First Day Hike at Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site

Fort Hunter – Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will host a First Day Hike on Monday, January 1st at 1:00pm. Start off the New Year right by joining historic site manager Paul Banks for this NYS Parks Centennial event. 

The First Day Hike starts at 1:00pm outside the Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie St. Fort Hunter, NY 12069, and should wrap up around 3 pm. This hike will take us to the East end of the site on the towpaths once traveled by mules hauling barges along the historic Erie Canal. The group will walk back on the Empire State Trail bicycle path, a round trip of about five miles. 

Please dress for the weather.  If there is enough snow on the ground, we may change the hike to a snowshoe with less distance or it may require traction aids. Program starts and ends at the Visitor Center/Museum.

Schoharie Crossing offers over two and a half miles of level towpath trail and dozens of acres of open spaces for cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, and winter hiking. Several historic Erie Canal structures, dating from both the original canal of the 1820s and the Enlarged Canal of the 1840s, can be seen despite snow, including the impressive remnants of the Schoharie Creek Aqueduct. 

Access to the towpath trails can be found from the parking lots at our Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie Street, Fort Hunter, or from Yankee Hill Lock, 550 Queen Anne Road, Amsterdam when weather conditions allow.

For more information, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516 or email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov.

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is a part of The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation that oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 78 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow-on Twitter.