Storm King Summit

Storm King Mountain is one of the most historically significant peaks in American conservation history, its proposed use as a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in the 1960s sparking a decade-long legal battle that ultimately established the legal principle of standing for environmental organizations and gave birth to the modern environmental movement. The 3.5-mile out-and-back to Storm King's 1,355-foot summit climbs steeply from the Stillman parking area on Route 9W through oak and hickory forest interrupted by granite outcrops sculpted by glaciers. The upper trail traverses open rock slabs with increasingly expansive views before reaching the summit, where the full sweep of the Hudson Valley is visible in all directions. Looking south the view encompasses West Point Military Academy's gray buildings clustered on the opposite bank, the academy's parade ground, and Trophy Point where 46 tons of captured cannon are arranged as a monument to American military history. The Hudson Gorge through the Highlands, the narrowest section of the river between its source in the Adirondacks and New York Harbor, frames the foreground. Storm King Art Center, a world-renowned outdoor sculpture park, sits in the meadows below the mountain's western slope and can be visited in combination with the summit hike for a full cultural-natural day in the Hudson Valley.