Despite its proximity to New York City, the trail through the Empire State offers some sweet hiking, particularly through 46,000-acre plus Harriman State Park, the second-largest park in New York. It is ironic that this beautiful place where people go to escape was once earmarked to be the site of a state penitentiary. (As I turned out, the site of the prison was moved to Ossining on the banks of the Hudson River, which spawned the origin of the phrase, “being sent up the river.”)

The Hudson River cleaves the New York AT section almost precisely in half. When you cross the iconic Bear Mountain Bridge that spans the river, you are at the lowest elevation of the entire trail (124′). Nonetheless, the views here are exceptional. Regardless of whether you are hiking south to north or vice versa, soon enough you will be scampering along the ridge tops again.

For a section less than a two-hour drive from Times Square, the trail offers a remarkable sense of woodland solitude, particularly in the spring and fall months when the trail is less crowded.