It’s safer—and a lot more fun—to go hiking in pairs or groups.
Many regional hiking clubs have planned outings almost every weekend, and most go through all four seasons.
Check out these links below to find some existing hiking clubs, or start your own.
Appalachian Mountain Club:
New York-North Jersey chapter.
Meetup Groups:
Meetup Groups are good ways to find hiking clubs. You might try the Hiking and Nature Meetup Group for New York, or look for one more specific to your region.
New York Ramblers :
A hiking club based out of New York City, but they may have hikes in the Sullivan County region from time to time.
NY/NJ Trail Conference:
The NY-NJ Trail Conference also has a great list of area hiking clubs in addition to environmental groups and volunteer-based trail maintenance and protection groups.
Catskill Mountain Club:
An association of outdoors-people who love to hike, camp, fish, hunt, canoe, kayak, bike, climb and otherwise enjoy nature and non-motorized outdoor recreational pursuits in the Catskill Mountains.
Catskill 3500 Club:
The Catskill 3500 Club was founded in 1962, to foster interest in hiking in the Catskills. Membership is open to anyone who has climbed on foot each of the 35 Catskill peaks above 3500 feet in elevation.