Upper Nyack Trail adds to the beauty for hikers and nature lovers in the Hudson Valley
UPPER NYACK – Bordered by human-made and natural rock formations, the Nyack Beach Trail circles up Hook Mountain.
The 1.5-mile path connects the River Trail at Nyack Beach to the Long Path and Hook Mountain. The 30-acre parcel on which it is located also touches Rockland Lake State Park.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the outdoors became a safe haven for many to escape their cloistered homes and get away from crowds.
Officially opened last week, the Nyack Beach Trail is the latest way for residents who enjoy the outdoors to walk through the woods.
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"The new trail completes an important circuit connecting the Hudson River's edge with the 'Long Path" to the top of Hook Mountain," said David Neil, board chair of the Friends of Rockland Lake & Hook Mountain. "But it's much more than a ‘linker' path. It's a magnificent blending of nature and human ingenuity."
The trail, the entrance to which is located by the parking booth off Midland Avenue, is the product of a two-year project that began after a $3.1 million acquisition of 30 acres in 2017 by the Trust for Public Land from the Marydell Faith and Life Center at the north end of Midland Avenue.
The project was hailed as a victory for land conservation by officials.
For Bob Stien and many other outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy the hundreds of miles of trails in Rockland, the Hudson Valley and the state, the trail adds another place for adventure and serenity amid the cover of woods, trees, vegetation, rocks and dirt paths.
The Upper Nyack resident calls the outdoors "his gym" for physical and emotional relief and exercise. He hikes multiple times a week in the region but has walked trails across the country.
"For me, it creates balances in my life," Stien said, professing his love for the "beautiful, extraordinary beautiful stonework, plants and majestic views" along the new trail.
"I find balance and peace," the 70-year-old married businessman said. "If I go off for a walk any challenge and stress peel away as I walk through the woods."
Cure the pandemic blues
For Dan Gottfried, an expatriate of Nyack and a retired educator, hiking became his salvation during the tense COVID months that kicked off in March 2020.
"Days of sitting in front of a screen ravaged my body, weakening me to an extent I had not expected," Gottfried said of being homebound. "Exercising to YouTube videos was a poor substitute for sunshine and dirt under my feet."
He sought out places where he could hike, sometimes alone and at times with his wife Loraine.
They first hiked Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Pleasantville. The wide paths and gentle slopes were perfect for long walks under a canopy of trees and maintaining reasonable social distance, he said.
"Once a week we would venture out for a few hours and we quickly discovered that we felt rejuvenated by the brief respite from our indoor life," he said.
He said they expanded their hikes to include friends and moved around the Hudson Valley. They frequented the southern portion of the Preserve in Tarrytown, adjacent to the old mansions that make up the estate. They endured the challenge of the summer sun, while the rolling hills provided more aerobic activity.
He said their regimen brought them back to Rockland, where they lived in Nyack for 35 years.
"Our favorites are the trails at Tallman State Park," Gottfried said. "The Long Path is particularly satisfying, as it winds through the woods and makes for a wonderful loop hike that takes just about an hour but can extend much longer."
He said the green markers take people through the woods where the sounds of peepers and frogs provide a cacophony of background noise that is interspersed with a deep silence."
The white trail markers in the woods lengthen the hike.
The land purchase
The outdoor experience and sights and sounds of nature are what the trails are all about, said Kevin McGuinness, chair of the Long Path committee for the New York-New Jersey Conference. He was involved with the planning of the Upper Nyack Trail.
"Part of our credo is encouraging people to go outdoors and use the parks," McGuinness said during a hike along the new trail up Hook Mountain.
He called the new trail a unique location on the slope and an important link between Nyack State Park on the Hudson River and the Long Path.
"This is about preserving land and it's exercising and getting people out in nature," he said. "The beauty is all these trails are in our backyard."
The trails and public lands are maintained by volunteers with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. Since 1920, the conference has preserved the integrity of trails and natural areas.
The Trail Conference maintains 2,145 miles of trails – 1,353 miles in New York, 767 in New Jersey, 18 in Massachusetts, and seven in Connecticut. The group works in 268 parks.
The acreage bordering Hook Mountain and overlooking the Hudson River will remain undeveloped. The sale brought the land under New York state ownership.
Nyack Beach State Park, with the cliffs at Hook Mountain, is one of only 602 National Park Service-designated National Natural Landmark sites in the United States.
Organizers said the trail is built on huge slabs of diabase and giant boulders, engineered and sculpted to form bridges, walkways, and staircases – all crafted by the NY-NJ Trail Conference Long Distance Trails Crew.
The Crew's all-volunteer team visualized and designed the trail, and then devoted two years and thousands of hours of grueling labor to complete it.
Organizers described the trail's surrounding habitat as home to a wide variety of woodland plants and wildlife – an open environment where the low woods offers a tranquil background for birdsongs and the sound of spring water making its way down the mountainside.
"It's a tremendous victory for conservation," Carter Strickland, the Trust for Public Land's New York state director, said at the time of the sale. "They certainly had many opportunities to sell it at a higher price."
Stien, who owns a pest control company in New York City, hikes during rainstorms and snowstorms. He attaches mini-spikes to his boots to dig into the ice and snow.
"I go when no one is there," he said, laughing. "There's no such things as bad weather, just bad gears and not being prepared."
He said he also enjoys the fruits of the forest. He taps trees for the sap, which he boils. There are healthy mushrooms and other delights like flowers along the trails. He enjoys the outdoors with his wife, Enid Weishaus. His daughters Gabriella and Celina hike, as well.
He gets to see wild beasts – like fox, deer and, occasionally, venomous copperhead snakes.
"I find it magical and exciting," Stien said. "The fresh air and beautiful plants. It's always remarkable to me that all this is outside our homes."
Nyack Beach Trail
Where the money came from:
$2.1 million from State Environmental Protection Fund
$450,000 from Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Corp.
$300,000 from Town of Clarkstown
$100,000 from Village of Upper Nyack
$100,000 from Durst Organization
$50,000 from Open Space Institute
More on trails
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference: 600 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, New Jersey: 201-512-9348 or www.nynjtc.org
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Upper Nyack Trail, Rockland hiking path, connects routes
