Anna and I left for Sterling Forest from NYC around 10am, packed the car, grabbed bagels and muffins from our favorite local bagel place (which took over 20 minutes; the bagels are amazing…the speed of its workers, well, cough cough), and finally hit the road.  We hit relatively no traffic and arrived around Tuxedo, NY in about an hour and a half of driving.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the trail start and after driving back out of some remote mountain area, most likely someones private property, we finally found some cell reception to look up the visitor center which thankfully was only a mile down the road.  We parked in the visitors lot and started off on the Blue Lake Loop Trail.  This hike was a pretty easy one for those that aren’t fans of those steep inclines.

The day was beautiful and the lake itself was filled with water lilies and small frogs who’s croaks were so loud they were heard from the start of the trail.  It was a pretty perfect mixture of sun and clouds that reflected onto the smooth surface.   The photo below taken by Anna, is actually the one she was taking in the photo I took of her and used as our cover photo for this post.

Proceeding down the path, we arrived at the top portion of the lake where you could literally get close enough to put your feet into the water since there was a small beachfront, however swimming was not permitted.

Past that point we hit another small wooded area that was so pretty and serene due to the lack of many hikers on that day.

However, there was a pregnant lady, that booked it right past us, and well, the photo shows Anna’s bewilderment.

Anywho, a portion of the trail heading back towards the visitors center had you walking on a section of the town streets.  So, I’d recommend keeping an eye out for those trail markers and taking in the realization that there are people who have these views right in their backyard.

Those streets eventually led to a narrow path, that led up to the front of the Visitor Center.  We completed our 4 mile journey  by stopping in the visitor center and checking out the maps they had available for more NY trails.

We hope you visit Sterling Forest and check out some of the other trails that are available.  We added the map we screenshot for our hike but if you click on the map below you’ll be brought to the State Park Website for their full map and directions to the forest (which we probably should have looked at).  Happy Travels and thanks for following along with our adventures!  Be sure to leave a comment if you have any suggestions for trails or adventures that we should check out!

Written by: Alexis