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    Heritage Trail

    5.0 (1 review)

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    2 years ago

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    Sam's Point Area

    Sam's Point Area

    4.7
    (44 reviews)
    15.7 mi

    Very cool visitor's center with a lot of info and taxidermied animals. If you are hiking,…read moredefinitely bring waterproof shoes or crocs in sport mode because the path to the waterfall crosses a stream. Unfortunately, there's no man made bridge over it on the way. I'd recommend wearing long pants even in the summer because there's a lot of bushes that may scratch your legs on the way. Seems like the paths through the woods are pretty narrow. Maybe I'll come another time when it's blueberry season. Amazing views, just don't fall off!

    Boyfriend and I wanted to come here for over a year now. Last year we went to a different spot of…read morethe Minnewaska, and the view did not disappoint. Since the parking lot isn't big (more or less 60 cars), you need to make a reservation to get in. And they are strict about this. We wanted to come in one time and they made us turn around. I am not sure if you need a reservation if you are visiting during the week, but you definitely need one for the weekend visit. Making a reservation is relatively easy. You go to the park's website (newyorkstateparks.reserveamerica.com) and just find or enter the park, or google this park and the top link should get you there directly. The reservation is $10 per car (plus tax/ optional donation). You can choose either 9am-2pm or 2pm-evening slot. My boyfriend is not an early riser, so I booked us the 2pm slot. I don't know how fast the reservations sell out, but I booked our slot 6 days in advance just in case. When you get there, you need show your reservation to the employees. I think it is until a certain hour, because when we were back from our hike and leaving around 430-5pm the employees guarding the entrance were gone. There is a building where you can get a free map and brochures, a little gift shop (pins for pin collectors and stickers), bathrooms, water refill area, and a big room full of facts about the area and a table with a topographic 3D map of the hikes. There is over 15miles of trails to hike available. The map is interactional, you press a button with a hike you're interested in and the map lights up with the path. Pretty cool! My boyfriend isn't an experienced hiker or does not like to hike all day as I.... so we choose the 3miles loop. The path wasn't paved, but it was smooth enough for strollers to go on. We started from the direction of Sam's point and continued by the water and cell phone towers back. Once you come in you are walking up (not very steep) path in a forrest. about half a mile I think you see the rock formation where people go on to see the view. We found some rocks below that formation and took some photos there. We were all alone, so it wasn't embarrassing to set up a tripod and take as many photos and as funny ones as we wanted. About another .2miles you go up to the official "Sam's Point" overview. It was semi crowded, so we were grateful we found a non populated spot a little below. Same view. Continuing you walk through the path and on both sides you have not so tall (maybe 8-12 feet) trees and other greenery. Everything has a placket, which labels the type of tree/ plant that grows nearby. There is an area with dead trees, which combined with some dark clouds that passed up at the same time - looked pretty eerie! Like from a spooky movie. Then you pass a body of water. We saw mama and baby ducks swimming past us. Then you just walk through other various sights, like forrest with a some ferns, forrest without them, passing by what is left of Berry Picker Cabins, and the cell phone towers, until you reach the exit. I am definitely coming back! My boyfriend and I been here for 2 years in a row, so we are probably going to make this our new annual trip. The view of the mountains is truly incredible, especially for someone living in the middle of NYC haha. It is always a great joy to get out and see something this amazing that nature formed. Loved every minute of it!

    Photos
    My hiker's pose at Sam' Point.
    My hiker's pose at Sam' Point.
    Ice Caves | Instagram: @telephonesmoothie
    Ice Caves | Instagram: @telephonesmoothie
    The view!

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    The view!
    Minnewaska State Park Preserve

    Minnewaska State Park Preserve

    4.5
    (169 reviews)
    20.9 mi

    Great trail maintenance, accurate mapping, crystal clear water - I was impressed. We will return.read more

