stairs
4.4 miles | 764 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ When I see hikes ranked difficult, it usually means one of two things. It's often way harder than I expect, or sometimes, way easier. Of course, there's a different in difficulty depending where you are. Mount Beacon hard isn't quite the same as Plateau Mountain hard. The giant stairs was rated hard and with a rock scramble along the shoreline, I was a bit hesitant. However, end ended up being much easier than expected. Long, but straight forward.
Hike 47: Mount Beacon Fire Tower
4.5 miles | 1,394 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ We squeezed in the last of the Hudson Valley's foliage colors last weekend hiking Mount Beacon. The colors were a bit muted due to the grey skies, but still a fantastic day for a hike. Beacon is a mountain I love being on top of but hate to climb. The first mile is grueling - 1000 feet in a mile via stairs and steep, uninteresting switchbacks. The second mile, much less demanding as you wander along the ridge to the fire tower.
Hike 46: Letchworth State Park
4.6 miles | 892 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★★ Letchworth State Park. The Grand Canyon of the east. And apparently USA Today's top state park in the United States. The Genesee River runs straight through the park, with waterfalls as high as 600 feet in some places. It's not prime for challenging hikes, but accessibly and effort bang for your buck, it's way up there.
Hike 45: Taughannock Falls
2.5 miles | 217 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★★ On our way up to the Finger Lakes for a long weekend, we stopped at Taughannock Falls. At 400 feet in height, Taughannock falls is more than double the height of Niagara Falls, though not nearly as wide. Best of all, the hike is relatively accessible for all skill levels and just 20 minutes north of Ithaca.
Hike 44: Old Croton Aqueduct Part 3
6.5 miles | 328 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. In 2019, we finished our 3-part hike of the Westchester trail and earlier this year, we opted to start the remaining ~15 miles of the urban trail, from Bryant Park to Yonkers.
Hike 42: Vanderbilt Mansion
3.0 miles | 223 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ On our way home from the long weekend, we decided to stop for one final hike - a stroll along the Vanderbilt Mansion grounds. Just across the Hudson River, and a bit south, is Hyde Park - home to the Roosevelt Presidential Library, CIA and Vanderbilt Mansion. The grounds are beautiful, overlooking the Hudson River, with the Catskills in full view.
Hike 40: Diamond Notch Falls
2.0 miles | 226 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ After conquering Twin and Indian Head, we needed a recovery hike. And who can turn down a waterfall. Diamond Notch Falls were a bit of a drive, but I've found (as with the Adirondacks), it's sometimes challenging to find a scenic hike in the Catskills, unless you're willing to put in the work. Many hikes are under .5 miles, a "look at the thing on the side of the road" hike, or "moderate" 1,000 ft climbs. Diamond Notch Falls offered a moderate distance and relatively flat trail.
Hike 38: Anthony’s Nose
3.0 miles | 705 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★★ It's a Hudson Valley classic hike, yet somehow it's taken us this long to finally experience it for ourselves. Part of it is the crowds. Classic hike = well known = all the people. So while we've considered it on weekends, driving past the LOOOONG stretch of cars on Route 9D at the trail head usually deters us. However, a Friday drive up to the Catskills with no where to be until sundown gave us the perfect opportunity.
Hike 36: Anthony Wayne Recreation Area
5.4 miles | 909 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ It's FALL! No other season even comes close. And it's not just because it's my birthday season. Crisp evenings, chilly mornings, ideal hiking weather, apples, cider, fire colors, leaf peeps, Halloween, oh my! What's not to love?! While we didn't get to actually hike on the first day of fall, it's first Saturday brought ideal conditions.
Hike 35: Old Croton Aqueduct Part 2
7.2 miles | 453 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. In 2019, we finished our 3-part hike of the Westchester trail and this month, we opted to start the remaining 15 miles of the urban trail, likely also done as 3 parts.
Hike 33: Old Croton Aqueduct Part 1
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.
Hike 32: Iron Mine Pond Loop
3.2 miles | 469 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ After our trip to the Adirondacks, we took a few weeks off from hiking. Partly to recover, partly to make way for Hurricanes Henri and Ida's wrath. We had a great camping trip planned for Labor Day weekend at Rudd Pond in Taconic State Park. And some big plans, including the highest point in Connecticut and the NY-CT-MA tripoint. Unfortunately the consistent rain on Sunday forced us to pack up a day early. Luckily we still got a quick loop in on Saturday, leaving right from our campsite.
Hike 31: Belfry Mountain
0.7 miles | 138 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★ After a week of moderate but intense hikes, 6000 ft gain and 30+ miles, we wanted an easy trail to end on a high note. Barely a hike, but part of the Adirondack Fire Tower Challenge, we decided to quickly run up Belfry mountain on our way home.
