Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary Trail is a 1.2 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Cold Spring, New York that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from April until October.
It’s a nice short distance to the marsh. Don’t forget to visit the waterfall.
The parking is only for 5 cars. We came back 6 times throughout the day and had to wait for another car to leave. The trail is basically part road, part Goat path: rock scramble. The trail needs some work. A lady with a baby carriage thought she was able to hike it. It’s March so we didn’t see any birds no live whatsoever actually but that could be in part of the loud teenagers taking selfies. It’s a really nice boardwalk, I actually imagined it a lot different. And yes a goat was on this trail! So was a few dogs. Was not quiet. Heard a starling and a nuthatch in the distance but that’s it. I’m not sure I would go back.
Takes about 20-30 min to get there from parking. We were there at the end of the summer. So not much to see. Water Lilies were already rotting, reeds no better. We will comeback in the spring or early summer. If you go left from parking there is a water fall about 10 min away pass the red bridge. Very nice.
None of these reviews inform you that there is a rocky incline you need to walk to get to the marsh. Not terrible, probably not even the worst in the area, but definitely a workout and UNEXPECTED. I went fully anticipating an easy hike, but it wasn't a pleasant stroll through the woods. Then again the two hills back to the car were worse.
Very short run, more like a sightseeing tour! However going back up was a great 1/4 mile incline for a brief workout. The waterfalls were fantastic for pictures. Be sure to go up towards the red bridge away from marsh / parking lot to view waterfalls! The marshlands were also spectacular for viewing west point
I'm not sure why this says 13 miles. Maybe on the water there are trails that equal that? For me it was about 1.3 miles from the parking area. Warning - you can only park a total of SIX cars here and if you try parking past that you will be ticketed or towed. This makes it extremely difficult to park as even along the street to this path there is no parking and nearest town is over a mile away. There was definitely some beautiful scenery on the boardwalk area - but ithat area was much, much smaller than pictures lead you to believe. Maybe a 1/4 mile loop of boardwalk, if that. The trail is about a 1/2 mile and the rest is just a walk down the dirt road from the parking area. If you go up away from the trail you can take a short half mile walk to a pretty waterfall. All in all not a terrible trail/path but it's very short and definitely not something you would want to travel to see.
If you've seen one marsh you've seen 'em all. Just kidding. The boardwalk is a nice touch, but only cuts into a tiny bit of Constitution Marsh. To really see the marsh, you need to kayak/canoe it. Required for completists, recommended for anyone who wants to throw in some wetland diversity into their mountain hikes, but overall it's non-essential.