Crom Pond Trail in FDR State Park
Directions to trailhead
From the Taconic State Parkway, take the FDR State Park Exit 16 [41.284528, -71.816886]. There is a daily entrance fee in season and on weekends during the spring and fall. Get an Empire State Passport. From the park entrance road keep right and follow the the signs to the swimming pool parking area. The trailhead is on eastern edge of the parking lot just south of the entrance/exit split. Look for a bench and white trail markers on a post.
For the alternate hike, take Baldwin Road Exit 14, from the Taconic State Parkwary and turn east. At the triangle intersection, bear left onto Mohansic Avenue East. The road bends right at the junction with Old Mohansic Avenue East (gated) [41.271991, -73.802436] where there is free, very limited roadside parking. Don't block the gate. Use the alternative hike description.
Hike Description
From FDR State Park's swimming pool parking lot, look for a bench on the east side, near a post with white tag blazes. Walk down the woods road and at a broad intersection in 0.2 mile, turn right onto the Crom Pond Trail. Crom means crooked in Dutch. Head down the stone steps. In 0.3 mile, turn right onto a narrow path. Cross a 70' long board walk in the wetlands, turn left to cross a stone wall and a short board walk. The path reaches a bridge built thanks to an Eagle project and east side of the bridge has a ramp that hugs the side of a large rock.
In 0.5 mile, turn right onto a woods road. Continue along the woods road and bear right to head towards Crom Pond at 0.7 mileThe views over Crom Pond and its adjacent wetlands make you think you are much further away from New York City than you actually are except that you can hear some traffic noise from the Taconic State Parkway. The animal paths down to the shore allow you to take a closer look at Crom Pond. The path turns left to go away from the water. At 0.8 mile, the trail crosses a 108-foot long boardwalk that lets you keep your feet dry. Turning right, the trail parallels a wetland. It reaches a 50-foot long boardwalk that spans the flood plain of the outlet stream of Crom Pond and connects to the bridge over the stream. At first glance the bridge seems really long. But, it is only 32 feet spanning the stream and then reaches a narrow piece of land which provides a foundation for board walk on the south side. You have walked 0.9 mile when you reach the south side of the bridge.
To lengthen your walk, you can turn right at the end of the boardwalk. A broad path heads due west and returns to Crom Pond at 1.0 mile, where there is a narrow path down to the water's edge. Retrace your steps to the swimming pool parking lot, taking time to enjoy the view from both bridges.
Alternate access to the pond and bridges from the south: From the fisherman's parking area on Old Mohansic Avenue East, walk east along the road to where a woods road enters the wetlands. You are on the Mohansic Trailway (orange), a rail spur that connected Yorktown Heights to the property that is now the Mohansic Golf Course. The railbed has wetlands on both sides. At 0.2 mile turn left on to a yellow blazed wide path. At the junction with the Crom Pond Trail (blue) which comes in from the right, continue straight.
At 0.5 mile, the Crom Pond trail turns right away from the water. It reaches the ramp leading to the bridge over the outlet stream. At first glance the bridge seems really long. But, it is only 32 feet long spanning the stream and the ramp on the south was built on a narrow strip of land. The 50-foot long board walk on the north side spans a broad flood plain. The trail parallels a wetland, then turns left, and reaches a 108-foot long board walk. At 0.7 mile, the Crom Pond Trail turns to parallel the shore of pond where there are animal paths to the water's edge. Turning away from the pond at 0.75 mile, the trail then merges onto a woods road. It follows the woods road, turms left to leave it, and reaches the inlet bridge at 1.0 mile. Retrace your steps to return to your car, having taken time enjoying the views from the bridges.