Train Gateways from New York: Cold Spring in Winters , Trails, Antiques

It is quiet, it is sweet, it is lazy and it is humble and getting lost is just part of all of it.

Tucked in Upstate New York is this small yet gorgeous village of Cold Spring where creativity flows in tandem with marked trails surrounding the area that includes trails for casual to serious hikers. With not much information online, we were surprised to see how much can an hour and a half train ride from New York can take us too. Specially just after the winter storm in February.

In fact, we ditched going to the nearby popular snow tubing destination Poconos (the biggest snow tube park in USA) in Penysilvania just because the train connectivity to Cold Spring was awesome and damn affordable.

Ever since I have come to US which has been like 3 years by now, I always try to minimize my cost as much as I can and local transportation as much as it is not talked about, sometimes can be very very cheap and for sectors as small as this one which requires minimal changes of buses or trains, extremely convenient.

The Metro Rail train can take you to Cold Spring from Grand Central Terminal NY ($ 14 one way, off peak hours) which are rich in antiques and has a classic old world feel. Who knew, getting away could lead you to world so different than the rumble mumble of New York. Guys, if you haven’t yet checked my posts on US, please do, since last 2 years , I am working on highlighting what are the myths , what are the facts and what is the culture, that makes US, US. Taking you to not just nitty gritties of USA, but also road trips, drives, festivals, food and interiors including spotting Northern Lights in USA. These are not all listed touristic destinations but destinations that people would be bewildered to know about.

I always used to fantasize about Nordic countries in Europe and how adventurous Winters can be there, with Snowmobiling, Skiing and all. Little did I know that upstate of US too has some amazing winter destinations to rave about. While Lake Placid in Upstate New York celebrates Nordic Festival for Experienced Skiers, Wisconsin has amazing Apostle Islands Ice Caves (The Caves are a fairyland of needles of Icicles) where people from all over the world arrive. If Dog Sledging is something you can relate to , to Europe; Wisconsin has it too! In fact a some of the villages in Upstate of US( Michigan, Wisconsin and New York etc) have names same as places of Europe which we found to be very fascinating.

Snow has always been my first love. Every winters, like a child makes his paper boat and waits for it to sail in a random puddle, I wait patiently for snow. This year, Snowfall has been lesser throughout. In fact, I heard one of my friend say that Iceland got its first heavy snow in January which even was warmer than usual. When New York had winter storm in February I was excited, the roads were blocked in first few hours before those huge trucks took it away. I couldn’t stop myself from walking on the Hudson riverfront of New Jersey and the city of New York in spite of winds smashing on my face. What came next was a plan! Now that winter storm is over and now that we have so much snow still left, can we just take a train because driving in snow is sometimes slow and cautious. So here’s my Photo essay from my trip to ColdSpring followed by vlog in the next post. Had we not thought of it, we would have had missed all the magic.

How can I describe how sweet people were in Cold Spring. From selling handmade antiques of Hudson Valley to antiques dated centuries back, this place is a heaven for antique lovers. In fact, on both sides of the main street are various lined shops on Antiques, some priced expensive , some not so much.

Some tips here for the place

Take your time here and talk to locals. I hopped into a shop on the main street and we discussed how jewelry was made! People do have time here.
On the Main street in Cold Spring are many antique shops such as Bijou Galleries, Gallery 66 NY, Once upon a time Antiques etc. Main Street in Cold Spring looks more like Antiques row with plenty of Antique shops on both sides of the street.
Take a stroll to Foundry Dock Park. There are several benches to sit on with view of Hudson river and mountains. There is also an installation of Parrott Gun.
2 miles north of Cold Spring is little Stony Point, one of the easiest flat trail with a loop of 45 minutes from left - right or right - left. There is also a beach there. We also hiked to the highest point at Little Stony Point but due to trees, the view was blocked.
There are other named trails on the Hudson Highlands Park but nowhere it is mentioned how much time will it take. Do your research before you start hiking or ask someone who is beginning to hike. Some might take 4-5 hours. There is no one to guide you at the venue.
There are also fairly easier trails like Brook Trail.
Be easy on the snow during winters. Rocks slip due to snow. We saw someone with chains on his boots.
The most popular place here is Breakneck Ridge Loop which requires some serious rock scrambling . If you are adventurous, you can try that!
We had great Pork Chili Fries at Hudson Hil's Market and Cafe.
Summers may be the ideal time to go there.
It is not crowded in winters and I wonder why.
Shops does not have a fixed closing time in winters. Most of them seem to be family owned, and are closed when the owners feel like which can vary anywhere between 4:30pm - 7pm.
The popular ice cream joint Moo Moo's creamery was closed for the season during winters.
Cold Spring would not be snow covered during Spring and Summers but still the low hills, the river, the trails makes it a supercool gateway.