Hiking Pic Paradis in St. Martin / St. Maarten

If you live in New York City (like I do) and want to get some cheap sun the two best places to go are either a.) Miami or b.) The Caribbean.  When I go on a beach vacation, however, I do like to do some amount of outdoor things (e.g. Kayaking, Hiking, Biking etc.). In general the Caribbean is not the *best* place for those sort of activities although some of the islands do offer at least some things to outdoor folks. In St. Martin / St. Maarten hiking up Pic Paradis is definitely a great outdoor activity. If you are into that sort of thing, I highly recommend doing it.

Getting there and Travel Time

Pic Paradis is on the French side a bit north of Marigot. In general you need a car to get around St. Martin and getting to Pic Paradis is no exception. Here are expected travel times from a couple on the island:

  • Oyster Pond / Westin: Your best bet is to drive north and go around the top half of the island. It will easily take you 30 to 40 minutes of driving.
  • Simpson Bay: Likewise this will take you 30 minutes of driving

The Hike

Pic Paradis is my favorite type of hike. First, it is quite steep so it is a good workout. Second, the top will reward you with great views of Marigot, Anguilla and the Caribbean sea. I highly recommend it. Here are some pictures from the top. Enjoy!

View from Pic Paradis looking west. Anguilla in the background.

Me at the top of Pic Paradis. December 31, 2008.

Oyster.com on the Today Show.

We recently switched our video hosting from Brightcove to Vimeo. We are a fairly small producer of video (about 50 videos total), however, we still need a solution for it and overall are quite happy with the new Pro version of Vimeo.  Still want to look at Wistia.

Hiking in Harriman State Park

This summer another hike that we did was in Harriman State Park. I don’t have a ton to say about this hike. The particular path that we chose was not super difficult and it “ended” with a lake at the end of the hike.

Travel Time from NYC: A little over an hour via car. As far as I know there is no really easy way to get there via public transportationl. You can probably take metro north and get close, but it is not super convenient.

Relevant Links:

If you are interested in doing something that is a bit more strenuous and with better views I would recommend checking out hiking in Cold Spring, New York. Here are a couple of photos that might prove helpful to some.

Welcome Sign at the Reeves Meadow Center Visitor Center

Welcome Sign at the Reeves Meadow Center Visitor Center

View at “The Lake”. It was nice.

Hiking in Cold Spring (Review)

A few weeks back Ilana and I decided to go hiking in Cold Spring, New York.  The short of it is that if you are looking for a hike with amazing views that is not too strenuous then I highly recommend checking out this hike. Here are some of the key things that you should know about the hike:
  • Travel Time from NYC: About 90 minutes if you take Metro North from Grand Central. The hike is about a fifteen to twenty minute walk from the Cold Spring train station
  • Hike Time: Depends which trail you do, but about 2.5 hours for the white marker loop
There are two major hikes (that I am aware of) that one can do in Cold Spring. The first is Mount Taurus / Bull Hill and the second is Breakneck Ridge. If you are looking for something that is not too challenging then do Bull Hill. If you are hard core (or so I hear) then try Breakneck Ridge.  Also note that even within Bull Hill there are a lot of different paths you can take that are of varying difficulties.

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