The Best of the Appalachian Trail: Day Hikes

The cool thing about the trail here is that it is essentially a stone staircase winding up the side of the mountain. Or, most days anyway. After ascending for a while, the trail meets up with the blue trail. The blue trail continues to ascend a little further, until you reach the top. At that point, a well beaten path leads to the outlook.

The view you get for your effort is astounding — a view of the Bear Mountain Bridge, the Hudson River in all its glory, and everything around.

For those of you looking to enjoy the AT and a view, this is the place to be. Within an hour of the New York City, this is a hike that is hard to top. Not only will it give you a great day of getting lost in the woods, but it will let you enjoy some hidden gems, such as Nuclear Lake. The trail starts out flat, leaving the road and heading into the woods. After hiking along the white blazed trail for a mile or so, it meets up with the Nuclear Lake Loop — marked in yellow. The trail brings you right out to Nuclear Lake, a sprawling, crystal-blue lake that commands attention from anyone wandering along its shore.

The yellow trail winds around the whole lake, giving you access to grassy meadows, and rocky outlooks onto the water.

It is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen, and it reminds me that you can get amazing things to look at without having to reach a summit. This hike is perfect for those looking for a longer day, and are capable of tackling the six or so miles the hike includes. The AT has so much to offer both new and experienced hikers alike, and offers some of the most beautiful landscape in New York.

Pick a hike, pack your bag, and get ready to get outside and have some fun. This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support! To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.

Heather is a barefoot hiker and lover of the outdoors.

Categories

She lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley, and works as a professional ghostwriter. She loves wine, cheese, and tiny mountain towns where no one knows her name. Would definitely do it again but in the summer. The views were stunning! Great day hike with the ladies. Very empty on a December Sunday. Nice trail, clearly marked and easy to follow. As said in other comments the first mile or so its a steep rocky climb and will definitely be a good work out so come prepared to start strong.

At the top of this section there is a spring and a little structure with a visitors log and a fire pit. This trail Continues past some radio towers and over the lehigh tunnel then loops back around to meet the white trail again.

You can follow this back to the start and get some nice downhill sections you can run if your into that, although I don't recommend doing so unless you are experienced as it is dangerous and easy to hit a rock and fall while running. There were also a bunch of woodpeckers around this section.

1. I Will Not Go the F**k to Sleep (Special Edition)!
2. Appalachian Trail in Georgia: our favorite day hikes and backpacking adventures.
3. Appalachian Trail in Georgia - Atlanta Trails.
4. Haced Discipulos (Spanish Edition).
5. Day Hiking?

For a more challenging route take the white trail first to hit those inclines instead. I would defintely have a good sturdy pair of boots, this trail is very rocky in parts with a fair amount of loose rocks. There are some rocky areas but my dog loved it! Easy hike with good incline and a beautiful view. I enjoyed the rock scrambling, it kept things interesting!

Best view is at the section where the trail splits and you can either climb up the rocks or go down beside them. Great section of the AT. Nice view in 2 directions 2. Yellow wildflowers in the clearing in July. It's steep but not constant. Sept We left at Took us a little over 4 hours.

We did this trail from south to north Old Forge to Caledonia for a Scout trip with overnight stay at Rocky Mountain shelter. Antietam Shelter structure is closed but there is space in the area to set up tents plus frost free water faucet, toilets and pavilions at Old Forge Picnic Grounds which was good to start our Saturday morning. Overall good trail and Chimney Rocks was a great stop for lunch on Saturday after a significant morning uphill trek.

The rest of the trail was not as dramatic but pleasant. Great out and back hike- beautiful views of the PA countryside. I did both minsi and tammany back to back for " mind the gap".. Trail was in relatively good shape, and the vistas were stellar. Some sections are pretty steep, so be advised. Great trail, but steep going down. The rocks with the wet leaves this time year, November made the hiking a little more complicated.

Was this webpage useful to you?

The trail was pretty wet on the lower section so make sure to have your waterproof hiking boots. This trail starts out easy but you do some climbing up and between rocks so I would say this is a little harder than easy. A nice trail to hike. Just did this with my daughter today. Had a ton of fun on this course! Very rocky between Pulpit and Pinnacle so a little slow going at times, but the views are worth it. Definitely need waterproof hiking boots too, as the return leg was quite muddy in spots. The spring on the last leg was flowing really well, so we stopped there to fill up.

A great little day hike. Take a lunch and sit at the pinnacle to enjoy views of hawks hunting over the valley. Beautiful mountain, peaceful and subtle. The trail is marked by white markers on the trees. Lots of rocks and boulders. After walking 3 miles in, we turned back because we didn't see where there would be a loop or a scenic view.