The Big Picture
The Fjord Trail is a future linear park in the Hudson Highlands, planned to span 7.5 walkable, bikeable miles between the Village of Cold Spring and the City of Beacon.
Tracing its way along the Hudson River Fjord, the trail will invite users to experience four distinct landscape types: River’s Edge, Highlands, Forest, and Marsh, each with their own unique ecology.
This project has been in the making for nearly 20 years, steered by a broad coalition of stakeholders and planned by renowned ecology-minded landscape architects and designers.
The Fjord Trail Draft Master Plan offers a solution for managing tourism to this stunning region and strives to make the beauty that surrounds us more accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
Read on to learn more about what the Draft Master Plan entails!
Project Goals
The goals of the project are as practical as they are visionary:
REUNITE WITH THE RIVER'S EDGE
For over one hundred years, access to the Hudson River shoreline has been largely cut off by the railroad tracks that run along it in this area.
With Metro-North Railroad as a key project partner, we're designing a trail that restores that connection and enables riverside experiences and those toes-in-the-water moments that have not been possible for a long time in much of this stretch of shoreline.
CHOREOGRAPH VISITATION AND STEWARDSHIP
A key driver of the Fjord Trail plan's creation was recognition by locals that, while the area is a huge draw for outdoor recreation, roads and other infrastructure were not designed to safely accommodate large numbers of visitors.
Since the 1990s, hiking at Breakneck Ridge has become increasingly popular, now drawing more than 200,000 hikers annually. Improving pedestrian and auto safety along State Route 9D and mitigating erosion and habitat infringement on Breakneck Ridge remain two central project goals.
The six access points across the trail's 7.5 miles will help disperse visitors, while amenities provided and managed by HHFT, such as bathrooms, wayfinding signage, garbage collection along the trail, and new parking areas, will help the local community better manage current and future visitation.
CHOREOGRAPH VISITATION AND STEWARDSHIP
A key driver of the Fjord Trail plan's creation was recognition by locals that, while the area is a huge draw for outdoor recreation, roads and other infrastructure were not designed to safely accommodate large numbers of visitors.
Since the 1990s, hiking at Breakneck Ridge has become increasingly popular, now drawing more than 200,000 hikers annually. Improving pedestrian and auto safety along State Route 9D and mitigating erosion and habitat infringement on Breakneck Ridge remain two central project goals.
The six access points across the trail's 7.5 miles will help disperse visitors, while amenities provided and managed by HHFT, such as bathrooms, wayfinding signage, garbage collection along the trail, and new parking areas, will help the local community better manage current and future visitation.
CREATE A TRAIL FOR ALL
We believe the outdoors in general, and the iconic Hudson Highlands and river, in particular, should be accessible to all. Our goal is to create greater access for all residents and visitors by making a trail that is accommodating to seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and more. It is being designed to be inclusive of as many people as possible, carefully following Accessibility Guidelines for Federal Outdoor Developed Areas (AGODA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
CREATE A TRAIL FOR ALL
We believe the outdoors in general, and the iconic Hudson Highlands and river, in particular, should be accessible to all. Our goal is to create greater access for all residents and visitors by making a trail that is accommodating to seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and more. It is being designed to be inclusive of as many people as possible, carefully following Accessibility Guidelines for Federal Outdoor Developed Areas (AGODA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
HONOR AND RESTORE NATIVE ECOLOGY
The Hudson River landscape has inspired art, poetry, literature, and now it’s inspiring the creation of a new park! In seeking to create a new way for people to connect with nature, a key goal of the project is to ensure that all design and architecture blend with and highlight the landscape, rather than compete with it.
In addition, the project aims to increase resilience in the landscape and protect our local ecology for the long-term by repairing erosion, managing invasive species and replacing them with native ones, and increasing shoreline resiliency to sea-level rise and flooding.
HONOR AND RESTORE NATIVE ECOLOGY
The Hudson River landscape has inspired art, poetry, literature, and now it’s inspiring the creation of a new park! In seeking to create a new way for people to connect with nature, a key goal of the project is to ensure that all design and architecture blend with and highlight the landscape, rather than compete with it.
In addition, the project aims to increase resilience in the landscape and protect our local ecology for the long-term by repairing erosion, managing invasive species and replacing them with native ones, and increasing shoreline resiliency to sea-level rise and flooding.
