Friday October 24th, 2025 - Thacher State Park - Escarpment and Indian Ladder Trails - Near Albany NY - 2.8 miles about 380 feet elevation gain

We were on our way to Vermont to celebrate Brian's parents birthdays and anniversary.  The Alltrails hike I downloaded was a longer out and back on the Escarpment trail which runs along the dramatic cliff edges that make up most of the trail network at Thacher State Park.  This is one of NY State's best state parks to visit in the fall and being a weekday there were very few people visiting when we were there.

Part way along the Escarpment trail I saw the sign for Indian Ladder and an impressive set of stairs leading down the cliff from the edge where we were.  The stairs (which replaced the trail's namesake ladder) didn't lead all the way to the bottom of the valley but did go down to a shelf that exists 60 or so feet down the cliff edge.  In several spots there are waterfalls that trickle (or gush) off the escarpment edge.  More mysteriously to me, there are also places where reasonable amounts of water come flowing out from UNDER the escarpment.  I don't know what sort of geology causes that unusual situation but it was all fascinating especially since the trail sometimes went through spots where it was necessary to stoop over to fit under the massive rock overhangs.





 
 







 

For a glorified leg stretcher walk, this was a very memorable visit. The colors, the rocks and the waterfalls all combined to make it special.
 

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