ABOUT THE PARKS:
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.415379, -73.950629
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West Point Foundry Preserve Parking Lot (be sure to follow signs through Cold Spring - my GPS kept trying to take me down a road that was gated)
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This hike is also accessible from the Cold Spring Train station where there is also free parking on weekends and holidays.
TRAIL MAPS:
HIKE DISTANCE: 11.2 miles
THE HIKE:
This area is way too popular and crowded for my liking so I tried to incorporate a few trails I had not hiked yet while avoiding the crowds as much as possible. The traffic is all coming up on the white-blazed Washburn Trail to Bull Hill so I completely avoided that trail except where I had to cross over. My route, below, shows the volume of foot traffic I encountered.
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GREEN = hardly anyone else; YELLOW = moderate amount of people; RED = very crowded
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It was very foggy at 7 AM so not much to see yet.
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On the red trail along Foundry Brook.
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This trail ends at posted property so we had to head back...
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... and took the fork over to ...
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... the steps.
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Just beyond Battery Pond the trail forks left and comes out at ...
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... Chestnut Street where we crossed 9D over to Bank Street. There was no traffic on 9D this early in the morning but I would definitely not cross here later in the day. We would be crossing in Cold Spring at a stop light on the way back.
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Bank Street is slightly to the right along Foundry Brook.
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We worked our way through residential streets crossing Main Street.
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Pearl Street dead ends but continues through a posted no parking area into ...
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Nelsonville Nature Preserve.
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We followed the yellow trail to the left ...
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... all the way to where it meets up with the yellow Undercliff Trail in Hudson Highlands State Park.
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First overlook, still fogged in.
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Mountain Laurel is blooming.
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Coming up on more overlooks of ...
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... the Hudson River.
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This is where the white-blazed trail to Bull Hill crosses over. I had to wait for traffic to pass by until I could cross over.
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There are two more overlooks on yellow after crossing over white and it's crowded here. I encountered no trail etiquette whatsoever. People stopping in the middle of the trail trying to decide which way to go, people hogging the overlooks while sitting there eating or deciding which way to go, off leash dogs, lingering perfume, cell phone conversations on speaker phone, music playing, it was a hot mess.
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We got out of here ASAP.
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Nobody at this overlook and from this point on we encountered no other people for a long time.
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Where we turned right on red is where we started encountering others again that were doing the Bull Hill Loop but nothing like at the overlooks.
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Right on blue.
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When checking my app I noticed it looked like I was off the trail but I was still on blue. Most likely a reroute that will be reflected on new maps coming out.
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Blue ends at white where ...
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... I turned left on green leaving those on the Bull Hill Loop behind.
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The was nice and peaceful and downhill all the way.
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Coming out at a parking lot for Nelsonville Nature Preserve, crossing Gatehouse Road and continuing on green into Nelsonville Nature Preserve.
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Here is where we had followed yellow to the right at the beginning of the hike, now keeping left on green/yellow.
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Yellow leaves to the right and green continues to ...
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... Secor Street where we turned right then left then ...
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... right on Main Street into Cold Spring.
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Crossing back over very busy 9D at a light.
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Main Street ends at a tunnel under the railroad tracks to get over to the Hudson River.
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I was trying to get back to the preserve path back where I parked but I was on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.
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We stopped at Foundry Dock Park...
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... took a break and asked one of the kayak rental guys if he knew if I could get to the path on other side of the tracks or if I would have to go back to the tunnel. He thought I would need to go back to the tunnel so back we went.
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Coming out of the tunnel it's an immediate right turn to head back to the train station this side of the tracks.
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I had seen this walkway to get to the other side of the tracks but thought it would only take me to the platform with no way to the trail but here I was anyway. Little did I know ...
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... that at the end of the platform on the left ....
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... is access to the trail I was looking for. Lesson learned - should have tried that walkway!
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We had company on this trail. He hiked ahead of us for a bit.
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Coming up on the steps to the overlook.
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A path at the top leads to a deck at the overlook but I thought the view from the top of the steps was better.
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Is that our friend again or a different one?
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Back at the parking lot which was surprisingly empty.
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