Rockland County, New York
Hiking Trails:
Mountain Trail: Orange blaze
Total Time: 0:45 hour
Estimated Distance: 1.4 miles
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Points Of Interest: Short hike to nice view
Google Map of Parking:
View 2012 Hiking in a larger map
A week after Hurricane Sandy, we had a early season Nor'Easter snowstorm. It is extremely unusual to get snow in early November, and some of the late foliage trees still had some leaves on them. It only snowed about 4 inches of wet, fluffy snow, and by the end of the day it was all gone. I figured I had to take advantage of the rare snowstorm and take a short hike in the snow before it was all melted away. It was very odd to see snow with some trees that had leaves on them, and if it weren't for the rare October snowstorm last year, I would have said this is a one-in-a-lifetime experience. Well, I had this once-in-a-lifetime experience two years in a row.
I started at the Kakiat trailhead off Route 202, and took the Mountain Trail up to the lower viewpoint. I was amazed at the amount of downed trees throughout the hike, especially closer to the beginning. The cutting crews had been very busy clearing the trail due to the massive trail damage throughout the park. After the lower viewpoint I turned around and went the same way back.
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| Map of the Route |
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| Bridge over the Mahwah River at the beginning of the hike |
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| Mahwah River |
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| Red Oak in the snow, at the beginning of the hike |
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| Nice contrast of tree with foliage and snow. |
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| A bunch of downed trees along the side of the trail, freshly downed from Hurricane Sandy. |
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| Trees chainsawed a few days ago that was blocking the trail. The entire bottom part of Kakiat Park looked like this, due to the large amount of downed trees. |
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| Mountain Trail |
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| Beautiful Elm Tree while Ascending |
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| Lower Kakiat Viewpoint. Facing South. Note the tree foliage and the snow. |
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| Lower View, Facing Southeast. |
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