A long-distance hiker ticking off the Appalachian Trail southbound has been working through New York in late October, and the stretch around the Hudson River shows off one of the trail's most surprising facts: the AT runs within easy reach of New York City, close enough that the Manhattan skyline is visible from mountain summits along the way.

The day in question covered 25.9 miles, starting at Dennytown Road in Clarence Fahnestock State Park and ending at the William Brien Memorial Shelter just past sunset. That sounds modest until you see the logistics: the hiker was on a 4,396-mile trek, and this section came with over 5,700 feet of climbing on their seventh consecutive day on trail.

The route passes through Fahnestock's two AT miles, over Canopus Peak, and down to Graymoor, where the Appalachian Market on Route 9 is a hiker institution. It's essentially a gas station with a deli counter, but it's open 24 hours and sits directly on the trail with picnic tables out front — exactly the kind of unglamorous resupply stop thru-hikers build their days around.

Then comes the Hudson. The trail drops on a long flight of rock steps to Route 9D and the Bear Mountain Bridge, and the crossing is genuinely dramatic — the Hudson is likely the widest river the AT crosses, and big boats passing underneath look small from the bridge deck. Views of Anthony's Nose, a popular overlook above the river, tempt from the Camp Smith trail junction.

On the south side of the river, the trail does something almost no other long-distance path does: it walks straight through a zoo. The Trailside Zoo at Bear Mountain specializes in non-releasable animals — a three-legged red fox, a fox raised by humans, an orphaned beaver — and it's easy to lose an hour there. From the zoo, the climb up Bear Mountain begins. At 1,288 feet it wouldn't register as a summit in most AT states, but since the Hudson sits barely above sea level, the climb tops 1,000 feet. Perkins Memorial Tower at the top adds another 40 feet and delivers full 360-degree views, with the Hudson winding south toward New York City.

Beyond Bear Mountain, the trail crosses the Palisades Parkway via an on-ramp (a quirkiest-of-the-AT moment if there ever was one) and climbs Black Mountain, where the hiker passed the 1,400-mile mark as the sun went down.

For travellers, the takeaway is that you don't need five months and a tent to enjoy this. Bear Mountain State Park is a straightforward day trip from New York City, with the zoo, the tower, and Hudson viewpoints all reachable on shorter loops. Hikers planning a southbound AT thru-hike, meanwhile, should note the late-October realities on display here: short daylight, cold mornings, and long gaps between legal campsites south of the Hudson — this stretch demands either big miles or careful planning. Full credit to The Trek for the original account.