[This article was originally published online in July 2013. We updated and republicized it recently to much outcry. We have since updated the intro to address readersโ concerns.]
Upstate summers are notoriously hot and humid, with new temperature records being set almost every year. When the beads of sweat form before youโve even had a chance to towel off from your cold shower, you know itโs time to find a swimming hole to immerse yourself in.
Laced with creeks, dotted by ponds and lakes, and bisected by the majestic Hudson, our region has an abundance of waterways. Longtime residents are understandably protective of their swimming spots. Aside from the riparian zones along streams and creeks being important and fragile ecosystems, in recent years, an influx of day visitors and tourists to the Hudson Valley has resulted in overcrowding, with its cascade of consequencesโfrom trash build-up to parking issues.
As Roger Hannigan Gilson recently reported, โA big issue is garbage. At the end of the day, trash is everywhere, [Town of Hunter Supervisor Daryl] Legg says [of Kaaterskill Falls]. He blames the mess squarely on visitors from downstate. โUnfortunately, they don’t take all the stuff they brought with them back. It is state land, and the land is for everyone to use, but it’s not for everyone to abuse,โ he adds.โ” The feature, titled Death by Misadventure, is not only about trash but also about the safety concerns when out-of-towners try to access hard-to-reach spots without proper information or preparation, often just based on an Instagram post.
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Death by Misadventure
The swimming spots weโve included below are not secret, and they are accessible through state land. In some cases, access is permitted or managed through park admission fees. When COVID first hit and people flocked to the state parks, we wrote this little primer on trail etiquette in the time of COVID, but these principles are timeless. And whether you are heading to a public park or a quiet creek spot up the road that your neighbor told you about, itโs important to always follow the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace.
With collaboration, stewardship, and respectful behavior, we can all continue to enjoy the Hudson Valleyโs many natural wonders for years to come.
1. Lake Awosting
If you’re a firm believer in working up a sweat before relaxing with a swim, Lake Awosting is a good pick. Whether on a bicycle or your two feet, work your way from the Minnewaska State Park Preserve through the challenging, hilly, approximately four-and-a-half mile trails to the secluded mountain lake. Make sure to spend some time on the Blueberry Run Trail for some mid-trip refueling.
2. Peekamoose Blue Hole
The swimming hole on the Rondout Creek gets its name because of the water’s crystal-clear, cerulean hue. Brave the natural swimming hole’s freezing temps, then warm up on one of the slabs of rock that surround it. There’s free camping along Peekamoose Road in three different areas (upper, middle, and lower fields). Lounge waterside all day, then cozy up by a campfire when night falls. Due to incredibly high volumes of swimmers in recent years (think thousands per weekend), which have caused site damage and trash build up, the DEP is now requiring day passes to access the Blue Hole on weekends and holidays. Get your day pass.
3. Taconic State Park
Located along 16 miles of the Taconic Mountain Range, sharing a border with Massachusetts and Connecticut, the oldest state park in the Taconic Region offers swimming at Copake Falls and Rudd Pond, where there are also rowboats and canoes available for rent. If you want to extend your visit, both areas of the state park offer camping, and there are extensive trail systems to explore, including hikes that lead over the border to Bash Bish Falls, the highest single drop waterfall in Massachusetts.ย
4. Belleayre Beach
In the summer months, the popular ski mountain offers a mellow, family beach experience at the lake at Pine Hill. This isn’t just a great swimming spotโit’s a venue for all of your favorite water activities, including a diving dock, row and pedal-boating, kayaking, and fishing. If you need a break from the water, the beach also offers picnicking, horseshoe pits, volleyball, and basketball.
5. Onteora Lake
Onteora Lake in Bluestone Wild Forest, off Route 28, is on DEC land and accessible to the public for free. Twenty feet at its deepest point, the long skinny lake stays pretty warm all summer long. Aside from swimming (there’s no lifeguard, so do so at your own risk) this is also a swell place to put in with your kayak or canoe. There’s also a handful of fish species in the water, including perch, largemouth bass, bluegill, and pickerel, so anglers bring your poles.
6. Kingston Point Beach
Kingston Point Beach and the adjoining park by the same name are waterfront gems in the crown of Kingston. We knowโit’s not the ocean, but they’ve trucked in enough sand to make a lovely beach for sunbathing, reading, and swimming, and hey, the speedboats make small waves every once in a while. This free, public beach offersย stellar views of the Hudson River, Dutchess County, and Hutton Brickyards, speaking of which: watch your step for washed up brick chunksโthey make a nice souvenir and not so nice of a foot injury. Watch the sailboats go by, laze on the sand, or play pick-up volleyball (post-pandemic). There is a lifeguard on duty Wednesday through Sunday, 10am-5pm. Before and after that it is swim at your own risk.ย
Yet another flippant mention of Kaaterskill Falls as a swimming hole. No place to park and no shoulder to walk on a narrow twisted state highway. A steep, difficult and crowded climb not suitable to children or flip flop wearing masses. Averages one death a year and several rescues a weekend. A local publication should be more responsible.
I wish every article writing about places to go in nature would start with a serious discussion about LNT principles. Most of these parks are carry-in/carry-out parks and new users DO NOT get the concept. They are so used to garbage cans and someone collecting the trash that we need to educate them.
Blue Hole is permit only now – thanks to the irresponsible people who come upstate and trash the place. And no we don’t need to educate people – how much common sense do you need to not litter? These people are disrespectful, rude and entitled and feel like everyone else should do the work for them.
