Hiking Breakneck Ridge: A Day Trip from NYC

Hi friends, welcome back! Ever since we got back from Scotland, Jon and I have been determined to go hiking. We got some hiking boots and broke them in, but we hadn’t been on a real hike until this past weekend. I researched some cool hikes, but the only accessible hike from the city I found was Breakneck Ridge. Jon researched the hike and was a little worried because it was rated 10/10 for difficulty and involved a lot of rock climbing. I underestimated the reviews but we survived 🙂

Transportation:

Jon and I took the 4/5 subway to Grand Central, and then we took the Metro North to Cold Spring. We left our apartment at 8:50am so that we could board the 9:45 train to Cold Spring. The train was PACKED! A lot of people were either going hiking or apple picking. There were hardly any open seats, so Jon had to stand the entire way there. The train arrived about 25 minutes later than we expected. We got off at the Cold Spring station and walked about ten minutes to the trail head.

The walk over was gorgeous! I was excited to see all of the fall foliage and this hike didn’t disappoint. I also loved how fresh the air smelled and escaping the city to be in the wilderness. Sometimes I forget that New York is a beautiful state because the city is just so dirty.

We started our hike on Bull Hill which leads into the trail head to Breakneck Ridge. Bull Hill is an easier hike but it’s very pretty and was a great little warm up.

We stumbled upon this abandoned mansion that was destroyed by a fire.

We kept on hiking and then we had to walk along the road to get to the Breakneck Ridge trail head.

The ranger warned us that there would be a lot of rock climbing and he wasn’t joking! The first mile of the trail is purely rock climbing. There were only a few spots I really had to rely on my strength and my shoes not slipping, but the rest was pretty manageable.

This was the view from the first lookout point, it was the most popular place for people to hang and also had the best view.

We kept climbing higher and got to another lookout point. After the second lookout point, the climbing luckily got easier but was still pretty challenging.

A quick yoga pose 🙂

The trek down was challenging, but in a completely different way. There were a lot of leaves, so it was slippery, and you really had to focus on keeping your balance.

We followed to signs back to the city of Coldspring and were pretty famished when we got back. The town is so cute with lots of antique stores, Halloween decorations, and restaurants. We had to catch the train back or we would’ve explored more. We stopped at Moo Moo’s Creamery for ice cream. It’s no wonder the line was so long, look at these massive scoops!

The train ride back was even more packed, but this time it didn’t make as many stops. We then had to wait for the 4/5 train to come. We were exhausted and just wanted to collapse on the couch! I checked my fitness tracker and we had walked over 10 miles!

We had the best day hiking Breakneck Ridge! I would not recommend this hike for everyone, it’s extremely difficult and not for beginners. I would definitely not attempt this hike if you don’t have any hiking boots because I had to rely on the grip pretty frequently. Don’t underestimate the reviews, but if you’re able, definitely try this hike out! You’ll be rewarded with some gorgeous views!