Hike Reviews

November 23, 2015
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Ahhh, thanks for the
ricky
<p>Ahhh, thanks for the clarification there! I guess a bunch of us got lucky with the trains that day.&nbsp;</p>
November 07, 2015
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Trains at Manitou
Daniel Chazin
<p>I do not believe that the information you provided about the trains stopping at Manitou is correct. &nbsp;You are correct that, heading southbound, back to New York City, only the three trains you mention are scheduled to stop at Manitou (the precise times they are scheduled to stop are 1:22 p.m., 4:22 p.m. and 7:22 p.m.). &nbsp;These trains are supposed to stop at the Manitou station regardless of whether you "wave them down." &nbsp;But the other trains will not stop there, even if you try to "wave them down." &nbsp;This goes for both northbound and southbound trains. &nbsp;One cannot just "wave down" any northbound train, take it one stop to Garrison, and then change for a southbound train. &nbsp;There is, however, a norhtbound train scheduled to stop at Manitou at 2:02 p.m., so if you miss the southbound 1:22 p.m. train, you could take the 2:02 p.m. norhtbound train one stop to Garrison and change there for a southbound train. &nbsp;Moreover, the train change at Croton-Harmon is a temporary one, due to construction, which will end next weekend. &nbsp;After that, trains from Manitou will run directly, without change, all the way to Grand Central Terminal.</p>
November 07, 2015
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First Timer Hiker
ricky
<p>As a first time hiker, I found this to be really enjoyable. The directions were on point so I didn't get lost any part of the way. I mainly wanted to provide a trail map and explain a bit about the journey back to NYC via Metro North.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I started logging the trails a bit late so it's a little under 5 miles. http://cl.ly/image/2s2d2v1Y3o0j</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Metro North - Currently the only trains stopping at Manitou NYC bound on weekends arrive at 1:22pm, 4:26pm, 7:30pm. You have to wave them down at the little shack with the seats. Having not realized this, we missed a few trains. What you can do however is wave down any train heading towards&nbsp;Poughkeepsie and hop on it for one stop (Garrison). These trains arrive every hour. When you get off at Garrison, wait for the train that is going towards&nbsp;Croton–Harmon. Hop on that train and once you reach Croton-Harmon, you will need to wait for an express train back to Grand Central Terminal. This seems to be a bit of information that's missing. We found several other stranded hikers trying to get back to NYC. Hopefully this helps others and others leave this information on other trails they take. Happy Hiking!<span style="font-size: 12.16px;">&nbsp;</span></p>
July 27, 2013
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Getting Lost.
<p>Getting Lost is only a state of mind.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you where able to post your last message;&nbsp; you found your self. and walked out.</p>
July 25, 2013
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Getting Lost
geofconnor
<p>Regarding the previous message, I checked the trail yesterday and:</p> <p>1. The blue Riverside Trail. The section of trail close to the railroad has become overgrown in the last month or so. It has now been partially cleared. There are 4 blowdowns across the trail but they can be navigated by going over/under or around. These will be cleared soon. The trail is clearly blazed.</p> <p>2. Yellow (Ice House) Trail. After climbing the rocky section from the dirt road, the trail is clearly blazed with paint blazes and cairns, however a few extra plastic trail markers have now been added. The 'evergreen grove' was unfortunately nearly all demolished by Sandy.</p> <p>Note that the 'mansion' has been sold to private interests (luckily to a conservationist) and all trails within the mansion property boundary are now closed. The blue Riverside Trail now starts immediately over the rail bridge, just before a 'private property' sign, and follows a new route outside the property line, crossing the woods road and climbing over the small ridge to descend to the riverside.</p> <p>The hike description will be amended to reflect the new line.</p>
July 22, 2013
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Great Hike
rew2010
<p>We tried this hike out yesterday, and we had a great time but had 2 hiccups:</p> <p>1. When the blue trail bears left away from the river, we had a really rough time finding our way through.&nbsp; As someone already posted, it was really blown over with lots of down trees and hard to find our way through.&nbsp; But I could tell that the trail just led us back to the mansion so we decided to turn back and proceed with the yellow trail from the road.</p> <p>2. We made it to the beginning of the yellow trail and headed uphill, but again soon lost our way once it leveled off and couldn't find the "evergreen grove" or the rest of the trail.</p> <p>So we headed back to the road and proceeded back to the parking lot.&nbsp; Not a completely lost day and we still enjoyed it, but thought I would add where we were getting lost!</p>