Pretty pictures, but what about parking? Driving round and round a lake trying to put your car somewhere doesn’t work. There are plenty of “No Parking” and “Private” signs, especially when people live where they can have water views.
All of these special areas are already so overcrowded. Disappointed that the Chronograph would drive more attention to them, especially by linking this article in 2020 when it is becoming increasingly challenging to socially distance at these and many more crowded gems of the Hudson Valley.
Why on Earth are you promoting areas that are remote and not commercially maintained? This is negligent on your part as a local publication. Two of the places on your list have been over run by disrespectful people leaving garbage, causing a hazard by illegally parking on a narrow single access road, and basically doing stupid things that leave our local first responders carrying them out, trying to find them, or recovering the bodies.
Yes tourists support many businesses in the area but the destruction of pristine locations is not worth it. Please be smart going forward and stop pointing people to areas that should remain wild and respected.
Shame on you Chronogram for publicizing this article from 2013 in your recent newsletter. If you have been to any of these places since then you wouldnโt have run this article again. Due to the advertising as if theyโre an amusement park these places have been trashed and some are permit only. There are literally diapers and human waste and garbage everywhere. How about you go to these places and do some real reporting on what has happened to them. Please run a story on how trashed visitors have made these places.
Shame on you.
Horrible โjournalismโ, beyond irresponsible. This makes me so sad. Please take this article down. This is disgraceful and upsetting.
An article about the negative impact of over-use and abuse of these natural resources, along with guidelines for a clean and safe visit would be great. What the Chronogram has done is made the problems worse in addition to providing out-of-date information.
August 2020: โGreene County officials step up enforcement around Kaaterskill Falls, urge travelers to visit other waterfalls.โ
https://www.dailyfreeman.com/news/local-news/greene-county-officials-step-up-enforcement-around-kaaterskill-falls-urge-travelers-to-visit-other-waterfalls/article_4c2b93aa-d8d0-11ea-bce4-877541abb0d5.html
PLEASE STOP POSTING THESE ARTICLES. Year after year tourists come to our beautiful swimming holes and treat them like dumps which forces us to shut them down and then the people who actually live here suffer. It is 100% because of articles like this and YOU are part of the problem.
Another example how crap Chronogram is. Tone deaf.
Almost all articles are paid content. This piece is recycled- how many deaths at Kaaterskill Falls since this originally published?
The physical magazine is bloated waste of paper and energy. And why? Terrible art/ photos.
Donโt support this. Hopefully all the newbies moving in will see this publication for what is : dated marketing.
Please have an article informing the public of the abuse from the visitors of the environment…terrible irresponsible respect for our natural gift. I am surprised at this article with no mention of this gross behavior. The people that live here in the Catskills are not allowed in some of our favorite swimming holes due to out of town visitors negligence! AND the speeding on our roads is alarming!! This article is a disgrace to our community.
Chronogram has become the Village Voice of the HV. It is time to stop marketing the HV to newcomers and start serving its community. This means as others have mentioned, Leave No Trace, protections of our most beautiful and fragile places, and articles about the misbehaviors of those visiting! Yesterday on. Thursday afternoon Rt 23 was bumper to bumper of parked cars, people sitting on the guardrails hanging out waiting to get picked up on their phones like they were at Jones Beach. Chronogram must ask itself some serious questions of what its role is within our community. Housing Prices now price out locals and all that charm is being replaced by Manhattan style living. Who does Chronogram serve and why? Why are you forsaking us? You wanted us to be discovered and now we are. Please help us PRESERVE what we have here. Articles about swimming holes in not responsible reporting. Articles about the raping of these sacred places is. Why are your comments not more visible?
My comment was deleted??I guess that says it all..thank you. Article should be deleted!!
Unbelievable! Having grown up in this area, Iโve seen so many pristine and majestic spots become trampled and polluted, with articles like this speeding the process. I canโt go to any of my favorite swimming holes anymore without finding bags of dog poop, diapers (and now disposable masks) strewn about. And people hiking to these places while blasting music along the way! The parks are completely overwhelmed. You canโt even get into Minnawaska anymore because it reaches parking capacity early in the day during the week and forget about going anywhere on the weekend! So thanks for that Chronogram.
Shame on you! It’s obvious that the Chronogram doesn’t care about Ulster county or the environment. STOP printing swimming hole places. All you are doing is encouraging NYC people to trash them. STOP IT!!!! I’m tired of seeing NYC people trashing the HV. Today I was at one of the places, which I have swam at for 25 years and it was flooded with first time NYC visitors. Stop causing environmental damage. I an boycotting any business that advertised in your trash rag. And I will call to tell them why I no longer will spend my money at their location.
Good journalism would be the telling of the impact your 2013 article had on these once pristine areas. Garbage, graffiti, human excrement, erosion by the THOUSANDS of disrespectful feet trampling on everything in their path. Shameful irresponsible journalism.
All of the above nearly sum up the trashy impact of this article. Additionally, touting Lake Onteora as a swimming hole is dangerously irresponsible. The water is polluted. Having requested info from the DEC on the sanitary conditions because of getting rashes every time I swam there I was told they donโt monitor water quality because it is a โboating โ lake not a swimming lake.
Might want to warn your clientele of the poisonous snakes. As in rattlesnakes. Responsible for death of a dog 3 years ago. Right by waters edge