Mohonk Mountain House Hike: Amazing Fall Splendor from NYC

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Mail
• Link

When I first moved to New York from Colombia, I had to come to the Register’s Office at my school at NYU Tandon. It was one of the first snow storms of that winter, and I had to adventure for the first time into Brooklyn. I will never forget that one of the secretaries, an American white lady probably in her fifties, told me that she loved New York City because she can get to experience all of the four seasons without having to travel anywhere. That resonated in me, and I everytime it starts to get cold in New York, and we enter Fall in the big city, I always remember that. Having seasons, and different weathers and temperatures every day make me love New York City even more. I guess I don’t like having the same situation happening every day. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I work in Construction Projects. They evolve, they change, and when they’re done you go to the next one that is completely different.

Now, when October of 2022 started and temperatures dropped a bit, I felt the need to go for hikes, like I always do ever since I moved to NYC. I had already gone to the Bear Mountain by the Hudson River, and I wanted to do another one that captivated me a couple of years ago. There is no doubt that during the high of the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 the thing I did the most during the lockdown was to watch new series and movies. I adventured to watch things I never thought I would like, and others that were just recommended by friends. At that time, a good friend from Pittsburgh recommended me Upload from Amazon Prime TV. The series had a mistery and kept me watching it and binging it, but one of the things that I liked the most was the locations. The main one is a hotel where basically all dead people are uploaded and can have a “retirement” in the Beyond. The hotel is majestic and had great outdoors as well. So I googled the location and voilà, it was the Mohonk Mountain House in no other than upstate NY, but literally just a couple of hours from NYC. I knew I needed to go. The problem? Well, a night could cost around $700!!! I couldn’t get myself to pay for that, but still kept the idea to go on the back of my mind for years, until…

In summer 2022 I decided to use my own Jump Traveling method to go, even if it was only a Day Trip:

First, I googled the location again. I also opened their website and checked the directions on how to get there. It was an almost 2 hours drive. I could also take the Metro North train to Poughkeepsie and then take an Uber, or take a bus to New Paltz and then an Uber. I would have to go back to this point later on, since it includes a few options.

Second, I needed to decide the day of the visit. After checking the website again I noticed they had a Hiking Day Pass, but they also had a Dining Reservation Pass. I was sure I was not going to stay the night, and I mostly wanted to see the hotel from afar, with the lake on the view. I added a task in my Calendar, like “Mohonk Trip: Call for Dining Reservation” with a temptative date of October 22, 2022 for the visit, the first weekend after my return from a 20 days Round the World Trip.

Third, I made my research of how the hikes and dining and the hotel in general is. After absorbing their website, I added some related YouTube videos to watch later and get a better view of what I was going to expect.

The trip came to an end, and on my return to New York City I took the first weekend just to do chores and relax. The second weekend (October 29, 2022) was won by a Cruise on the Hudson River to Bear Mountain, and it was only because it was one of the last ones, if not the last one, for Oktoberfest. Now I had chosen a date for the Mohonk Mountain Day Trip: November 05, 2022.

2 days before the day trip, I called the hotel. To my surprise, the Brunch reservation per person was extremely expensive, like more than $150. So, I decided to just buy the Hiking Day Pass, for $35. I made my reservation and now I needed to get back to how to get there.

I do not own a car, like the majority of New Yorkers, and renting one was off the table. I decided to use the bus + Uber option that I mentioned earlier, and I got a ticket from Trailways that would take me in less than 2 hours from Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan to New Paltz. The cost of the ticket was $50 with taxes and fees and would depart on November 05, 2022 at 9:15 am.

The actual visit to Monhonk Mountain House

On the day trip morning I went early to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I kind of hate this terminal because it has terrible signing, so you could get lost very easy. I found a Starbucks, got coffee and bought some food for the day trip. I managed to find the Trailways gates, and the one that was going there. I feel like I was the last one on that bus, because it departed a couple of minutes after I got in.

After passing through the Lincoln Tunnel and part of New Jersey, we were back in NY state and arrived to New Paltz in no time.

The terminal was a bit old but we called an Uber immediately, to our surprise that THERE WERE NO UBERS. After searching for like 10 min, we decided to just grab a cab. Price was $20 one way. We were dropped at the hikers parking space, after passing by the main gate.

The Fall was already very underway and the leaves were very brownish, but the weather was perfect, not too cold, not too warm. The hike is very easy, since even though there are a lot of trails here, they are very well signalized and we decided to go straight to the hotel.

Finally, after 30 min of walk, we saw the hotel in the distance. The views were mesmerizing.

I would consider this hike very moderate, not many obstacles or difficulty at all. It goes up for a long time then down when approaching the house. There were a ot of bikes that kind of made me unconfortable, but we found out it was for a competetition. But they would literally go really fast next to you.

We got to the hotel and it still had the Halloween / Fall decorations. Hikers are not supposed to pass this point.

The quarry really makes this a beautiful spectacle.

After hanging out in this area, we continued the hike towards the tower in the hill, from where we could see the famous view of the complex. I would recommend to bring a lot of water and snacks, since the vending machines on the parking lot did not work, and we struggled with the water we brought.

For a Saturday in November, there were more hikers than I expected. Now for the last part we needed to conquer the tower and go up all the steps inside.

From up there you could see the Adirondack Mountains in all their splendor

The view was captivating. It was worth coming here.

And let’s not forget the queen of the day, Mohonk Mountain House. I only wished I would have come one week before so the fall colors would be even more fallish.

Time to return back to the town. We had a bus to take back to New York, not only after taking a different section of the hiking trail and passing by scenic places.

Once we got to the parking lot, returning was. not. easy. We tried to call an Uber again, but there were no Ubers or Lyfts in the area. We had saved the phone number of the Taxi Company in New Paltz, so we called a cab and they picked up us around 15 min later. We went down to New Paltz and after grabbing a Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, we went to eat something. We were staving, not only because of the hike and the time (it was already past 2:00 pm) but also because of the lack of snacks for sale on the entire Mohonk Mountain House (or at least for the day hikers). The main street in New Paltz was cute and full of restaurants. Everyone was out and about surprisingly and all the restaurants were full. We finally went to Pho Tibet, and tried the Pho (duh) and the dumplings. IT WAS SO GOOD! Recommended to whoever ends up in New Paltz somehow. The bill was also not so bad at $24 per person.

We walked around the time one last time and saw all the people removing their Halloween decorations from the front yards, and enjoying a kind of warm Fall November day. We went to the bus terminal and after the bus arrived we finally made it to New York City.

Remarks:

Let me make them in the typical Ws and Hs questions:

For Who: This hike/day trip is for anyone that can do and like hikes, anyone in the New York area, and anyone that like Fall views. (Also fans of Upload?)

What: This is a Hike / Day Trip from New York City, around Mohonk Mountain House, a very fancy mountain resort in New Paltz, NY.

When: We picked Fall because the views are just impressive. Last week of October and First Week of November would make the best time to do this hike, just in the peak of fall.

Where: Mohonk Mountain House is located in New Paltz, NY. You can drive there, take a cab or Uber from New Paltz, and arrive from New York City using a bus service or the Metro North.

Why: Because hiking is healthy and nothing is better than get rewarded by an great view at the end of a hike.

How much: This is what we spent per person, but maybe prices would be different for you:

• Bus roundtrip New York City – New Paltz: $50 per person.
• Taxi Round Trip New Paltz – Mohonk Mountain House: $40.
• Hiking Pass: $35 per person + taxes.

Total only to hike would be around $125 per person. Now, the price would be cheaper if the taxi were shared.

Let me know if you have any questions below.