The Irvington Woods – Hermit’s Grave, Macy’s Monument, Irvington Reservoir

After a long hiatus, I returned to one of my favorite hikes at The Irvington Woods. This park has so much to offer: three bodies of water (Irvington Reservoir, Marshall’s Pond, and Ice Pond), a wetlands area (Hermit’s Wetland), a grave site (Hermit’s Grave), several rock outlooks (Split Rock, Jenkin’s Rock, and Sunset Rock), outlooks, monuments, and much more.

The terrain and scenery is varied. One moment, it’s lush grasses. The next, it’s pine needles and tall trees. The next, it’s a carriage trail and open space. All with bodies of water and elevation changes mixed in.

My route was roughly as follows: main entrance parking lot off Mountain Road, HW to the wetlands, blue loop south, red loop south, HG to Hermit’s Grave, then HG to the yellow loop west, a stop at Macy’s Monument, then up Macy’s Steps to Macy’s Terrace, following the yellow loop north to Cyrus Field Rd, then back on at the blue loop north, to the red loop north, up to Sunset Rock, back on the blue loop south, then the red loop west, to the blue loop south, to the purple loop counterclockwise around the reservoir, to the unmarked path north of the reservoir, to the northern yellow loop, to Marshall’s Pond, back on the yellow loop east, then the blue loop north to Ice Pond, then the blue loop east back to the parking lot.

Overall, this was an amazing hike on a sunny mid-70’s morning into afternoon