While of course the entire trail is near the river’s edge, it’s the Shoreline Trail (part of the Main 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.
While the Hudson Highlands as a geological feature extend beyond the project area, in the Fjord Trail’s lexicon, Highlands refers to the rocky area including a kids’ boulder scramble in the Breakneck area, as well as the new Breakneck trailhead, overlooks, and connector trail.
The HHFT is all about where the river and mountains meet—and yes, a lush, deciduous forest can be part of that topography. 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 in the magical Forest Nets.
Glimpses of the Hudson River and stream crossings will connect users with the river system while losing themselves — we hope not literally! — in the shady embrace of chestnut oaks and hickory trees.
The tributary marshlands of the Fishkill Creek near Beacon and Dennings Point will include boardwalk-style elevated paths allowing visitors to immerse themselves in marsh ecology.
Hang out with waterfowl and frogs and revel in the quintessential, like-no-other landscape of a marshland: a combination of motion and quiet, where still water reflects grasses blowing in the wind. This is the stuff Impressionist painters dream about.
