The Highlands Trail is an exciting partnership project of the New York Highlands Network. The Highlands Trail is a long-distance hiking trail envisioned as a 600+ mile trail across the four-state Highlands region, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. It is about 50% complete overall, but at different stages in different regions. West of the Hudson River in New York, the Highlands Trail is about 95% complete. The eastern New York Highlands Trail, which is envisioned to run through Putnam County, is about 10% complete.
As early as the 1980s, Putnam County envisioned creating a Northern Putnam Greenway. The Highlands Trail is planned to coincide with the Northern Putnam Greenway and make this vision of an ecotourist recreational destination a reality. Partners on this project include Putnam County and municipal leaders, local landowners and volunteers.
If you would like to visit the Highlands Trail in eastern New York, try exploring the sections that are already on the ground in Wonder Lake State Park (6 miles) or Hudson Highlands State Park (1 mile). If you’d like to learn more about the Highlands Trail as a whole, visit New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s Highlands Trail Guide.