Torne View Trail

The Torne View Trail offers the most direct and dramatic approach to Ramapo Torne, climbing 800 feet over 1.75 miles on a rocky route that traverses open granite slabs with expanding views as elevation increases. Torne is a Dutch-derived word meaning a promontory or rocky peak, and the Ramapo Torne lives up to its name with sheer faces of Precambrian gneiss rising above the surrounding forest. The trail begins at the Skyline Drive parking area near the New York-New Jersey border and follows a ridgeline that forms the actual state line at several points, providing the unusual experience of walking between two states with each step. The open rock slabs below the summit host rare Hudson Highlands wildflower communities including wild columbine, Robin's plantain, and fly poison, all dependent on the thin, acidic soils overlying the ancient bedrock. Summit views are nearly identical to those from the Ramapo Lake Loop approach but the Torne View Trail allows hikers to reach them in half the distance and time. Hawks migrate along this ridge in September, with sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper's hawks, and ospreys frequently visible from the open summit during cold front passages. The surrounding Ramapo Mountain State Forest encompasses 4,100 acres protecting critical habitat linking the Hudson Highlands to the New Jersey Highlands to the south and west.