Palisades Interstate Park and State Line Lookout
National Natural Landmark · Alpine, New Jersey
A wall of dark basalt cliffs rising up to five hundred feet straight out of the Hudson for thirteen miles along the New Jersey shore, from the George Washington Bridge to the New York line — A NATIONAL NATURAL LANDMARK, and the most recognisable geological feature in the New York region. They are the exposed edge of a two-hundred-million-year-old magma sheet, and the columnar jointing is what gives them the palisade look that named them. THEY EXIST AS PARKLAND BECAUSE QUARRYING WAS BLOWING THEM UP FOR TRAP ROCK IN THE 1890s and a campaign of New Jersey and New York women stopped it, creating one of America's first interstate conservation agencies in 1900.
Palisades Interstate Parkway, Alpine, New Jersey, 07620, United States
FREE and open dawn to dusk year round. Parking is free at most areas with a modest seasonal charge at some, including the Alpine and Englewood boat basins; State Line Lookout has free parking and a seasonal cafe. THE TRAIL DIFFICULTY RANGE IS EXTREME — clifftop overlooks are a two-minute walk from a car park, while the Shore Trail is eleven rocky miles and THE GIANT STAIRS IS A HALF-MILE BOULDER SCRAMBLE, not a staircase, where rescues occur every season. Connector trails between top and bottom are steep 400-500-foot climbs and are widely spaced. Rock steps ice over in winter. No potable water on the trails.
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