Blue Mountain Reservation Loop

Mountain bikes are allowed on most trails in Blue Mountain Reservation, a Westchester County park, but the trails described in this hike are wide woods roads, allowing ample room for bicyclists to pass hikers. Bicyclists frequent the trails on weekends, so hikers may wish to visit the park on a weekday. Many of the park's trails are rather poorly blazed, but the trails themselves are easily followed. Many intersections are marked by numbered signposts, shown on the park map and referred to in the description below. Since the trail system in the park is complex, hikers should obtain a copy of the free park map before beginning the hike.

The hike begins near the entrance to the parking area, where there are green, blue and yellow blazes on a wooden post. Follow a gravel road that heads south from the parking area and, almost immediately, bear left at a fork. Continue to follow the yellow blazes along a woods road. At one point, the trail approaches the paved park road (opposite the lodge), but it curves right and reenters the woods, soon beginning to parallel a stream to the left.

At the next junction (marked with the number "38" on a tree), turn left and cross the stream on a wooden bridge, then turn right and continue to parallel the stream, which is now on your right. At the following junction, turn right and recross the stream on another bridge. The trail you are following is now marked with red blazes. At a Y-junction (marked with the number "34" on a rock), bear left and follow an eroded woods road uphill. On the way, you'll pass several "single-track" trails that leave to the right and left.

After passing a huge rock outcrop to the right, the woods road turns sharply right. Just beyond, follow a red-blazed woods road that goes off to the left (this is marked as the location of signpost #33 on the park map, but as of this writing, the signpost at this junction is missing). Continue to climb on this winding woods road, which eventually levels off and descends slightly.

The red blazes end at a T-intersection marked by signpost #31. Here, you should turn right onto a blue-blazed woods road. Follow this road for a short distance to the next junction, marked by signpost #30, then bear left and continue uphill on a white-blazed trail. At a sharp right turn on this trail, you'll notice a yellow arrow pointing ahead. Leave the white-blazed trail and continue ahead to a rock outcrop, just below the summit of Blue Mountain. From here, there is a panoramic view over the Hudson River, with Dunderberg and Bear Mountains visible on the west side of the river. This is a good place to take a break. (There is no view from the actual summit of Blue Mountain.)

When you're ready to continue, return to the white trail and retrace your steps (downhill) to signpost #30. Turn left here and continue along the blue-blazed woods road. After passing signpost #27, you'll briefly follow the route of a gas pipeline. Almost immediately, turn left, cross unpaved Montrose Station Road, and reenter the woods, now following a woods road that is intermittently blazed both blue and green.

At the next junction, marked by signpost #21, turn left and begin to follow green and red blazes along another woods road. After about ten minutes, you'll reach a junction where a stone-lined woods road angles off to the right. (Just north of this junction, a metal "No Horseback Riders" sign has been enveloped by a tree!) Follow this road a short distance uphill, passing an abandoned stone cabin, to another viewpoint from a rock outcrop at the summit of Mount Spitzenberg. The view from here is over Haverstraw Bay, with Hook Mountain beyond.

After taking in the view, retrace your steps to the junction with the main woods road, then turn left and follow the road back to signpost #21. Now bear left and then, at the following junction (marked by signpost #20) bear right, continuing to follow the blue blazes. You'll once again cross Montrose Station Road and soon come to an attractive pond. Bear left and continue around the pond in a clockwise direction. After bearing right at signpost #13, you'll pass an interesting cracked rock on the right. Just beyond, a short side trail leads right to a rock outcrop overlooking the pond.

Follow the woods road ahead to the next junction (marked with number "5" on a tree). Here, you should bear left and continue heading downhill. Bear right at a junction where an orange-blazed trail leaves to the left, and you'll soon arrive back at the parking area where the hike began.