Hyde Park Trails

Hyde Park Trails

The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt along the Hyde Park Trail - Photo credit: Jeremy Apgar The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt along the Hyde Park Trail - Photo credit: Jeremy Apgar View from the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt - Hyde Park Trail - Photo credit: Jeremy Apgar View from the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt - Hyde Park Trail - Photo credit: Jeremy Apgar
41.777817, -73.943344

The Hyde Park Trails system links three National Historic Sites – notably FDR’s estate, Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Val-Kill” and Vanderbilt Mansion – together with trails in a cluster nearby parks under the banner of “Walkabout Trails.”

 

The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site contains his house, library, rose garden, grave and a small museum. Val-Kill is the former cottage of Eleanor Roosevelt and houses her effects and memorabilia. The...

Park Acreage:

Not available

Municipality:

Hyde Park

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Contact Information

Web Link:

Hyde Park Trail –Town of Hyde Park Recreation Department

Phone:

Not available

Fees:

Some times and places; check with park

Dogs in park:

Dogs on leash

Prepare For Your Destination

Let's Go

Trip Reports

rate experience
January 21, 2018
5
If you don't End-2-End once a year, you're not living.

The Hyde Park trail, is the underrated highlight of Hyde Park. It is not given half the love it deserves, and most people don't even know it exists.

The Hyde Park Trail is over 20 miles of trails connecting Top Cottage all the way to Vanderbilt. There is also a section that will connect Vanderbilt to Mills Mansion, but it has yet to open.

Each year the Hyde Park Trail hosts an End-2-End hike, which focuses on the main 9 mile trail running from Top Cottage to Vanderbilt. On the walk you go to Valkill (Home of Eleanor Roosevelt), the Farm Lane trail (FDR's former tree plantation), FDR's home, the historic Hyde Park train station, Bard Rock, and Vanderbilt.

While these places make up the main trail, three other parks (Hackett Hill, Pinewoods, and the Winnakee Preserve) make up the rest. Winnakee features a long trail through some very interesting woods in town, Pinewoods has a rock slide (Think playground equipment made of stone, not death on a mountain) waterfall (That was once part of an old mill!), and a skatepark. And Hackett Hill (My favorite) includes: a beautiful section of the Crum Elbow Creek, a rock shaped like a Gorilla (Not kidding) a walkway through a swamp, a disc golf course, the site of a former freed slave community, and the town swimming pool.

One of the coolest things is that Hyde Park still gives out trail patches each year to those who complete a number of trails. If you hike the End-2-End, you receive one on completion of the hike. You're probably thinking, Who cares? but I'll tell you right now, not a lot of people have a Hyde Park Trail patch with an Atlantic Sturgeon on it.

adventure_andrew
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