A new trail opened this season at Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve in the Hudson Valley that improves hiker safety on Breakneck Ridge, one of the most physically demanding hikes in the region.
The new half-mile Ninham Trail, named for the last chief (also called a sachem) of the Wappinger native people of the area, provides for safer hiker and staff access to the narrow and steep Breakneck Ridge Trail.
This is the first construction project managed by the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail, a new non-profit working with State Parks and the 19 other project partners to advance the 7.5-mile Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail linear park along the Hudson River’s eastern shore between Beacon and Cold Spring.
Trail building company Tahawus Trails, with assistance from the volunteer Jolly Rovers Trail Crew of Poughkeepsie, constructed the new Ninham Trail with more than 500 hand-cut stone stairs harvested from the slopes of Breakneck Ridge. With this new trail, foot traffic on the lower Breakneck Ridge ascent is now one-way ascending only.
More information can be found online.
Photo of Ninham Trail courtesy State Parks.
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