Letchworth Minnewaska State 38 39 State Park Park Preserve Gorge Trail Gertrude’s Nose Loop Castile, New York Kerhonkson, New york Hiking Time: 2-8 hours Hiking Time: 4-5 hours m m William Pryor Letchworth entered If your dog could talk you would business at the age of 15 in 1848, hear about this hike for a looooong working as a clerk in the saddlery and time. The state park on the dramatic hardware trade. He soon shifted to the Shawangunk Mountain ridge is where iron products business and was suc- feuding brothers Alfred and Albert cessful enough to retire at the age of Smiley opened competing vacation 48. He donated his 1,000-acre Glen Iris houses in the 1800s. When they made estate along the Genesee River to be- nice again the Smileys built a network come one of the cornerstones of the of carriage roads between the hotels. New York state park system. These wide, carefully graded road- Dubbed the “Grand Canyon of the beds are where you will be doing most East,” the wooded gorge was scraped of your hiking with Seaman. and shaped by glaciers, leaving some The early steps lead to a swimming of the country’s most dramatic water- beach at cliff-fringed Lake Minnewas- falls in their wake. The Gorge Trail ka. If this was as far as your dog went traces the ravine for seven miles but it would probably be a four-star hike. most folks don’t explore past the The Millbrook Mountain Carriage first three major hydrospectaculars Road then moves through mixed for- so you will have no trouble slipping ests onto the open cliffs and Patter- away into the woods with your dog son’s Pellet, a glacial erratic perched in relative solitude. Your biggest de- improbably on the edge of a cliff. cision on this canine hike will be pin- The carriage road joins Gertrude’s pointing the spot - if any - when it is Nose Trail, a narrow footpath that will time to count up your wondrous views eventually spend much of its 2.7 miles and turn around. poking along flat, open clifftops. There The Gorge Trail matches Mother Na- are so many mind-blowing views ture’s eye-popping moments with its around Gertrude’s Nose they actually own collection of stone bridges and become ho-hum after awhile. stairways carved into the cliff walls by Take heed of the red blazes - when Civilian Conervation Corps workers they lead inland they are taking Sea- during the Great Depression. An active man away from potentially dangerous railroad bridge across the gorge is no crevaces in the Shawangunk conglom- mean engineering feat itself although erate. An occasional rock scramble it came at the cost of a much-beloved adds interest to your dog’s hiking day, steel trestle that stood for 142 years regardless. Pine trees in all shapes and before being condemned in 2018. size decorate the clifftops. The footpath is wide and easy to Multiple options close the 7.5-mile manuever through the gorge but the loop; Seaman will vote for the one that builders were not overly energetic on leads back to Lake Minnewaska for a guard rails so take note. well-earned doggie dip.

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