Hiking NY: Mohonk Mountains

 Mohonk Mountains

The jewel of the Catskill mountains, the Mohonk Mountain House resides at the foothill to the sky top tower. The most difficult and fun hiking trail to reach the summit is the labyrinth trail, which wandering through rocks, caves, wooden ladders, narrow gaps, and cliffs. However, in winter, it is often closed due to ice conditions. However, the easy trail to the summit is equally fun but much more spectacular --- there are many wooden huts along the trail, which provides awesome view of the surrounding mountains.

To reach the Mohonk Mauntain, you can either park at the House paying a fee (per person), or park at the nearby Mohonk Preserve paying a much smaller fee (par person).

We parked at one parking lot (Coxing trailhead) in the Mohonk Preserve, and took the overcliff trail (2.5 miles flat carriage road) to the Mountain house.  When we came back, we took the undercliff train (2 miles flat road).  [Note that, to get the the Mountain house train, we had to go across the road to the other side of the parking and used the red trail (0.5 mile difficulty trail) as the connection to the over/under cliff trails. West Trapps trailhead might be a better choice.]

Check out  the labyrinth trail in summer.

Hiking NY: Overlook Mountain

 Overlook Mountain

Overlook Mountain is the most south mountain in the Catskill region. It is a 5 mile out and back moderate-difficult hiking, with relative steep climbing on the gravel road, which leads to the fire tower at the top of the mountain. 

Parking is easy to find by following the google map direction. 

You can climb the fire tower to have an amazing view of the surrounding mountains and Ashokan Reservoir (the largest water supply to NYC). Before reaching the tower, there is a ruin of a big hotel, initially built in 1830s in the industrial age. The hotel changed hands and burnt many times, but the foundations are still impressive. 

Hiking NY: Kaaterskill Falls

 

Kaaterskill Falls

Kaaterskill falls  is the highest cascading waterfall  in New York State. Dropping in two tiers over 78 meters, it is about 20 meters longer than Niagara Falls.  

Parking at Laurel House Trailhead, the trail is 1.4 miles out and back.  We went there in winter, and the view is spectacular, with icicles, ice, and snow surrounding the splashing water.

More about the water falls:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaterskill_Falls

Hiking NJ: High Point State Park

 

High Point State Park

The High Point Monument sits on the summit of the Kittatinny Ridge (1803ft above the sea level), the highest point in New Jersey. 

There are many trails reaching the summit, long or short. The famous Appalachian Trail goes through  High Point State Park as well (check out the  Trail Map).  However, the easiest/laziest way to reach the monument is simply driving up there, which was what we did  in a cold cloudy autumn afternoon. 

        

                           View to the north is the summit parking, with the NY mountains background.

View to the south

The fall colors

The view to the west.

Hiking NY: bear mountain

 

Bear Mountain Loop Trail

The trail resides within the Bear Mountain State park (with $10 parking fee at weekends), and NYC is on the other side of Hudson River. We went there at a weekend, and the park was full of people enjoying the early October weather (it is one of the best places to enjoy fall foliage).

The loop is a 4 mile well-marked and heavily trafficked trail. The elevation gain is about 1100 ft, with difficult rock scrambling. There are big boulders everywhere.

It took us about two hours to reach the top (Perkins Memorial Tower; many people drove to the top as well). The view at the top was spectacular. It only took us 40 minutes to get down the mountain along the dirt trail and stairs.

Hessian Lake

Bear Mountain Inn

Rocky trail

Bear Mountain Bridge over Hudson River

On the trail

Rest at the mountain top

On the mountain top

Layers of mountains; beyond the mountains - NYC skyline

             foliage in Nov