minnewaska state park preserve

What a beautiful place to wander and get lost in beauty. There are several waterfalls and swimming holes. Also, when it's the right time of year you can eat wild berries!

Groomed carriage roads for skiing along scenic vistas that match some of the best within 100 miles. For $10 you get all you can eat for trails whether your pleasure be skate skiing or classic. There's rarely a crowd. There's no ski rentals here and no food or water. You need to be self-sufficient. Rent equipment at Rock and Snow in New Paltz if you need it. This is my go-to ski location after the Mohonk Preserve and hotel property.

I went up to Lake Minnewaska in early April 2014. There was still a lot of ice on the paths down to the waterfall but as long as you had on good hiking shoes it was fine. The waterfall was beautiful. After the waterfall I did drive up to the top by the lake. Beautiful paths along the lake to walk and hike. The views are amazing. Bring water and food if you want to make a day of it. Picnic on the grounds. Will hopefully get back up there when there's no ice.

Minnewaska has several cross country ski trails (groomed and ungroomed) of varying difficulty levels. The groomed trails can be accessed from the upper parking lot, ungroomed from the bottom lot. Scenic vistas are located along the trail. View the huge icicle formations on the rocks and the frozen lake. It costs $10 per person to ski. There are no ski rentals on site.

If you like getting outdoors this is a wonderful place to go. It's family oriented with many things to see and nice trails to hike.

Some friends and I love taking a zip car upstate to go hiking in the forest. The trails are so breathtaking, literally and physically. My favorite spot is where the massive waterfall is perfect spot for picnic too.

This place is lovely in every season. Great walking in the summer, and cross-country skiing in the winter. The woods are gorgeous in the spring when the wild azalea and rhododendron are in bloom, there are wild blueberries in the summer and the autumn leaves are lovely. Try to avoid weekends in the autumn because there are bus-loads of leaf-peepers who just stand around in crowds to admire the colours. If you are energetic the day hike to Lake Awosting is wonderful. The Awosting trail takes you to a crystal clear "sky" lake, fed by rainwater only, nestled in the rocks with a breathtaking view of the Catskills in the distance.

Stunning vistas, and beautiful winding trails through the woods make this park a pleasure to visit. We visited right after a big Thanksgiving snow storm so we got the full effect of the 'winter wonderland' experience walking through the woods but I can imagine how beautiful it must be in mid to late autumn when the leaves are at their peak. The only problem we encountered with the park was that their signage was just awful, trails were well flagged but there was very little indication what trail was what which we found very frustrating, especially as they abbreviate all the trail names (i.e. MC, MR, SS, etc), I think if they simply used these abbreviations on the trees periodically you'd have a much better idea where you were, especially as many trails cross each other. It might be easier to navigate the rest of the year but with a foot of snow on the ground it was poorly organized. Aside from that though, it was a beautiful hike, good for x-country skiing too.

If you are a hiking, cyclist or trail running enthusiast, I definitely recommend the trail runs here. Extremely picturesque, quiet, and lots of branches and rocks to jump over if you're excited about nature like I am :). I just participated in their annual "After the leaves fall" half marathon trail run, and it was definitely worth the drive up from NYC and absolutely beautiful with the fall foliage. Only downfall is that there are very limited good hotels in the area, most of them are overpriced and disgusting, so enjoy the trails!! :)

Great park to hike and experience beautiful nature during any season. Highly recommended.... would love to come back

Take the time to find and enjoy the waterfalls and the cool rocks along the running water. Hikes range from easy to more strenuous so definitely something for everyone.

Gorgeous, easy nature hike to beautiful waterfall. Lovely in the the fall, with all of the leaves turning but would be incredible to swim there in the summer

The only bad thing that I can say about hiking at Minnewaska State Park is that it has set the bar so high that I have yet to hike anywhere comparable. For the beginner, the carriage roads offer great scenery, friendly hikers and bikers, and a beautiful, cliff-lined lake. The autumn hiking is especially spectacular.For a more challenging hike, the lesser-used foot paths take you through woods, fields of berries, to small little rock scrambles, and to tops of ridges from where you can see for miles. Gertrude's Nose is a favorite hike of ours. You can experience it all .... wooded areas, streams, exposed ridges, and what we have come to call the "ice cave", a cave opening that spills cool air out from the ground. It's a welcome respite when hiking on a 90 degree day.Honestly, the experience of hiking at Minnewaska State Park is one that everyone should be so lucky as to experience. As it's a State Park, there is no admission fee. The only fee is for parking. Peter's Kill (a separate area of the park) is popular with those climbing on top rope. Although it also has some beautiful hiking, you don't get the views like you get at the main park.

I've hiked here for over 30 years. Minnewaska is lovely,with beautiful rock formations,woods,trails and large lake. Privately owned,it became a state park decades ago. An $8 access fee is levied per vehicle.We much prefer to take a cross road near the admission kiosk to an ajoining parking lot and do our hiking at Awosting. A hike(rather uphill) brings you to a beautiful lake within 3 miles.Continue on and you are rewarded with a view above the lake and of the Catskill mountains in the distance. A further trek will expose you to a panorama of valley all the way to the Berkshires (at Castle Point).We covered this circuit yesterday in a 9 mile round trip. Any segment of it is rewarding.I recuperated from heart surgery here 30 years ago and I assure you it is physically and spiritually renewing each visit. Get out and do it.

We love Minnewaska. We go several times a year, in every season. There is a beautiful lake, and great trails.