Fjord Trail Cold Spring → Beacon, NY

Closed Breakneck Ridge station is closed

What to do instead Get off at Cold Spring for the southern trail, Beacon for the northern.

What to do instead Full notice

No trains stop here. Closed April 2025, being rebuilt as part of the Fjord Trail.

active From Mon, Apr 21, 12:00 AM, until further notice Source: Metro-North

Explore

Meanders and connectors

The fourteen Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve trails that cross the corridor — blaze, grade and the miles inside it. They are New York State's, not ours.

Three kinds of path meet in this corridor. The Fjord Trail itself, along the shore. The meanders — short walking loops off the main line. And the state-park trails that climb the ridge above both.

Only the first two are ours.

They belong to New York State

Information

Conditions, closures and rescues are NYS Parks'

Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve is New York State parkland, managed by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Closures, rules and rescue response on those trails are theirs. Check parks.ny.gov before you climb.

How steep they actually are

Elevation along each line was sampled from USGS 3DEP and the share of each trail at or below a 5% running slope computed. Terrain, not tread: none of these trails has been assessed against an accessibility standard, and none is step-free.

Breakneck Ridge is a rock scramble with a significant rescue history. Its published length inside the corridor says nothing about how hard it is.

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Existing park trails, Connectors, Meanders, Main Trail. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Hudson River Cold Spring Beacon
Indicative alignment — not survey data. Traced from the published FGEIS figures (January 2026) to about ±15–25 m. The trail is not built and the alignment is not final. Open the interactive map with Existing park trails, Connectors, Meanders, Main Trail switched on · Read the same features as a list

The trails

14 trails · 41.7 mi inside the corridor

Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve — the portion inside the study corridor
Trail Blaze Grade Miles
Wilkinson Memorial Trail Yellow strenuous 7.8
Highlands Trail Teal varies 7.1
Breakneck Ridge Trail White very strenuous 4.8
Fishkill Ridge Trail White strenuous 4.5
Undercliff Trail Yellow moderate 3.7
Washburn Trail White strenuous 3.6
Cornish Trail Blue moderate 2.5
Notch Trail Blue moderate 2.1
Nelsonville Trail Green moderate 2.0
Casino Trail Red moderate 2.0
Brook Trail Red moderate 0.6
Red Trail (Little Stony Point) Red easy 0.6
Undercliff Bypass Trail Green moderate 0.3
Cornish Connector Trail Red/Blue easy 0.1

Blaze and grade are our own summaries · not an official rating

Geometry © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Blaze colours and difficulty ratings are editorial summaries from our own research, not sourced from NYS Parks or the NY–NJ Trail Conference. Lengths are the portion inside the study corridor, not the full trail. Breakneck Ridge is a strenuous rock scramble with a significant rescue history.

Steep · unpaved · not step-free · a different kind of walking from the trail below

The trails, drawn

14 maps

Trail geometry © OpenStreetMap contributors · the Fjord Trail alignment on these frames is indicative, traced from the FGEIS figures to ±15–25 m, and is not built

Wilkinson Memorial Trail

Blaze: Yellow · strenuous · 7.8 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Proposed Maintenance Facility Breakneck Dennings Avenue Connector Madam Brett Park The Notch
Open on the interactive map

Highlands Trail

Blaze: Teal · varies · 7.1 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Breakneck Ridge Trail

Blaze: White · very strenuous · 4.8 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Breakneck The Notch Dutchess Manor
Open on the interactive map

Fishkill Ridge Trail

Blaze: White · strenuous · 4.5 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Undercliff Trail

Blaze: Yellow · moderate · 3.7 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Little Stony Point
Open on the interactive map

Washburn Trail

Blaze: White · strenuous · 3.6 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Little Stony Point
Open on the interactive map

Cornish Trail

Blaze: Blue · moderate · 2.5 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Breakneck Little Stony Point
Open on the interactive map

Notch Trail

Blaze: Blue · moderate · 2.1 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. The Notch
Open on the interactive map

Nelsonville Trail

Blaze: Green · moderate · 2.0 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Casino Trail

Blaze: Red · moderate · 2.0 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Brook Trail

Blaze: Red · moderate · 0.6 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Red Trail (Little Stony Point)

Blaze: Red · easy · 0.6 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text. Little Stony Point
Open on the interactive map

Undercliff Bypass Trail

Blaze: Green · moderate · 0.3 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Cornish Connector Trail

Blaze: Red/Blue · easy · 0.1 mi in corridor

The Fjord Trail corridor, Cold Spring to Beacon A schematic map of the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail corridor between Cold Spring and Beacon, showing Main Trail, Connectors, Meanders, Existing park trails, Trailheads. 7.8 miles end to end. The trail list at /map/ carries the same features as text.
Open on the interactive map

Last reviewed