VISION: PARK, PLACE, PORTAL, PRESERVE The Fjord Trail is more than a path. It is a linear park that traces the river and offers unique glimpses into the diverse landscapes that compose the Hudson Highlands. It is a place, with varied scales of spaces and aesthetic experiences that emerge along its slender route, offering new ways to inhabit and understand the Highlands region. It is a portal that brings the towns and villages of the region to the water’s edge and connects urban dwellers of New York City to the scenic beauty and restorative power of the region. Finally, it is a preserve that reveres and restores the landscape, connects to wider regional parks and trails, and inspires stewardship and engagement in the ecological cycles and patterns that are so often invisible in our busy lives. With all work, all decisions, the Fjord Trail strives to express reverence for the regional landscape. Built elements will nest within a restored and living landscape that is ecologically rich and sculpted by natural processes, rather than the visible hand of the designer. This aspiration is coupled with the desire to reveal the Hudson Fjord to all people, regardless of age, background, or ability level. True public access means services, gradual slopes, and safe materials. The site is challenging - the topography of the Fjord is steep, and often unstable, intersecting major rail infrastructure and sensitive habitats. If access is provided without careful protections people can “love a landscape to death.” The Fjord Trail vision balances these competing concerns of access and conservation and creates a Fjord Trail experience that allows all users to immerse themselves in the majesty of this place while protecting the ecological sublime. The Main Trail, a trail for all, unites the project and connects the Village of Cold Spring with the City of Beacon, New York. This accessible and bikeable path weaves in and out of distinct landscape types that define the Highlands region – the urban interface, the river’s edge, the steep highlands topography, and the tributary marshlands. The shared course is wide, gentle, accessible, and offers places to rest, recover, and restore. Meanders, or spur and loop trails, offer destination- based moments of immersion and escape into the Fjord Trail landscape. Meanders can be small, quick departures from the shared course to see a view or shore, or longer, rambling walks that create new ways to traverse the Fjord Trail landscape. Connectors are longer day hikes that depart from the park-like atmosphere of the Fjord Trail and open up new wilderness experiences of the Hudson Highlands landscape. Unlike meanders, which are part of the Fjord Trail, connectors link to the approximately 45 miles of hiking trail in this region. The most famous connector, Breakneck Ridge, extends from the Fjord Trail and offers panoramic views of the Fjord and Highlands landscape from an elevated vista. Others, like the West Point Foundry Preserve, connect to historic and cultural destinations of the region. This combined circulation system of the main trail, meanders, and connectors, creates an infinite array of experiences of the Fjord Trail, enabling loops, multiple trips, and varied itineraries. It balances the needs for access for all with the desire to protect and experience the sublime landscape in a textural and tactile way. HUDSON HIGHLANDS FJORD TRAIL | MASTER PLAN 57 DRAFT
