Cold Spring Road Access (Red Trail)

More Information

Trailhead GPS: Coordinates N41.55472 W74.68141

Geeting There: Drive to the intersection if Broadway and St. John Street in Monticello, NY. Turn south on St. John Street which soon becomes Cold Spring Road. Drive 7.45 miles from Broadway to the parking area on the left. It is marked with a typical yellow on brown sign. The sign indicated that this parking area allows access to the Neversink Unique Area.

Difficulty: This hike is rated MODEARTE because it is almost 6 miles long and is all pill on the return trip. Navigation is difficult in some places due to poor marking. Parts of the trail may be poorly maintained.

Trail Surface. The trail is mostly a wide woods road which is wet in a few spots with one stream to cross. The trails are dirt and rock and at times may have a few trees across them to walk around. Some spots are very rocky.

Hike Description: The trail leaves the parking area and is well worn but you may not see any blazes. Within a few hundred feet there is a trail register and red blazes begin to appear. Walk slightly uphill for .4 miles to the point where another trail comes in from the left. This trail is almost completely overgrown and has not been used for some time. Continue to walk along the wide marked trail until at .55 miles the trail begins to descend which continues for some time. At 1.1 miles the traill may be wet and muddy for about a quarter of a mile. There may be several blowdowns along the way. Continue downhill and bear left and downhill when the trail splits at 1.4 miles. The trail begins to get very rocky but is still easy to follow. At 1.7 miles you will come to an open area and the blazes seem to disappear! Look to the left as the trail bends downhill at this point. Looking back at the trees behind you may help as blazes may be on the other side of the trees. The trail continuous to head south following a woods road until at 2.1 miles it ends at a jeep road with blue markers. Turn left and watch out for wet and muddy areas. The trail continues downhill until at 2.3 miles you will come to Little Eden Brook. Cross the brook using stepping stones or a log. The trail levels off a little and at 2.6 miles a marker on a stake indicates a turn to the right toward the river. A wide jeep road continus straight ahead and also turns up the hill to the left. Turn right and walk along the road downhill and toward the river. The trail begins to parallel the river and there is a good place to walk down to the river’s edge at 2.75 miles. There are several other places where you may walk down to the river. Head back up to the trail and walk back the way you came. Watch for a sign on a tree a little off the trail toward the river. The sign says “Unsafe Bridge” and “Scheduled for Demolition”. The floods damaged the bridge and it was removed. Work your way down a trail to the river’s edge once again. Work your way upstream along the shore to a place where you can see that the river splits upstream and the land along the river becomes too narrow to walk. Return along the river’s edge to the path up to the trail.Walked back up to the point where you turned down to the river. Turn left and walk back to the red trail crossing Little Eden Brook again. Turn right on the red trail and begin a long uphill trek back to the parking area. At 3.9 miles you will be in the area where the trail markers were difficult to follow on the way out. Continue following the trail and the markers which are much clearer on the way back than the way out. Continue to hike uphill on the trail passing through the wet and muddy area. Pass the “other” trail at 5.3 miles and continue back to the parking area and your car.