Storm King and Black Rock Forest Region

State: 
NY
Overview: 
Storm King looms above the Hudson River on the west. Just behind it, to the southwest, lies Black Rock Forest, the largest sustained area over 1,200 feet in the Highlands.
Facts: 

36 miles of trails are maintained by 29 Trail Conference volunteers and member groups.

Find descriptions of great hikes in this region: click here.

Staff Regional Representative: 
Larry Wheelock
Trail Conference News: Stillman Trail rebuilt in two locations and a bridge replaced on Storm King Mountain. 

Much of the terrain in the northern Highlands was preserved for hikers by Dr. Ernest Stillman, a New York physician. In 1922, Stillman gave about 800 acres in Storm King Clove to the Palisades Interstate Park to ensure the preservation of the scenic surroundings of the old Storm King Highway. Subsequent purchases and gifts have added an additional 1,000 acres to the park. This tract forms the foreground for the eastward view from US 9 before it turns west for its descent to Cornwall. Trails in Storm King State Park offer spectacular views over the Hudson River and the Hudson Highlands.

Scenic Hudson, a crusader for the valley since 1963 lead the historic fight to save Storm King Mountain from a proposal by Consolidated Edison to build a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant.

Located in Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson, the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum is a center for nature with a focus on environmental education and a mission to develop responsible caretakers of the natural world.

Black Rock forest was originally set aside in 1918 by Dr. Stillman for experimentation in forest management and for demonstration of forestry methods. These efforts continued after the forest was donated to Harvard University in 1949, but the focus shifted when it was acquired in 1989 by the not-for-profit Black Rock Forest Preserve. The forest is now administered by the Black Rock Forest Consortium, a group of public and private educational and research institutions ranging from the neighboring Storm King School to New York City institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference is a member of the Consortium and maintains all the trails in the forest.

 

Storm King Mountain view. Photo by Georgette Weir.