Issue #10 — Wednesday, July 1, 2026
One family-friendly hike within a 2-hour drive of Hoboken — plus where to take the kids to eat in the city and NJ. Hike it or skip it; either way your weekend's sorted.
You squeeze through narrow quartzite slot crevices in the Shawangunk ridge — some passages barely shoulder-width — and feel the temperature drop 40 degrees before you've gone ten feet. It's July and there is ice on the floor. Not a gimmick: cold air pools in these geological slots year-round, locking ice in the shadows even when it's 99°F at the trailhead. Emerge from the last passage, climb a short ridge, and five sky lakes glint below you in the valley forest.
It's a heat-wave weekend. These caves are naturally air-conditioned. The timing is almost too good.Park at the Sam's Point Day Use Area at the end of Sam's Point Road off Route 52 in Cragsmoor. Pick up the trail at the visitor center — it's well-signed. The first half-mile crosses an open dwarf pine barrens on a wide gravel path, with long views west over the valley. It's flat, it's gorgeous, and it's fully exposed — start early before the heat builds. You'll reach the Sam's Point Overlook (1,600 ft) in under a mile. The big view is here, and it earns a stop before you descend.
From the overlook, follow the marked trail down toward the ice cave entrance. The cave passages are a series of elongated crevices — not true caves but deep slots in the quartzite conglomerate where the rock geometry traps cold air year-round. A boardwalk and worn footpath thread you through them; some sections require genuine ducking and squeezing. The ice sits in shadow in the deepest slots, right on the floor. Let the kids lead. Plan to spend more time here than you expect.
After the caves, the trail loops back along the ridge with views east over the sky lakes — Lake Maratanza is the closest, with the longer Lake Awosting visible further into the preserve. The return leg is gentler and partially shaded. You're back at the lot having done a clean three-act loop: overlook, caves, ridge.
Twenty minutes east down Route 52 and Route 299, New Paltz is the obvious landing spot — a college town with a serious food scene and one of the more interesting streets in the Northeast.
Water (1.5L per person — non-negotiable this weekend), sturdy sneakers or hiking shoes, a light fleece or hoodie for the cave section, sunscreen applied before you leave the car, sunglasses, snacks. Download the trail map offline before you go — service on the barrens is unreliable.
Not feeling the drive this week? Here's where to take the kids instead — in the city and across the river. (No connection to this week's hike.)