Oct. 29, 2017

The perfect day trip from NYC.  I am not a big hiker but would definitely travel for interesting route.  Sam’s Point offers a very unique hiking experience - Ice caves.

We left Manhattan at 8:30am and arrived at Sam’s Point at 10:30am..the parking lot was getting full and there was a huge line forming for the restroom (there were only 2). It took all of us 30 mins to get through the bathroom line.

We started with the viewing points trail (marked as stars on the map) to soak in the view!  It was truly breathtaking (great for instagram). i

After snapping some group photos, we continued onto the next trail - Ice caves trail (follow LR - ICR - ICT on the map).  This route did not have any shades so we all started to sweat...but once we got closer to Ice cave's entry point, we could feel the cool breeze approaching.

From Ice caves trail, you can choose to return to the parking lot to complete the 4-mile loop or you can follow what we did - hiked for another 1.5 miles (one way) to see the Verkeerder Waterfall (marked as VK on the map),  The first 1/2 mile was really pretty, with red vegetations surrounding the path, felt like you are on a different planet.  After a mile or so, the scenery changed to open fields with rocky path and uneven ground.  It felt like ages before we finally reached the waterfall.  Sadly, it looked more like a tiny stream in the middle of October.  We took a break as it was needed to retrace our steps to get back to the parking lot.  All in, we hiked about 7.45 miles that day when we initially planned for 4 miles only.

We rewarded ourselves by sampling free ciders from Angry Orchard (yes, the tree was there).  You get a token to sample 3 different type of ciders and they were very generous with the pour.  The three they served were - Crispy Apple, Knotty Pear, and Walden Hollow.  The whole Orchard turned into a playground with games, food stands, and music for all the enjoy.  

As the night falls, we all packed up our bags and departed for Manhattan after a fruitful day.