With thousands of miles of hiking trails in New York state – from the famous Appalachian Trail to those crisscrossing the Adirondacks and Finger Lakes areas – you’ll have no trouble finding a great place for you and your children to put the boots to the dirt. Here are five great Empire State trails that you’ll want to day hike:
• Baxter Mountain summit trail – The summit trail to one of Adirondack State Park’s most famous mountains runs 2 miles round trip through a forest of pines and boulders left by glaciers during the last Ice Age.
• High Falls Gorge – Crossing a bridge over the Ausable River, the trail passes an anorthosite boulder to where the waterway falls over ancient granite cliffs.
• Mashomack Preserve’s Green Trail – Hikers can follow the 6-mile round trip Green Trail to white sand beaches on the Atlantic Ocean’s Smith Cove.
• Phoenicia Trail – This 2.75-mile trail in the Catskills takes you to a lookout tower atop Mount Tremper with Esopus Creek flowing below.
• Morton National Wildlife Refuge beach trail – More than 300 birds, including the threatened Piping Plover, make their home along or near the 3.5-mile beach trail.
Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.
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