For a 14,000-acre state park, Fahnestock can be surprisingly easy to overlook.
Summer brings the crowds to Canopus Lake for swimming and paddling, and thousands of hikers pass through each year on the Appalachian Trail. But the rest of the park is oddly quiet, perhaps because it lacks river views and you need a car to reach the trailheads.
As a result, people miss the many landscapes that Fahnestock provides: the open plains around Glynwood, the sweeping views on Candlewood Hill, the pine trees and mountain laurel corridors that lead to Earl’s Chimney, the hidden lakes, the misty wetlands, the abandoned mines. Rocky climbs give way to wide farm roads which give way to mossy creek crossings.
For seasoned trail runners, the park is a stark contrast to the buttery, single-track trails of California or the notorious ascents and descents of the Rockies. Fahnestock’s trails demand versatility and focus.
“It’s a nice blend,” said Katharine Spector earlier this week while clearing encroaching bushes on the Charcoal Burners trail. “It’s a great way to introduce people to what trail running on the East Coast is really like.”
Spector introduced a lot of people to Fahnestock in 2023 when she helped create the Fabulous Fahnestock Trail Races, which are routes of 5.5 miles, 25 kilometers and 50 kilometers. Half the proceeds go to Fahnestock. The race returns on Aug. 17; register at fahnestockraces.com.
An interior designer who lives in Kent, Spector took up trail running in 2018. She’s a fast learner and a fast runner. In October 2021, she became the first person to run the New York section of the Appalachian Trail in one continuous push, covering 85 punishing miles in 26 hours, 24 minutes and 4 seconds.
She didn’t do it alone. She had a support crew of 15 people, including runners who had failed to set the record themselves. “It’s important to have a community that supports you, and to support others as they try to achieve their own goals,” she said. “Even if you’re a runner who goes on every run by yourself, at some point you’re going to encounter this community.” Spector went on to help found the Hudson Valley Trail Runners group, which holds weekly runs on Tuesday mornings in Beacon and Thursday evenings in Philipstown. (See instagram.com/hudsonvalleytrailrunners.)
The local trail-running community was also responsible for the creation of the Fabulous Fahnestock. During the pandemic shutdown that began in 2020, races were canceled and many outdoor spots, such as Mount Beacon, were closed. But Fahnestock was open, and Spector took on a project to run on every trail.
Then Christopher McGovern, who lives in Nelsonville, created his own ultramarathon by plotting out a 50K course that traces Fahnestock’s circumference. He uploaded the course to the ubiquitous fitness app Strava, and soon other runners were taking on the challenge and refining the route.
For the inaugural Fahnestock race, the McGovern course was revised a bit. It avoids the Appalachian Trail and Canopus since they are likely to be busy on a summer Saturday. However, during the 2023 race, on a blessedly cool day in the middle of a brutal heat wave, I hardly saw anyone on the trails who wasn’t racing.
Two hundred people took part last year, including many from outside the Hudson Valley. The 50K was won by Shannon Capps of Philadelphia and the 25K by Kyle Boykin of Georgia. Beacon’s Eric Diehl won the 5.5-mile by six seconds.
Spector is hoping the 2024 race will attract more locals and designed the event to appeal to curious outdoor enthusiasts who would enjoy a leisurely day in a beautiful place, not just those looking to blast through the 50K in six hours. The cutoff times are generous enough that the 25K and 5.5 miles races can be done by hikers.
There are prizes for the winners but also for the runner who gets lost the most and the last runner to finish within the cutoff times. (Full disclosure: In last year’s inaugural 50K, I banged my knee coming down Round Hill and “won” that prize.)
“It’s not a huge commitment,” Spector said of the shorter distances. “It’s a fun day out. A lot of local people have said to me, ‘Oh, Fahnestock, I don’t know anything about the trails there.’ Well, here’s a route we’ve marked out for you. We’re showing you where to go, so that you won’t be intimidated. And maybe later you’ll come back on your own, explore a little more and realize what a great place this is.”
