Plotterskill Preserve
We did everything wrong in this park, and started hiking even though it had begun to rain lightly. This turned into an absolute deluge while we were in the gorge, and completely washed out our trail back. We were forced to climb up the slippery sides of the gorge, using tree roots. This was “hand over hand” in some places, pretty scary, and rather awful. Sooo, maybe don’t go hiking here if there is any chance of rain. Even without our poor judgement, the trails are a little deceptive as it seems like you can get to places easier than you can, but it is very steep even it if it isn’t raining. We found that following the red trail is probably the easiest, but there are still lots of roots and climbing. We would advise downloading and printing their map before coming here, which can be found on this website:
http://www.schenectadycounty.com/FullStory.aspx?m=194&amid=769
The last photos of the large waterfall look like there isn’t a plunge pool just because we got caught in the downpour, but there actually is. The falls are very pretty, but not much for swimming.
This is a remote area with no ranger station, and steep gorges, so use caution and let someone know that you’re visiting here.
Location Details
- 1 hour
- +42 49.535, -74 03.100
- Difficult