Mohonk Preserve

Mohonk Preserve is a 8,000-acre nature sanctuary on the Shawangunk Ridge west of New Paltz, managed as a nonprofit land trust since 1963. It protects one of the most botanically and geologically distinctive landscapes in the Northeast: a long quartzite ridge with exposed white conglomerate cliffs, pitch pine barrens, sky lakes, and sweeping views across the Hudson Valley to the Catskills.

The preserve is the primary access point for rock climbing on the Gunks, where more than 1,000 named routes attract climbers from across the world. Even if you don't climb, the carriage roads and hiking trails offer excellent walking with minimal elevation gain and maximum scenery. The Trapps and Near Trapps cliffs are visible from the main carriage road, and watching climbers work the horizontal seams overhead is a show in itself. Day-use fees apply; a visitor center at the main Trapps Gateway provides maps and information. Mohonk Mountain House, the Victorian resort perched above Lake Mohonk at the preserve's edge, can be visited on a day pass for an additional fee.

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A story
The Shawangunk Ridge, which Mohonk Preserve protects, has been called the best crack climbing destination in the eastern United States. The quartz conglomerate cliffs — the "Gunks" — have horizontal fractures that create nearly perfect parallel cracks, and the overhanging routes here helped develop a whole school of climbing technique in the 1950s and 60s when the area was pioneered by the Vulgarians, a deliberately anti-establishment climbing club who prized hard routes and harder drinking.

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