Spring in New York City—and more specifically, the month of May—has a way of turning the apartment into a problem. Whether it’s the radiator that won’t turn off, the neighbor’s bass line, or the simple fact that the sidewalk smells like garbage soup again, the answer is a train ticket and a trail by 10 a.m. Sadly, the hike most people have pre-ordained for a day hike in New York is closed. Breakneck Ridge — the iron steps above Cold Spring, the subway’s scheduled May hike — is closed until 2026 and won’t reopen until mid-2027, when it will return as the centerpiece of the Hudson Highlands Fjords Trail with a new trailhead footbridge and visitor center.
The good news, however, is that the bench is deeper than anyone remembers. With Breakneck out of the rotation, the growths that lived in its shadow have entered the mainstream. Bull Hill, the biggest (and possibly best) ridge south of it, is having a moment. Connecticut’s Sleeping Giant added 28 acres last May and broke ground on a new visitor center. Boscobel — the 1808 federal residence overlooking West Point — reopened last August with “Preservation in Progress” tours that take guests through rooms in an active state of repair. Storm King unveils Anicka Yi’s first large-scale outdoor commission on May 17. Lambert Castle in Paterson is open for the first time in five years.
Getting to all this is, perhaps surprisingly, friendly to those without a car. Five of the 10 climbs below are within a 25-minute walk of a Metro-North or NJ Transit platform. Three others include a single bus from the Port Authority, with Coach USA and Short Line still running the routes they have for decades. The May-June window — in full leaf, working waterfalls before the summer drought, pre-fog visibility to the Manhattan skyline — is shorter than the season seems. Take advantage of these 10 hikes to tackle where you can go car-free to the trailhead and back.
