If you haven’t been to Hawk Rock, you really should go. The rock itself is a quite spectacular monolith about thirty feet high. It is what the geologists call an “erratic,” a rock from somewhere else that was transported here by a glacier during the last ice age. When the climate got warmer and the glaciers retreated, Hawk Rock and its friends melted out and ended up where they are now. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see why it’s called Hawk Rock.

This is a moderate hike of about 1.7 miles in one direction. Since it’s on NYC Environmental Protection land, you’ll need a permit. (The application in PDF form is available here.) The parking lot and Hawk Rock are at about the same elevation, but there’s about a two hundred foot rise between them and it’s a bit steep from the top down to Hawk Rock. If you can, bring a picnic lunch. The grove of hemlocks in which Hawk Rock stands is a lovely place to eat lunch.

In the summer of 2015 Patrick LaFontaine installed an informational kiosk and marked the trails at Hawk Rock for his Eagle Scout project. He also created a brochure with information and a trail map. To download a PDF of the brochure, click here.

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