Sterling Forest State Park

This is one of my favorite spots to hike. The people in the visitor center are so helpful. There’s also tons of taxidermy to take in. They are really helpful at picking out trails that are suitable for your ability level.

Beautiful quiet loop hike around the lake no fish unfortunately, if anyone has intel on how to catch trout in sterling lake let me know!

Very nice visitor center, very informative, and very friendly staff.

Sterling Lake, named for the silvery barked beach trees in this area, is located off Sterling Mine Road on Old Forge Rd. I must admit, it's somewhat confusing the way the nearby lakes are named. We are referring to Sterling Lake. There are also Little Sterling Lake and Sterling Forest Lake(also called Blue Lake on the IBM Corporate Office Park. IBM's nickname is "Big Blue"). Mining for iron in this area was taking place before the Revolutionary War. The links of chain across the Hudson River to prevent British warships from sailing past West Point were made in the original foundry at Sterling Mine. It was intended to halt progress of warships. Cannon placements in West Point and strategic hill tops would lob cannon shot down onto the stranded vessels. This was a physically impractical engineering design the chain failing under its own weight. And British naval strategists knew how risky a notion it would be to travel up the Hudson River while the Continental Army held such a strategic and formidable fortress. It was a stalemate. But the mines held an important place for it made the weapons needed to win the war. Mine shafts travel under thIs lake. It is a watershed. It's clean water is part of the Hudson Highlands Watershed and provides water for reservoirs below it. Hiking, mountain biking and cross country skiing trails are available for use in this 20,000 acre park. The Frank Lautenburg Visitors Center and parking area sits on a prominence on the south side of the lake. You could hike the lake and many connected trails from here or take a short walk to see the restored original blast furnace or crumbling remains of later iron works operations. But now to the present. Last year, two climate related events devastated Sterling Forest and its trails are closed indefinitely. There is no time line for remediating damage here. A May, 2024 violent change of season storm brought the jet stream tumbling to earth, which destroyed the forest as though it was a clear cutting operation. We spoke to a sawyer by the visitors center. Brian was his name and he told us to look at his YouTube videos of what he does. Just Google Brian NV to see his videos. He hikes miles into the woods to open trails with a chain saw. Then, on November 9, 2024, after a long drought, the Jenkins fire scorched the area. It was a quick moving forest fire that may actually be beneficial to old growth trees by removing underbrush that can choke and rob these trees of nutrients. But it's a nice ride to get here and see the big blow down and mine operations and visitor center displays of dioramas, mine artifacts and wildlife.

One of my favorite Hudson Valley state parks to visit for hiking. Visitor center is one of the best in NY. That’s also where most popular trails start. Lake loop may be most photogenic one. If you like ridge hiking, Highlands trail (blue) is a good option with loops made via crossing red or orange trails. One of the most challenging (and rewarding) is Bare Rock trail (orange) leading to sweeping viewpoint over Greenwood lake. There are other areas of the park worth exploring. I like also Indian Hill section of the state park, Blue Lake and Four Corners pond area.