Lake Minnewaska — Attraction in Town of Rochester

Perfect hiking spot for all ages and levels. For an easy stroll, you can do the easy hike around the lake, with nice vistas and photo opportunities, especially when you get to the rocks/cliffs area on the east side of the lake. There are also much more advanced trails for seasoned veteran hikers that leads to scrambles, drop offs and mountains and are worth the planning and group venture. Stop by the now open visitor’s center for some info and restroom if needed before your excursion. Only issue is that parking is filled up early on weekends and they close the road in around 10:00am when the lot gets full, so it pays to come here as early as you can. If you are driving on Main Street from Gardiner, you may sometimes not able to make a left into the lake if the parking lot is getting full and need to drive down and u-turn and get in the waiting line of cars going the other way. If coming from Kerhonkson you can just get in the waiting line. I believe parking is $10 currently and once you get in, there’s the lower parking lot and the upper lots and the lower ones you will need to hike all the way up to the lake, which will take 15-20 minutes, so it’s better to park in...

Lake Minneswaka is this beautiful, almost hidden jewel right in the middle of mountains! We parked in the Awosting falls parking lot and from there walked for about 35 minutes to reach the lake. There are restrooms available at the parking lot too. We paid $10 to enter the Minneswaka State park. There is a moderate incline and it was really windy and cold as we walked up. The huff and the puff seemed worth it once we saw this beauty though. It was so serene and there was no one else there, having visited on a weekday afternoon in December. We sat on a cliff and admired the views and even walked up to the beach. We will hopefully visit again in the summer. Do take a short detour to the Awosting falls which is an equally...

Terrible area to travel to. Makes me think only rich liberals live up there. You travel 2 hrs to be turned away because they had no parking at any of their multiple entrance..state troopers patrol and turn you away..also, no bathrooms anywhere to access in this remote place. Cycling folk are insane to ride on this narrow hilly winding never-ending road that leads to nowhere with a zillion cars trying to do uturns...What a waste of time. Truthfully, more parking should be created as thats just common sense to the people who oversee these places. Don't go its so, not worth it unless, you're willing to spend $$$ on gas, tolls, and time.. this park is...