Growing up my dad became great friends with a man who occasionally traveled to my dad's job for work. Every winter his family would visit us and go sledding and snowmobiling. Where as during the summer, we would take the trip to Jersey to visit them and go to NYC for the day. We did this for years! Of course once we all started going to college, we became very busy and do not see each other as much. The daughter, Sarah, and I have kept in contact as much as possible. She is currently on summer break from nursing school so we made plans to meet up and hike together!
There are a few ways to hike Hunter Mountain and when I looked on the All Trails app, it seemed that the Becker Hollow Trail would be the best idea. It is 6.3 miles where as the Spruceton Horse Trail is 9.1. The big difference is that the Becker Hollow trail climbs 2,000 feet in 2 miles and is the steepest trail of the 2. Why not right?
The parking lot is somewhat small so on the weekends I am sure it gets packed. We had no problem going on a Tuesday around 11am. The beginning of the hike is easy and there is a beautifully built bridge that crosses over the small brook. After that, it gradually climbs up and there are times we had to cross small waterfalls which were extremely slippery. Then it really starts to pick up and we were not afraid to take a few water breaks and catch our breath. The trail is marked very well and as you are hiking, you can't see much because of all the trees surrounding you. Eventually we got to the top and climbed up the Fire Tower.
We climbed up to the top only to find that it was locked, which was disappointing since it was difficult to take pictures while standing on the steps with the wind blowing us over. Without the fire tower, you would not be able to see anything at the top of Hunter Mountain since there are trees surrounding you.
After heading back down we noticed that the ski lift is only a 2 mile hike away. We decided to hike over there in hopes for some mountain views.
Once we got there, we both decided it was well worth the extra 2 miles out (and 2 miles back, though we had to climb up hill). It was almost creepy to be at the ski lift when no one was there and there wasn't any snow! There was also a zip lining group heading across the mountains which was neat to see. We sat on a ski lift and took some pictures before heading back.
We both would definitely suggest going to the ski lift area, though it was very muddy, it was worth it. I looked online and found that the fire tower is only open on certain weekends during the summer, so I guess if you want to get up there, you'd have to plan accordingly.
It was such a wonderful hike and we got done around 4/5 pm. Sarah had a long drive home, but on the way home for both of us was Kaaterskill falls which I had been to before. We decided to head over there. The falls had much more water coming down them compared to last time! It was a nice easy hike compared to what we had just completed and we both really enjoyed the views.
After that Sarah drove back to Jersey and I drove back to Albany! It was such a great day filled with catching up and beautiful scenery.
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