The Best Day Hike You Can Take With Your Dog In New York

Gertrude’s Nose Loop
Minnewaska State Park Preserve • Kerhonkson

If your dog could talk you would hear about this hike for a looooong time. The state park on the dramatic Shawangunk Mountain ridge is where feuding brothers Alfred and Albert Smiley opened competing vacation houses in the 1800s. When they made nice again the Smileys built a network of carriage roads between the hotels. These wide, carefully graded roadbeds are where you will be doing most of your hiking with Seaman.

The early steps lead to a swimming beach at cliff-fringed Lake Minnewaska. If this was as far as your dog went it would probably be a four-star hike. The Millbrook Mountain Carriage Road then moves through mixed forests onto the open cliffs and Patterson’s Pellet, a glacial erratic perched improbably on the edge of a cliff.

The carriage road joins Gertrude’s Nose Trail, a narrow footpath that will eventually spend much of its 2.7 miles poking along flat, open clifftops. There are so many mind-blowing views around Gertrude’s Nose they actually become ho-hum after awhile.

Take heed of the red blazes - when they lead inland they are taking Seaman away from potentially dangerous crevices in the Shawangunk conglomerate. An occasional rock scramble adds interest to your dog’s hiking day, regardless. Pine trees in all shapes and size decorate the clifftops.

Multiple options close the 7.5-mile loop; Seaman will vote for the one that leads back to Lake Minnewaska for awell-earned doggie dip.

HIKING TIME: 4-5 hours

(from the book 300 Day Hikes To Take With Your Dog Before He Tires You Out: Trails where you won’t be able to wipe the wag off your dog’s tail)

Hiking With Your Dog in New York