    I made my Gunks debut yesterday and was pretty impressed despite the very meh weather situation…read more This is about 90 minutes from my HQ so probably right at the limit of a convenient day hike, and somehow I've never really been in this area before beyond travelling past it going up and down the NY Thruway. Definitely returning when the sun is actually out. I did the 8.7-mile Castle Point hike (my gut says it wasn't QUITE that long, but I don't want to argue with my book) from the Awosting parking lot down the Mossy Glen Trail (yellow blazes), making a left onto and up Blueberry Run (blue) to Castle Point itself, and then went basically straight down the cliff on the Scenic Trail (lavenderish and formerly light blue), down the Rainbow Falls Trail (orange) and finally making a right on the Lower Awosting Carriageway back to the parking lot. Wasn't crazy about the $10 fee to park - nature shouldn't cost anything - but it is what it is. It's really a shame the weather was crappy because I could tell that viewpoint at Castle Point is legit - it's sprawling and you can see for miles in almost every direction. That's a very cool spot and easily the highlight of the hike. There are some interesting viewpoints throughout the rest of the adventure, but I'd say they're primarily of rock formations and water features, which have their selling points but nothing beats a view at the top. I'm in decent hiking shape right now, and this was just not particularly challenging for me. The only part where I was even a little out of breath (and it was humid, so grain of salt in that regard) was on Blueberry Run, which was a pretty steady incline up, but really not hardcore at all from my perspective. The drop down from Castle Point on the Scenic Trail IS a little tricky and you really want to spend some time there figuring out where your foot is going to go next. Compared to other parks in the tristate area, this one definitely has more hazards, cliffs you could potentially fall down, etc. But same token, it has a ton of these completely flat carriageways as well. It rained while I was on the Rainbow Falls trail and I DID slip/fall on some of the rocks at one point, but that's on me since I willingly came over here knowing what the forecast was. Wasn't impressed by the Rainbow Falls themselves, and neither were the other hikers who were there at the time. Maybe it was just not an ideal situation for them, but it's been rainy the last few days so unclear when you should take advantage of the optics there. The trail blazes were EXCELLENT, easily some of the best I've ever encountered. Each official trail had an accompanying sign that not only gave you the name of the trail, but a map of the nearby area, the grade profile so you can see what types of inclines/declines you'll experience on that trail and tons of basic facts. Really well done stuff. The bathroom situation was pretty good as well, with ample restroom options in the parking lot albeit without plumbing. You get what you get, but I'll take a clean bathroom situation in a heartbeat, regardless. Okay wildlife sightings. The rain I'm sure kept some of the good quality shizzle away, but I got a cool shot of a black vulture and saw an edgy newt. Worth the trek and will return for further investigation shortly.

    Photos
    Zagbolt 5/1/24
    Zagbolt 5/1/24
    Ice Caves | Instagram: @telephonesmoothie
    Ice Caves | Instagram: @telephonesmoothie
    Minnewaska State Park Preserve

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    VerKeerderkill Falls

    VerKeerderkill Falls

    4.6
    (12 reviews)
    15.7 mi

    This is a 6.8 mile (10.9 kilometers) moderately challenging hike (1,007 feet elevation gain) at…read moreMinnewaska State Park Preserve. Highlights of the trail are Sam's point, Ice cave and lastly Verkeerderkill falls. At Sam's point there are dramatic overlooks and spectacular cliff views, A photographer's paradise. Ice cave was amazing, we had to go through some crevices, my headlamp was very useful at those dark areas and footpath, I noticed remnants of ice inside even at the start of summer (that's when I did the hike), did a little rock scrambling outside the cave, there was an extraordinary ridge overlook at the end of the cave and a fantastic view from a large rock outcrop. The most challenging and strenuous part was the hike from the Ice cave to Verkeerderkill Falls - rocky, narrow, lengthy, uneven, wet, slippery, stream-like path, trekking poles and waterproof hiking boots was a big help to endure the trail. Verkeerderkill falls is a spectacle to see, there are a few ridges, escarpment, and ledge spots (somewhat perilous as all were near the drop-off) to rest and view the falls (I found a good spot facing the falls while hydrating, snacking and replenishing my energy). A solid day's workout, this is everything I could ask for from a great recreational, adventurous, stimulating hike with mother nature.

    Very interesting and fun hike. Me and my friends hiked for 5 hours total. We've visited the ice…read morecaves and the waterfalls . Didn't make it to the lake because it started to thunderstorm. The hike to the waterfall is long so pack a lot of water. Also if it didn't rain before , the waterfall will be very light. In general it's a perfect place to connect with nature and cool down inside the ice caves. P.s. you still can see big chunks of ice deep down in the caves.

    Photos
    VerKeerderkill Falls
    VerKeerderkill Falls
    I had an amazing hike today!

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    I had an amazing hike today!

    Heritage Trail - hiking - Updated July 2026

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