Hike Shaupeneak Ridge's Mystical Beauty

We were astonished by how beautiful Shaupeneak Ridge is. This relatively small park offers more than 10 miles of hiking trails that bring you around a lake, past a waterfall, up to a scenic view, through meadows, and through forests.

We felt like the park was magical, a mystical place just because of its beauty — and we were there fairly early in the morning, so hiked the trails in solitude. This park also contains the land that Sojourner Truth crossed as she fled to freedom. In some ways, her energy still infuses these woods.

About Shaupeneak Ridge Hikes

We hiked a combination of the red, green, blue and orange trails. Overall, we found the trails easy to follow and well marked. In fact, trails in Shaupeneak Ridge CRA are well blazed with circular colored blazes that indicate trail turns. Trails lead across numerous environs, from the meadows at the base of the mountain to rocky overlooks along the ridgeline, around a pond… There were no long ascents or descents, because we started from the UPPER parking lot. Any wet areas and stream crossings have small boardwalks.

The Scenic Hudson Land Trust owns Shaupeneak Ridge CRA. A private entity, the land trust seeks to preserve lands of historic, ecological and aesthetic significance in the Hudson Valley. The park covers part of the ridge-top, slope, and base of Shaupeneak Mountain, an 892-foot high ridge of the Marlboro Mountains, which stretch from Newburgh, New York to Kingston, New York.

Know Before You Go

You can access to Shaupeneak Ridge Cooperative Recreation Area from a parking lot at the base of Shaupeneak Mountain off of Old Post Road (Ulster County Route 16). We parked at the upper parking lot, at the top of the mountain along Popletown Road.

Getting there: GPS “Shaupeneak Ridge Park” upper parking lot.
Hours: Daylight
Website: Shaupeneak Ridge Cooperative Recreation Area