Minnewaska State Park

The long summer days provide a great time to explore and run/hike trails that require a bit of travel to get to them. Even with a couple of hours of driving, there is still more than enough daylight hours to get a nice adventure in.  Minnewaska State Park is one such destination I like to frequent.  It’s a park in upstate NY on the Shawangunk mountain range that features three lakes, a plethora of cliffs and ledges with panoramic views, and several waterfalls.  Besides the great natural beauty of the park, it is also an amazing place to train as it features trails of diverse difficulty levels.  The park has an extensive network of carriage roads which are gravel covered manicured trails that are easy to run on, but also contains a variety of more technical trails if roots and rocks are more to your liking.  This park will continue to be a frequent destination for me as I continue to train this summer. 

The pic attached to this post is from the Upper Awosting trail which connects Lake Minnewaska to Lake Awosting.  Taking the Upper Awosting trail to the lake, circumnavigating the lake with the Lake Awosting trail, and taking the Castle Point trail back is a favorite route of mine.  Although, the Lake Awosting trail is currently closed for the 2025 season as they restore it.