I had planned on heading down to check out Shawangunk State Forest on Sunday,
but as luck would have it a work emergency came up. My boss was kind enough to
OK a personal day for Monday, and my wife was kind enough to take care of my
familial responsibilities, so, off I went. It took a bit of luck to find the
trail I was aiming for, a yellow-blazed connector to the Shawangunk Ridge Trail
/ Long Path (henceforth SRT and LP) off of NY 52 east out of Ellenville, NY. I
actually pulled in to the parking lot I should have parked in: a small,
uncompleted lot just up the road from the yellow trailhead, but I saw no
markings whatsoever, and so I went back the way I had come. I pulled in to the
first parking area I had seen, in a fancy brick-paved spot, and noticed a sign
that read “30 minute parking” directly to the left of my window. In
frustration, I drove a short way further up the road, to a larger turn-off, and
parked there. As it turns out, this is the northernmost “P” in the Shawangunk
State Forest, as shown on the SRT trail map provided by the NYNJTC. (I’ll
cover parking in more detail at the end.)
