Storm King State Park offers unsurpassed views of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley. Hikers and hunters enjoy this undisturbed green space. Park is undeveloped. There are no toilets and limited parking.
Emily G. on Storm King - Butter Hill Trail
Strenuous and rocky, so make sure you have good footwear. Easy to follow trail, but you need to be cognizant of the changing trail blaze colors (orange to teal to white). There are three different peaks all with great views.
My first hiking experience was 7/31/17 and it was the Butterhill/Stormking trail. I got there about 10:00AM and had a blast. I was by myself which now looking back might not have been the most wise decision. But it was a great time to be had. I found it challenging and now I feel as if I've been bit by some sort of bug. This has definitely opened up a new chapter in my life as I'm really not able to compete in organized sports at a high level anymore. The views were great and it had a good taste of how scrambling across rocks feel. It was quite sunny and a good and thorough sweat was achieved. I will definitely look into a better water carrying apparatus before my next jaunt. Did get lost and ended up descending what I believe to be was storm king mountain and had to end up backtracking up to the correct way the blue trail was headed. I think that added a solid mile to my trip because Endomondo logged me in at a bit over 4 miles from the parking lot and back. I'm researching breakneck ridge for the next endeavor before heading further north. I really appreciate these apps and sites like catskill mountaineer for the first hand accounts and experiences from other individuals. It gives one the opportunity to somewhat visualize a potential trail and develop what I like to call a health fear and respect before actually undertaking the hike itself. I don't know maybe I'm looking too much into it but the outdoors are great for a reason and I certainly want to do my share of keeping them that way. Corny as it sounds but we only have one Earth.
Did this in July. Excellent trail. Main parking lot was full on Sunday so we parked at a nearby trail and added one mile hike to our route to both butter hill and storm summits. 5.5 miles total round trip.
I would have loved it but..
*There were no maps.
*The trails weren't easy to follow.
*Lack of bathroom facilities like Cold Springs.
* Litter everywhere
Pros.
* Lots of wildlife. We saw turkeys, hawks, chipmunks, lizards
* Beautiful scenery of the Hudson Valley.
Full trail is definitely Hard.
Better than the Storm King loop. Harder scramble, more scenic, and less people.
Decently easy trail with great views!