June 05, 2013
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Loved it
par.triv
<p>Did this hike last weekend and it was beautiful. I took the metro-north, the trail head is very close to the station. I hiked everything from this report, in addition to the whole yellow trail, and then I did the blue trail again because it was so beautiful. &nbsp;I was amazed that I was the only person in the whole preserve! Apparently nobody in all of NYC &nbsp;or its metropolitan area was interested in hiking manitou that day. The isolation and peacefulness of the preserve was serene and a wonderful escape from the city. &nbsp;The trail is fairly easy, and the blue trail, while narrow along the hudson, is very nice and relaxing, and I did not really find it to feel dangerous. Although you should always be careful when hiking along bluffs or ridges.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I will definitely be going back to manitou point preserve with friends and family to show them how close to home we have relaxing forests, streams and rivers.</p>
May 07, 2013
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Manitou Preserve
TrekkerHikes
<p>We enjoyed the views of the Hudson on this hike. The trail next to the Hudson is vey narrow, and might cause issues if you have vertigo, but an alternate route (red trail) can skip this part. We saw columbine on the trail and a huge patch of wisteria next to the mansion. The mansion looks empty.</p> <p><a href="http://agiletrekker.blogspot.com/2013/05/manitou-point-preserve-garrison-ny.html">http://agiletrekker.blogspot.com/2013/05/manitou-point-preserve-garrison-ny.html</a></p>
April 21, 2013
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Route Open, Several Down Trees, but it's all good!
Tuna Boat Bill
<p>My wife and I did almost all of this route today. &nbsp;The route has several downed trees from the past two hurricanes, I suppose, but all are easily negotiated. &nbsp;I think the deal to turn the mansion into the headquarters of Outward Bound fell through. &nbsp;Neither of us saw any Outward Bound sign off Route 9D, so just look for the sign that says Mystery Point Road, that's the place. &nbsp;The mansion is beautiful, but it looks very empty. &nbsp;I tried to research what is going on with it, but couldn't find anything. &nbsp;I'd like to put a bid in on it! &nbsp;:-)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>As for the route, after we crossed the first stream, we didn't see any white blazes for a bit, but trusted where the map said they would be and found them again as we climbed out of the ravine. &nbsp;The end of the white trail at the dirt road was a little fuzzy also. &nbsp;The blazes get you to within sight of the road, then you can just head down any number of ways. &nbsp;We never saw the white trailhead blazes at the dirt road. &nbsp;Everything is fine then to the mansion and onto the blue trail, which was now open (the last post here from 2011 said it was closed). &nbsp;It is narrow but safe enough. &nbsp;There was one down tree to be straddled over on the narrow part. &nbsp;Good times!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>When the blue trail bears left away from the river and connects with the red trail it can be a little confusing because the red trail isn't clearly marked and there is an unmarked footpath that follows the water to your right. &nbsp;Just keep following the blue blazes generally up and right at that point and you will be fine and on your way to the sothern-most point of the hike where the blue trail makes the sharp left heading north along the railroad tracks. &nbsp;This was the most blownover stretch. &nbsp;Lots of trees down in this backstretch by the tracks. &nbsp;All ends well here when you reach the red carriage road and head right on it back to the mansion.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>When we got back to the mansion, we stopped following the route described above and just waked straight up the road back to the parking lot. &nbsp;There is a nice little waterfall where the stream goes under the road. &nbsp;We measured our route to be 3.79 miles and just over two hours (we are pretty slow..). &nbsp;The route has more cairns than we have ever seen per mile, which was also helpful.</p>
July 16, 2011
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Change of Trail Route - maybe temporary?
cmvmph
<p>I hiked this on the 13th and I just wanted to mention that the part of the trail that hugs the river (the super narrow part right after you cross the lawn of the late 1800s mansion) has been diverted into a very steep quarter mile inland path for reasons that my boyfriend and I couldn't make out. But be prepared because if you're hiking by yourself, you should bring a walking stick or something for balance. Otherwise, it will be trecherous</p>