ROCKEFELLER PRESERVE WALK (Strenuous)

A 13-mile, moderate-paced walk through Rockefeller State Park Preserve, beginning and ending at the Tarrytown train station. The walk is rated as strenuous.

All walkers must complete a waiver with their name and with the name and phone number of an emergency contact. This can be done on paper at the beginning of the walk - but the easier way for you and for me and for AMC is to do it online at the AMC website at AMC walk.

Take the 9:23 am Metro North Hudson Line train from Grand Central to Tarrytown arriving Tarrytown 10:16 am. Meet on the river side of the Tarrytown train station by the tennis courts. I will be wearing an orange cap.

Rockefeller State Park Preserve includes 1700 acres donated to the state by the Rockefellers with 45 miles of carriage paths. We must stay on the carriage paths and give the right of way to any horses or carriages that come along. The farming activities in and around the preserve have been cut back in recent years, but we have seen goats, cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens that are being raised for the Stone Barns and we will walk through the Stone Barns garden.

From the train station we walk north on the Riverwalk along the Hudson River to Kingsland Park, then east on steep streets to Gory Brook Road, then counterclockwise through Rockefeller Preserve, including steep Cedar Hill, Stone Barns, the visitor center and the Pocantico River trail to the Old Croton Aqueduct trail to Main Street in Tarrytown to the train station. I'm not sure what return train we will catch, there are three trains to Grand Central every hour, a crowded express train toward the top of the hour and less crowded local and semi-express trains later.

Elevation gain is about 1,000 feet, most of that is the the first half of the walk, some of the hills are long and steep. Sneakers are fine, but you might prefer something with a strong sole on some of the rockier trails, shorts are fine as the trails are wide so less danger of ticks but check for ticks just the same.

Bring water, snacks and lunch. We will stop for lunch at Stone Barns at 6 miles and a short break at the visitor center at 9 miles, water available at both stops. There are restrooms in Pierson Park near the train station, at Kingsland Park at 2 miles, at Stone Barns, and at the visitor center. The park is carry-in carry-out.

Maps of the walk:
Strava map
All Trails map
Google map

There is a free pdf of the Rockefeller trails at Rockefeller trail map which is also available as a free download on the Avenza app.

The New York/New Jersey Trail Conference has a much better Rockefeller trail map as part of its 4-map Westchester bundle, you can buy paper copies for $11.95 from the trail conference web site or buy a $10.99 download on the Avenza app.

Leader: Tom Bergen 917-727-5507 tom.bergen@yahoo.com

Please note that Covid-19 has persisted in our region from its onset in 2020, with cases currently on the rise. In the interest of public health, do not join this hike if symptomatic of Covid-19 or infected with it.
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