Blue Mountain Reservation
Today, Doug, Zeke, and I explored the Blue Mountain reservation in upstate NY in the Peekskill area. It took us just under 60 minutes to get there. It was really easy to find and there are several parking lots along a paved forest road that start you near different sections of trail.
We didn’t arrive until about 2 in the afternoon since Doug got called in to work in the AM. We spent a good 3 hours exploring.
waiting for Doug to get home-he knows he’s going somewhere fun when I put on his seat belt harness!
We started out (and ended) with Zeke on his 50 foot leash and threw the ball around a field and into a small lake to tire him out a little. Then we Ruffwear-bungee leashed him up and hit the hiking trails! This park is used by fisherman, hikers, trail runners, equestrians, and mountain bikers. Certain trails are designated footpath only or biking only, etc. They are all marked easy, more difficult & most difficult. We stuck to mostly easy since it was the most direct path up to Blue Mountain. Even so, the path was very rocky and rooty!
The trails are fairly well-marked. We got up the mountain just fine but did get briefly lost on the way down when we decided to jog for a bit. Jogged right past our turn off! I didn’t bring anything to track our distance but based on the maps we did about 4.5 miles. This is a great warmer summer day hike as the park is very shady and has small ponds and brooks just about everywhere-Zeke stayed nice and cool by wetting his paws. We stuck to ascending Blue Mountain only-its only about 630 feet. But it still had beautiful views and can’t beat the quick commute from the city! Next time we plan on hiking the slightly smaller peak, Spitzenberg Mountain. I should mention I read about this hike through the book, “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles- NYC”.
The book says the trails can get crowded on the weekends but today we were the only ones on the trails we followed. We saw some fisherman, cyclists, runners & walkers back by the parking lot and main road. Dogs are allowed but must be leashed. Doug was happy there was a McDonalds down the road. That is how I get him to hike with me-the promise of chicken nuggets.
So far I’ve taken 3 ticks (not attached) off of Zeke’s fur & 1 attached (but dead) it looked smushed with its legs missing or bent. I’m glad I put Zeke’s frontline on. Ticks freak me out.
It was a great few hours. I highly recommend this park to anyone in the NYC area. It is so close, easy to get to, no parking fee on the weekdays & very peaceful and scenic. Enjoy the pictures!
Sled Dog in the City 
Zeke looks pretty happy! Ewww, ticks!! I hate ticks! Kobi had one last year in her head, it was so gross. I have medication now to apply during tick season so she hasn’t had it yet, but soon.
He really lives to hike! I’m so worried about Lyme disease, I’ve known so many people and dogs to get complications from it. Not fun.
An hour drive is not bad at all. Ticks, ugh, it seems too early for them to be out with the winter you have had. Sounds like you are going to have a bad season for them.
I was hoping the long winter would have curbed their numbers but maybe now they’re extra hungry ): it got into the 60s today
Great scenery, great photos 😉
thanks!