March 19, 2024

Arden Point and Glenclyffe

My goal this summer is to go hiking every weekend and hopefully by late summer or early fall I’ll be ready to hike up Mount Washington. I’m starting with an easy hike and want to work up to more and more challenging hikes as the summer progresses.

Most of the hikes will be around NYC area and accessible by public transport. We took Metro North from Grand Central to Garrison station which is about an hour and half north of the city.

Hudson valley is extremely beautiful so it seemed like a great place to start off my summer of hiking. Arden Point and Glenclyffe was easy and beautiful.

Once you get off the train, walk towards the road and you’ll see the sign for Arden Point Hudson Highlands State park.

The trail is very well marked and beautiful in summer. Soon after starting the home there are a few abandoned and broken buildings.

Keep going and and half a mile from the starting point there’s a small wooden bridge that goes over a small stream.

We kept going and after about another half a mile we came across the steel truss bridge that goes over railroad tracks. There are two options at this point in I hike. Go over the bridge or keep going straight.

We went over the bridge and turned right (north) following blue blazes to go towards Arden Point. The trail seems like something out of a movie.

After a while we followed the orange blaze until we came to a stone wall. Beyond the wall is Arden Point.

Just past the wall you get a beautiful view of the mountains across the Hudson River and West Point military academy which looks like a castle.

Next we followed the blue blazes back to the metal bridge. Once you are back at the steel truss bridge, there are two short trails in the south side. We decided to explore both before going to Glenclyffe.

The trail on the right (above picture) takes you to an opening with views of lush, green mountains and a small waterfall across the Hudson River. There’s a bench so we decided to sit for a few minutes and take in the views.

The trail that goes straight leads to the railroad tracks. These tracks are heavily used by Amtrak and Metro North.

Now we’re finally ready to cross the metal bridge again and continue our hike to Glenclyffe. We followed white Marcia’s mile blazes.

On this part of the hike we saw bamboo along the trail. I didn’t know there was bamboo in the Northeast!

Soon, we came across a few options for the trail. We could continue on Marcia’s mile or take the path that Benedict Arnold took to escape.

Obviously, we picked the Benedict Arnold escape route and went up the stairs.

Soon, we came to a gazebo that gives a similar view across the Hudson. It was a perfect spot to eat a snack and enjoy the view.

After a short break we continued to follow the red blazes. A few minutes later we came across this open beautiful space.

As we continued on, we somehow lost track of the red blazes.

Another trail that lead to an abandoned house

We tried to go our way back but ended up on a different trail which lead to a huge, abandoned house.

Near the house was a dirt road and what looked like a pre-school. Soon after the pre-school we turned right to get back on the trail with red blazes.

We saw some more bamboo trees and then what looked like a small dam. We eventually came across another open field next to highway 9D. There was a cute little bunny hiding in the grass.

We crossed the open field and about half way through we saw Castle Rock on to if the hill.

At the end of the field there’s a Garrison Institute sign. We turned left on to the paved road at the sign. There’s a big map and at this point we followed the white Marcia’s Mike blazes.

We saw a small, old broken building next to a pond. We kept following the white blazes until we reached the Garrison train station.

It was the perfect hike to start work for the summer. There are many more of these to come. Don’t forget to follow my blog and follow me on Instagram.

 

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