Awosting Falls Trail

Awosting Falls is Minnewaska State Park Preserve's most dramatic waterfall, a 60-foot curtain of water plunging from the Shawangunk Ridge into a deep plunge pool surrounded by vertical quartzite cliffs draped in hemlock and rhododendron. The 3-mile out-and-back trail follows the historic Peters Kill carriage road, built in the 1880s as a resort access route, descending from the ridgetop park entrance down a broad gravel carriageway through pitch pine and mixed hardwood forest. The falls are fed by the outflow of Lake Awosting, one of five perched sky lakes on the Shawangunk Ridge, and run strongest during April snowmelt and after heavy rains throughout the warmer months. The plunge pool at the base of the falls is a beloved swimming destination in summer, accessible by a short scramble down from the main viewpoint platform. Peters Kill, the stream below the falls, continues downstream through a boulder-choked ravine popular with wading swimmers. The carriageway is wide enough for two hikers abreast and is stroller-accessible as far as the main falls viewpoint. Rhododendron maximum blooms in late June produce a spectacular floral display along the stream corridor below the falls, attracting both pollinators and photographers from across the Hudson Valley region.