Boulder Rock
At a Glance
- Area: North-South Lake
- Day-use fee: $10/vehicle in season (NSL day-use fee, same lot)
- Cell service: Spotty. Download your trail map before you go.
What You're Actually Going to See
This loop does double duty: it's a short walk to a real piece of Catskills history, and a short walk to a genuinely good view. From the North Lake day-use area, the Mountain House Trail climbs past the site of the Catskill Mountain House, the grand 19th-century resort hotel that once drew Hudson River School painters and society travelers to this exact escarpment, torn down in 1963 and now just a flat clearing where the hotel's famous porch view still holds up.
Getting there was part of the show. By the 1880s, guests could ride the Ulster & Delaware Railroad almost the whole way: up from Kingston, through Phoenicia and the Stony Clove Notch, splitting at Kaaterskill Junction toward Tannersville and Haines Falls before the final stretch practically dropped them at the hotel's door. The other branch off that same junction ran to Hunter, and that old rail bed, long since pulled up, is what the Hunter Regional Trails — the Kaaterskill, Huckleberry, and Hunter Branch rail trails — now follow, a few miles from here.
From there, the Escarpment Trail carries you on to Boulder Rock itself: a glacial erratic, roughly 10 feet tall and 15 feet across, dropped here around 14,000 years ago as the last ice sheet retreated. It sits right at the cliff edge, with a clear view out over Kaaterskill Clove, the Hudson Valley, and the Taconic Mountains on the horizon. The loop closes via the Boulder Rock Bypass back to the trailhead.
Ways to Get There
From the North-South Lake day-use area
1.7 mi loop (measured from the North Lake lot) · moderate · 30 min–1 hr
From Route 23A in Tannersville, head down North Lake Rd. all the way to the end to North-South Lake (the $10/vehicle NSL fee applies in season). Any of the day-use lots work — most people headed to Boulder Rock park in one of the lots in the southeast corner of the day-use area, which sit closer to the trail than the North Lake lot the mileage above is measured from. Pick up the Mountain House Trail, follow it to the Catskill Mountain House site, then continue on the Escarpment Trail to Boulder Rock. Loop back via the Boulder Rock Bypass to your lot.
Get Directions → · View on AllTrails →
What to Expect
This is an easier, shorter cousin of the Sunset Rock walk out of the same lot, well-marked and not especially technical, but there's real cliff edge at Boulder Rock itself, so keep kids and dogs close right at the overlook. Regular hiking shoes handle this one fine; we'd still point people to the Oboz Sawtooth X Mid if they're doing this as part of a bigger North-South Lake day that includes Sunset Rock or the Escarpment Trail proper.
From the shop
When to Go
Best April through October per AllTrails. Same crowd logic as the rest of North-South Lake: go early on summer weekends and fall-foliage Saturdays, the lot fills and the views are better in the morning light anyway.
Good to Know
- $10/vehicle day-use fee in season, same as the rest of North-South Lake (waived weekdays for 62+, free with the Empire Pass).
- Park in any North-South Lake day-use lot; the lots in the southeast corner of the day-use area sit closer to the trail than North Lake.
- Real drop-off at Boulder Rock itself. Stay back from the edge, especially with kids or dogs.
- Dog-friendly on leash.
- This is black bear country. Don't leave food or a pack unattended.
- Cell service is spotty, like the rest of North-South Lake. Download your trail map before you go.
- Apps like AllTrails are handy but not gospel, they can be off on the exact route. This loop is short and well-marked, but if you want the real map for your whole North-South Lake day, we carry the NY-NJ Trail Conference Catskill Trails Map · $17.95, stop in and we'll help you find your route on it.
- Wrong for anyone who's already done Sunset Rock and wants a totally different view, this one's a nice add-on to a North-South Lake day, not a standalone destination trip on its own.
While you're out here
This loop starts from the same lot as Sunset Rock and the rest of the Escarpment Trail. Once the North-South Lake area page is live, this becomes one of its real cards instead of the "coming soon" placeholder it's standing in for now.
If you want to know what else is worth seeing while you're up here, or want to talk through what to bring before you go, stop into the shop. We're a few miles down the road in Tannersville.