Rockland County,
New York
Hiking Trails:
Old Mill Trail: Blue blaze
Kakiat Trail: White blaze
Total Time: 0:30 hour
Estimated Distance: 1.3 miles
Level of Difficulty: Very easy
Points Of Interest: Beautiful walk alongside river
Pros: Tranquil, quick, and easy
Cons: Trails are too wide
Google Map of Parking:
View 2013 Hiking Locations in a larger map
This hike was during a snowstorm - likely the last one of the season. The forecasters had predicted only a few inches, but in the morning we all woke up to about 5 inches and it kept on snowing. The National Weather Service promptly issued a Winter Storm Warning. I drove during the storm to Kakiat Park. The roads were not so good but were still drivable, especially for a 4 wheel drive. Being that it was actively snowing and was a weekday, I didn't have the time to climb the mountain, so just hiked around the foot. This hike was incredible because of the type of snow - a heavy wet snow that had clinged to everything. The trees were absolutely beautiful, fully covered on all branches.
I crossed the bridge over the Mahwah River, took the Old Mill Trail alongside the river, and then at the end continued on the parallel Kakiat Trail. I then veered off to one of the small unmarked trails (Kakiat is full of these wide unmarked trail crisscrossing the foot of the mountain), to a big open meadow, and then along back a loop on some other trails back to the bridge and back to my car.
(Please excuse the minerals.net watermarks - I forgot to turn them off for a different project I was working on for minerals.net and did not want to have to go through the hassle of redoing all the pictures.)
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| Map of the Route |
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| Snow covered trail kiosk at the beginning of the hike |
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| Slush-covered swamp at the beginning of the hike |
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| Heading into the park about to cross the bridge |
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| Mahwah River. Looking south from the bridge. |
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| Mahwah River. Looking north from the bridge into the marshy area. |
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| Snow-covered bridge over the Mahwah River |
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| Hiking along the Old Mill Trail |
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| Snow-covered evergreens near the end of the hike |
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