Easy Hike with a Spectacular Payoff at Chittenango Falls State Park

Chittenango Falls is a small state park, just shy of 200 acres. But despite its small size, this park is well worth a visit. As its name implies, the park’s centerpiece is a picturesque, 167-foot staircase waterfall, which sends the waters of Chittenango Creek into a gorge.  You can’t help but notice the amount of […]

Minnewaska State Park’s Must See Falls: Awosting Falls Hike

Awosting Falls are a spectacular water fall within the Minnewaska State Park, itself a very popular day-use park. The short and sweet Awosting Falls Hike is simply a must-do hike if you visit this park. The state park features a couple of “sky lakes,” as well as as about 50 miles of trails. With the […]

Four Stops You Should Make Along the Highland Scenic Highway

The Highland Scenic Highway — WV 150 / WV 39-WV 55 — runs 43 miles through the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, meandering along the mountain ridges and reaching an elevation of more than 4500 feet.  If you plan on spending a day exploring the Highland Scenic Highway (easily doable, since it’s only 43 […]

The Hidden Catskills Waterfalls Along the Vernooy Falls Hike

The Vernooy Kill Falls Hike is a short, out-and-back hike — either 2 miles or 3.6 miles, depending where you pick up the trailhead — to a very pretty waterfall. The falls is a series of picturesque little waterfalls with pools, dropping about 30 feet in 4 stages. During the warmer months, this would be […]

Cool Ruins and a Waterfall Along the Madam Brett White and Red Trail

Madam Brett Park is a tranquil little park on Fishkill Creek in Beacon NY, alongside the Hudson River in Dutchess County, not far away from the Hudson Highlands Park. We were there to hike the “Madam Brett White and Red Trail, an out-and-back trail to a waterfall and marsh overlook. This area is noteworthy because […]

Two Hikes You Shouldn’t Miss at Linn Run State Park

Once an ecological disaster — as with many areas of the East Coast that were clear cut by the lumber industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries — Linn Run State Park is now a thriving second growth forest. Mountain laurel and native rhododendron cover the slopes — we caught the tail end […]

West Virginia’s Best Kept Secret: The Highland Scenic Highway

The Highland Scenic Highway — WV 150 / WV 39-WV 55 — runs 43 miles through the Monongahela National Forest, meandering along the mountain ridges, reaching an elevation of more than 4500 feet.  Along the northeastern part of the scenic highway — where it’s more a parkway than a highway. Like its more famous sisters […]

Mysteries of the Hudson Highland State Park: Cornish Ruins Hike

Why are ruins so fascinating? Do we expect to see the ghosts of the people who lived or worked there to suddenly appear? I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m fascinated by ruins. There’s something sad and creepy and symbolic about beautiful places that have been abandoned.  There’s almost a fairytale set of […]

Minnewaska State Park: Rainbow Falls Hike

I rely on AllTrails.com almost as much as I rely on AllRecipes.com. I have no idea whether the two are related. But they’re both great resources!  Lake Minnewaska, one of the parks several “sky lakes” and for which, the state park is named. So during our visit to the Hudson Valley area, I’d planned out […]