Hudson Highlands State Park

If you know anything about me, you’ll know my affinity for hiking and the natural world, especially parks reachable by public transit from major cities.

I recently moved to New York and have been reveling in the city life. But I’ve also found a fair share of nature easily accessible from the city. I never knew New York sat relatively close to the mountains and am excited for the many more adventures I have to come.

A few weeks ago, over President’s Day weekend, I took my first trip up to the mountains in the Hudson River Valley to Hudson Highlands State Park. What an incredible state park!

To get to the park via transit, you’ll need to take MTA’s Metro North on the Hudson transit line. On the weekends, the train runs directly to Breakneck Ridge, a stop specifically designed for hikers. During the weekdays, you’ll need to get off at Cold Spring, a cute riverside suburban town. The town itself is adorable and I’d recommend visiting regardless of where your hike will take you.

A round-trip train ticket isn’t cheap and will set you back $30 during off-peak times. It’s about $40 during peak rush-hour.

The train trip is incredibly scenic. As soon as you’re out of Manhattan, the train passes through the valley and continues right next to the Hudson River. On the opposite bank are the Palisades, a wall of steep cliffs in New Jersey that border the river.

Another scenic spot is right before you exit around Cold Spring. Across the river you can see the fortification of West Point and glimpses of the campus behind.

Instead of overloading with more information, here’s a recap of my day in the park, starting in Grand Central Station.

Even though it was a holiday morning, Grand Central was still busy.

Our train was scheduled to leave at 10:51 a.m. and wasn’t a second late. The trip up north is a stunning departure from the skyscrapers of New York as the cliffs along the Hudson gradually get more dramatic. Unfortunately, we were on the opposite side and instead had a view of the small suburban towns.

About an hour and a half later, we were in the frigid town of Cold Spring.

The train drops you off right by the river, and LOOK AT THESE VIEWS:

I was in awe.

The town had a cute little park on the river with a cannon and some really nice houses.

It’s a short walk into town from the riverbank where we spent the next hour exploring.

To closest trail from the town is the Undercliff trail. From downtown Cold Spring, the trailhead is about a half mile up Main Street.

It started off as a peaceful walk through the woods before slowly starting to incline.

While the climb was intense, I was blown away as the view started to appear through the trees, I felt we hadn’t climbed much.

The first overlook of the valley was about a mile in, and showcased the snow-covered southern rolling mountains.

It almost reminded me of the mountains in Tennessee.

Shortly after we passed this frozen waterfall.

As we continued to climb, the snow got deeper and the hike became trickier.

The second viewpoint, which was over the Hudson River Valley, was incredible. Like breathtakingly incredible.

There was so much to take in, from the town of Cold Spring, to the West Point campus. We could even see the skyscrapers of New York on the horizon.

A few steps later was the first northern view.

Coming down the first ridge was miserable. The snow had been padded down by hikers and was quite slippery. I fell more than I’d like to admit.

After leveling out, we chose to go up to Breakneck Ridge instead of just going toward the trains.

Shortly after crossing the bridge, we found a frozen pond.

As my friend and I are both twenty year old guys, we of course had to shatter the ice.

This hike was much easier and more fun as we scrambled over some rocks and found this otherworldly moss.

We peaked on the ridge and were treated to yet another incredible range of views.

The trek down turned treacherous as we found ourselves going the wrong way. It probably would have been fine if we took the normal route down, but there were moments when I was fearing for my life.

The trail’s grade averages 40%, but points are as steep as 75%.

The combination of steep rocks we had to repel down, a 1,000 foot drop on either side and patches of ice kind of terrified me. Look at this drop off…

And this arrow… it’s literally pointing UP that rock! You literally have to CLIMB IT!

Needless to say, we took our time in coming down the mountain, which was fine until we saw the train was coming in a few minutes.

We took off running on the side of the road to the station, but ended up missing it by SECONDS. It was annoying, but definitely not worth rushing down the treacherous trail.

With an hour to kill until the next train, my friend fearlessly hitchhiked hailed us a ride for the two miles back into Cold Spring. We took a lap around the town in hopes of finding something open, but accepted defeat and walked back to the station.

Along the way, we walked back to the Hudson, where we were greeted with a stunning sunset against the hills.

Across the river, we watched the tranquility of West Point reflecting on the shimmering current. It was really cool to slowly watch all the campus’ lights come on and follow the headlights of cars mulling around across the river.

Coupled with the sunset, it was a peaceful way to end the evening. Here I am, soaking it up:

The next train was right on time and we were on our way back to New York before 6 p.m.

I spent much of the trip home editing some videos I had filmed for my friend Ariane as the darkness from the Hudson River passed on my right.

We were back in New York right around 8 p.m. and it was only a short Subway ride back to my house!

Overall, Hudson Highlands is an adventure outside the city worth taking. A lot of people gripe about the lack of nature in New York, but the ease of access in escaping the concrete jungle is commendable, especially when the destination is as stunning as the state park.