Hike 30: Pitchoff + Balanced Rocks
5.1 miles | 1,394 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ Pitchoff is one of the Lake Placid 9ers. The west trail climbs though the woods, first moderately, then much steeper. Though there are a few nice view points along the way, including the Cascade Slide (people hike that?!), but the summit is marked by a large boulder, deep in the woods. A bit of an anticlimactic ending to our 9er journey. Luckily, Balanced Rocks more than makes up for that.
Hike 29: Hurricane Mountain
6.7 miles | 1,493 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ Hurricane Mountain is often touted as one of the premiere non-high peak hikes in the High Peaks region. While a great climb and potential views for miles, the recent abundance of wildfires has covered much of New York state in haze. At the top of the fire tower, we could see the direction of mountains, like Vermont's Green Mountains, but we had to use our imagination to really make them out. That's the only reason I knocked the stars down to four.
Hike 28: Cathedral Rock
1.8 miles | 246 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ After two days of moderately intense hikes in the Adirondacks, we needed a recovery but still craved views. The Adirondack Fire Challenge was on our list, consisting of 24 towers across the park and 5 in the Catskills. Many of the towers are spread widely across the park and involve a few miles and/or thousand feet of elevation. Not quite recovery. Luckily, we discovered Cathedral Rock was only a bit past Cranberry Lake and a short hike with plenty of payoff.
Hike 27: Indian Head
10.5 miles | 1,847 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★★ Not a high peak, but what I would consider one of the premiere hikes in the high peaks region. Many do this a quick stop on their way up (or down) Blake and Colvin or Dial and Nippletop. We orphaned Blake and have to do that pair again, but we always find ourselves too exhausted for just another half mile or couple hundred feet up. With the Adirondack Mountain Reserve's (AMR) newly created parking reservation system, this felt like a low stakes way to test the system.
Hike 26: Catamount Mountain
5.6 miles* | 1,572 ft gain | Difficulty: Difficult | Rating ★★★★ The hike to Catamount Mountain, a Lake Placid 9er, offers all the hallmark features of a high peak in a much smaller package. Rock scrambles, slides, cliffs, a false summit and beautiful forest trails. The trail head claims 4 mile round trip but with our zigzagging, we recorded 5.6 miles. And I can guarantee that extra 1.6 mile is completely real. This was the longest little mountain I ever climbed.
Hike 21: Ramapo Valley County Reservation
3.6 miles | 633 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ First hike of summer! Well technically the solstice was 12 hours after we completed our hike, but let's go by the day, not the hour. We were in New Jersey for a party, our first since the pandemic, and Father's Day so decided to take advantage of Sunday morning to get in a quick hike. Ramapo Reservation is only a 10 minute drive from where I grew up, so while I know the location well, I never took advantage of the trails in the way I should.
Hike 20: Prospect Park
4.35 miles | 213 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ With a Friday off, I planned to attempt my first solo hike. But a couple of things changed my mind. I'm a bit clumsy so the idea of being in the woods, alone, and spraining my ankle or worse didn't really appeal. Plus for the first time in 15 months, I wanted to be with all the people. A wild, yet urban stroll through Prospect Park seemed to fit the bill.
Hike 19: Clarence Fahnestock State Park
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.
Hike 18: Plateau Mountain
6.0 miles | 1,998 ft gain | Difficulty: Difficult | Rating ★★★★ 2000 foot gain didn't seem that bad over 6 miles. Until we realized the gain was all in that first mile. Aptly called Plateau, the mountain steeply climbed but then leveled out to a plateau, the wooded summit being less than spectacular. So why five stars? Well...sometimes it's not all about the destination.
Hike 17: Teatown – Kitchawan Trail
3 miles | 400 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ We've adopted! We're already members of the New York New Jersey Trail Conference, but considering how much we depend on them for great trails, maps and resources, we wanted to give back a little more. So, after training and volunteer orientation, we have adopted the Teatown-Kitchawan Trail, affectionately called the TKT.
Hike 16: Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
3.7 miles | 62 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ It was a lazy weekend and we wanted to stay close to home. The idea of driving an hour or so up to the Hudson Valley, again, felt daunting. Little did we know that the 19 mile drive to Queens would still take us nearly as long, thanks to horrendous traffic. But with the temperatures in the 70s on the first day of May, it felt like a good time to head to the beach.
