Long Path, NY - Section 7 Seasonal Loop

ABOUT THE PARK: 

Long Path Section 7 (miles 2.30 - 8.80) - New York New Jersey Trail Conference

A new (as of 2020) 3.2 mile seasonal section through West Point property.

DIRECTIONS: 

GPS Coordinates 41.32633, -74.08248

Parking at Barnes Lake off of Route 293, a quarter of a mile road walk from the Long Path.

TRAIL MAP: 

Harriman - Bear Mountain Trails Map 119 - NYNJ Trail Conference

The 2020 edition shows the new Long Path Seasonal trail through West Point property.

My track showing the original Long Path along with the new seasonal trail (dashed line).

HIKE DISTANCE:  10.7 miles

THE HIKE:  

From the parking area there is a trail down to the lake with an obvious wide path along the lake.  It cannot be used to eliminate part of the road walk as it does not connect back to Route 293.

Barnes Lake from Route 293.

It's a quarter of a mile road walk to where the Long Path crosses over at the end of either side of the guardrail.

We turned right first to do an out and back to the Brooks Mountain overlook about half a mile away.  That is where I left off when I last hiked this section of the Long Path.

Brooks Mountain Overlook

Heading back.  If I ever complete the Long Path I won't have this random half mile section undone.

Back at Route 293 veering slightly left and crossing over to continue ...

... on the Long Path.  There was lots of broken glass here.  I removed the larger shards off to the side but be careful coming off the road if you have a dog with you as there are many more smaller pieces on the trail.

The glass is only first coming off of Route 293, then there is no more and the trail is clear.

Through a power cut.

Following along the West Point boundary.

A kiosk for the new seasonal Long Path open only from Jan 1 - Apr 30 and Aug 15 - Oct 31.

The seasonal trail is blazed turquoise/white. It is a very pretty and varied trail.

The trail crosses a couple of West Point roads.

A view of Woodbury, NY.

More views along the way.  It was a very hazy day so the views will probably be better on a clear day.

Towards the far end of the ridge, it is one view after another.

Descending from the ridge.

This is about all that can be seen of Frederick Lane to the right.

There must be a golf course around here.

And there is the golf course.

The season Long Path kiosk at the other end of the trail.

The trails continues along the stone wall ...

... past The Gatehouse where we took a break at the bench before tackling the road walk.

Now left on the regular Long Path..

This road is pretty busy with traffic but it's not for very long.

A short distance past The Greens, just before the bridge up ahead ...

... the Long Path turns left on a quiet residential road.

Just after the turn there is parking for 2 cars on the right.  

Although there isn't much traffic here, this section is crazy loud because I-87 is just on the other side of those trees on the right.

But to the left, in spite of traffic noise, it looks like being out in the country.

That fence is popular with the local birds.

At the stop sign the trail turns left on a dead end street but it will be a while going uphill until the end.

I was glad I picked a cloudy day for this hike as the road walk would have been brutal in full sun.

Mom, dad and the kids out for Sunday brunch.

At the top, a turn around to the left and straight ahead ...

... the Long Path continues on the paved path closed to traffic.

This goes through the power cut a couple of times.

We started a ton of American Goldfinches that flew every which way.

A view of Woodbury behind us.

The paved trail turns to gravel just before crazy busy Route 6.

We tried staying in the grass but it was very thick and with litter thrown out of moving cars I could not see if we were stepping on anything dangerous.

So the shoulder with cars whizzing by it was.  Fortunately it does not last very long.

After passing a West Point woods road on the left ...

... the Long Path turns left into the woods.  There is no turn sign and I almost missed it so watch carefully.

The Long Path now follows between the West Point boundary fence and Route 6 but in the woods.  This must not be used much because I was walking into one ancient spiderweb after another.

Back at the seasonal Long Path kiosk where we started the loop.

Keeping straight on the Long Path and retracing back to the car.

There was only one other car parked here when I finished, probably the family I passed right at the end before the road walk.  Other than that I saw nobody else the entire hike.