TELL THE STORY OF THE HIGHLANDS
Through interpretive elements and programming, the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail will explore the past, present, and future of the Highlands. The Lenape peoples' past and present relationship to the land, stories of the American Revolution, the railroad and industrial era, the Hudson River School, the birth of the modern environmental movement, present day efforts to preserve and protect the river, and so much more will be highlighted, so that the trail may serve as an educational resource that deepens our connection to our surroundings.
CONNECT WITH THE GREATER REGION
The Hudson Highlands is an iconic region with many destinations that are in harmony with the Fjord Trail’s priorities, representing the rich historic, artistic, natural, dining, and community resources of the area.
We seek to partner and connect with local groups and destinations in the Highlands to amplify regional voices. Opportunities abound for activities such as collaborations with local schools and community groups, cultural celebrations and ceremonies, writer and artist residencies, musical and recreational events, scientific research partnerships, corporate retreats, and so much more.
With three train stations in the project area, the draw to the region is more than local; visitors are from the New York City metro area and beyond. This creates endless opportunities to connect people with varied interests from near and far to learn about and experience the Hudson Highlands.
CONNECT WITH THE GREATER REGION
The Hudson Highlands is an iconic region with many destinations that are in harmony with the Fjord Trail’s priorities, representing the rich historic, artistic, natural, dining, and community resources of the area.
We seek to partner and connect with local groups and destinations in the Highlands to amplify regional voices. Opportunities abound for activities such as collaborations with local schools and community groups, cultural celebrations and ceremonies, writer and artist residencies, musical and recreational events, scientific research partnerships, corporate retreats, and so much more.
With three train stations in the project area, the draw to the region is more than local; visitors are from the New York City metro area and beyond. This creates endless opportunities to connect people with varied interests from near and far to learn about and experience the Hudson Highlands.
Ecological Zones
Choreographing visitation through ecological sensitivity, the Fjord Trail will connect two communities while weaving in and out of four distinct landscape zones. The trail's design and materials will shift to reflect and each zone:
RIVER'S EDGE
While of course the entire trail is near the river’s edge, it’s the Shoreline Trail that most vividly defines the project’s goal of reconnecting people to the Hudson River. Linking Cold Spring’s Dockside Park and Breakneck Ridge, this area of the park grants river access that has been cut off by the railroad tracks for over one hundred years.
HIGHLANDS
In the Fjord Trail’s lexicon, Highlands refers to the rocky Breakneck Ridge area, including the new Breakneck trailhead, overlooks, bridge, and connector. Learn more about the Breakneck Connector and Bridge→
FOREST
The forest region of the trail provides a more secluded, immersive feel, where users can take in the emerald understory and retreat beneath the tree canopy.
MARSH
The tributary marshlands of the Fishkill Creek near Beacon and Dennings Point will include elevated paths allowing visitors to immerse themselves in marsh ecology.
Dive into the Details
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Draft Master Plan is now available as a digital flipbook for easier viewing and navigation!
A note to readers:
On June 12th, 2023, Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail, Inc. (HHFT) announced that it is taking a trail-first approach to implementation and suspending development of any additional project elements at this time.
The enhancements mentioned in the cover memo of the Draft Master Plan—including a play area, swimming area, and an outdoor classroom at Little Stony Point—as well as other programmatic elements outlined in the plan, such as Forest Nets, are therefore not included in the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS).
Further enhancements will be considered only after construction of the main trail is complete and subsequent visitation trends and community needs can be analyzed. Any future enhancements will undergo their own specific environmental review process.
Please note: If you wish to download a PDF of the Draft Master Plan, you may do so by clicking here. This is a sizeable file (160+MB) and is not recommended for download on mobile devices.
The Notice of Completion of the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS) for the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail was published by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) on January 7, 2026 and OPRHP's SEQR Findings Statement—marking the completion of the SEQR process—was published on January 20, 2026.
Header Image Photography: Ty Cole
Base map: SCAPE Studio
Renderings: Darcstudio
Painting: John Douglas (1853–1910), View of the Hudson Highlands with Woman Painting, n.d.
Oil on canvas, 26 3/8 × 41 3/8 inches
Courtesy of Hudson River Museum, gift of Florence E. Kelley
'Greater Region' Photography: Meredith Heuer
