Wanting to escape city living, at least for a couple hours on the weekend can be pretty straightforward in New York.

Case in point, Croton Gorge Park is 40 miles north of Manhattan (if you have a car) or you can take the Metro North Train to the Croton on Hudson stop.  Note: if you take the train you will then need to take a car service for the remaining 2.5 miles to the park (and remember this because I will revisit it later.)

The park is great for year-round events and activities from family gatherings, dates and outings with friends.  There is parking, a large grass space where you can BBQ and most importantly some nice and easy walking trails.

As you can see from the pictures below, I went in the fall and would highly recommend a trip during that time of the year.  

To prepare for my 1/2 day adventure, I had my backpack, camera and threw in a fishing pole just in case.  I have written about fishing in Central Park and keep some gear in my apartment which it came in handy for this trip.  After my hike, I walked along the river and actually did catch a nice bluegill (which was released) on some sourdough bread dough that I had been working on at home…..I am very self-sufficient urbanite apparently.

Croton River

Fishing in the Croton River

Croton River Bluegill

Before you head out on this adventure, I will mention the 2.5 miles from the train station to the park.  There are taxis and you can call an uber but just note that uber drivers are not welcome in front of the station so you will have to cross the street.  The other very important note is about our reliance on phones and car services in the city.

When you travel on a beautiful fall day, it will limit the supply of car services because everyone else has the same idea to go see the leaves. On top of that, when you are taking pictures with your phone all afternoon for instagram, your battery will die.  On top of this, when it starts getting toward late afternoon and you can’t get a car and have no phone, you start to question your decision making and then start jogging along the 2 lane highway back to the train station (admittedly not one of my better moves.)  After about a mile there will be a nice ice cream shop where I was able to recharge and charge my phone and then get a car for the rest of the trip.