Hike 15: Bear Mountain
4.4 miles | 1,165 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ Bear Mountain. THE New York City hike. And we felt like we were there, right along side every one of them, especially on the way down. Somehow in my 14 years as a New Yorker, and nearly 2 decades of living next door in New Jersey, I never visited Bear Mountain. Not for a hike, not for the carousel or zoo, not even for the annual Oktoberfest.
Hike 14: Vernooy Falls
3.7 miles | 659 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ I have trouble understanding where the Hudson Valley ends and the Catskills begin. Staying in New Paltz for the weekend, we wanted to get in one last waterfall before heading home. We decided to head to Vernooy Falls, a moderately easy hike recommended in one of my hiking groups. Just 15 miles away but apparently we were now in the Catskills.
Hike 13: Bonticou Crag
4.7 miles | 925 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium (Hard w/ Scramble) | Rating ★★★★ As a kid, I visited Mohonk Mountain House at least once a year, just for a day trip. We'd wander around the grounds, paddle the lake and scramble up the Lemon Squeeze to Sky Top Tower. In fact, it's after a scramble up the Labyrinth to the tower (I remember it being much easier as a small child!), that Sean proposed to me nearly 12 years ago.
Hike 12: Rainbow Falls (Minnewaska)
7.2 miles | 858 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium | Rating ★★★★ Spring brings high water and mud. While hiking might be a bit dirtier than other times of the year, it is the perfect time for chasing waterfalls. We took a few days up in the Hudson Valley to do just that. Rainbow Falls in Minnewaska State Park, not to be confused with Rainbow Falls in the High Peaks region, feeds into Peter Kill. While the falls can be dry in the summer, snow melt and saturated land allows for a brilliant cascade.
Hike 11: Dennings Point
5.3 miles | 150 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ The plan was to hike Mount Beacon, through the casino ruins and up to the fire tower. We got as far as the top of the metal steps and I couldn't shake the growing shin pain in my right leg. Was it from yesterday's run? I'm not sure. But what was clear was that hiking such a steep climb, starting from a place of pain, was probably not a good idea. Beacon will have to wait.
Hike 9: Butter Hill + Storm King Mountain
3.8 miles | 1,014 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium | Rating ★★★★★ "Bring spikes!" they all said. "Lot's of ice!" I trust my hiking community and arrived at the sunny, mostly dry trailhead prepared with our crampons, but couldn't figure out why. We tucked them into our backpack and started up the steep assent to Butter Hill, on our way to the top of Storm King mountain, with stunning view points along the way.
Hike 8: Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
4.2 miles | 352 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★ The kinda hike. Last week I was super excited to hike Storm King. We arrived around 10am to a mostly empty parking lot. The weather was bright and sunny, with just the right amount of winter nip. As I prepared to put my spikes on, Sean shared the horrifying news - his boots were still in Brooklyn.
Hike 7: Bull Hill
5.7 miles | 1,391 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ This was our first real climb we did this year. After almost a year of living mostly in a single floor apartment during the pandemic, climbing is HARD. Sure, when we're not hiking, I'm out walking or "running" (read: super-slow trot) but the reality is, my new normal is pretty flat. Running up or down flights of stairs to catch a train seems like a distance memory.
Hike 6: Staten Island Greenbelt
4.2 miles | 295 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ With 1-2 feet of fluffy snow dropped all across the tri-state area, the weather was perfect for snowshoeing. If you owned them, that is. Covid has helped more people than ever discover the great outdoors. During the summer and fall, if we weren't at trail heads at dawn, parking was often impossible. While the winter has lead to a sleepier start, the cold hasn't deterred many people for continuing their outdoor adventuring.
Hike 5: Van Cortlandt Park
4.9 miles | 173.9 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ We opted for Van Cortland Park. We had been there a few years ago during the warmer months, to check out the Van Cortlandt House and explore wilderness stretching too and beyond the Sawmill Parkway. This time, our plan was to explore the revamped Old Putnam Rail Trail, part of the newly established Empire State Trail.
Hike 4: Rockefeller State Park Preserve
5 miles | 499 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★ 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.
Hike 3: Iron Mines + Hogencamp Mountain
6.1 miles | 751 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★★ It's been some time since I last hiked in Harriman State Park. I mean, yes, the trails we hike starting from the Tuxedo, NY train station are still part of the park, but when I say IN the park, I mean deep in the park, winding down Seven Lakes Drive.
2021 Resolution
2020 has been hard, for so many reasons. Everything was canceled. My mom's 70th birthday trip in April, our 10-year anniversary trip to Hawaii in May, our cousin's wedding in June. The silver lining of this pandemic has been an opportunity to slow down, evaluate what's important and spend time outside.
Fifty-Two Hikes 