April 10, 2016

Difficulty: easy

Length: approximately 5 miles

Route type: out and back

Blauvelt State Park is a 644-acre undeveloped state park located in the Town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, near the Hudson River Palisades. The park’s land occupies the site of the former Camp Bluefields, a rifle range used to train members of the New York National Guard prior to World War I. The park is located south of Nyack.

While doing a search for hikes that involved abandoned places, I came upon this unusual place. I grew up almost directly across the Hudson River from this place and I have never heard of it before. I have to say that once I read about it I knew I had to pay a visit to the haunted tunnels of Tweed. Not much information was available on where exactly the tunnels were situated, but once I took a look at my Hudson Palisades Trails Map I discovered that the tunnels were listed on the map. In fact the The Long Path, which is the main trail that runs through the park passes right over one of the tunnels.

I was looking forward to this hike and was not the least bit concerned about all the horror stories I had read. After all, I was going there during daylight hours. I doubt very much that I would visit this place in the dark.

The hike actually started off in Tackamack Town Park where there was ample parking. We gathered our gear which included headlamps and handheld flashlights. The trailhead was clearly marked with a kiosk and we began following the teal blazes of The Long Path. It was a pleasant walk through the woods which included a stream, some small cascades and a small wooden bridge. There was a couple making out on a rock in the distance and two women walking their dogs, but as we ventured deeper into the woods it became more secluded. Once I was quite certain that we were in Blauvelt State Park I kept my eyes open for any sign of the tunnels. I glanced to my right and through the trees I saw what appeared to be a wall, so I bushwacked towards it and there it was. I hurriedly made it back to the trail and informed my hiking partners that I had found it. With that we continued on The Long Path looking for a clearing which would take us there. In a few minutes we were standing right on top of them. We turned right and we were face to face with the entrance.

I could see how this place could be frightening in the dark because besides the tunnels there is nothing else around. I glanced at the wall that I initially saw through the trees and it extended quite far and was littered with graffiti as was everything else.

We donned our headlamps and proceeded into the tunnel. It wasn’t spooky at all until I looked up at the ceiling and saw it covered with some creepy looking spiders. I tried to keep moving rather quickly because I saw a few of those spiders leaping off.

These tunnels are pitch black with only minimal light coming through holes in the tunnel walls. We went a good distance until I saw what appeared to be a cave in just up ahead. We turned around and exited the way we entered. We then went back to where The Long Path crossed over the tunnel and walked on top to see where it would lead. We came upon this eerie looking entrance.

I peered in, but I did not enter because the tunnel was very small and I did not feel like crawling through it as it extended for quite some distance. I did pose in front of it though.

We continued to wander around and take photographs of the the area. You can click on the ensuing images to enlarge them.

There were some sort of storage buildings all around that possibly were used to store munitions, but I am not sure about that.

Then we ended up at another entrance which was on the opposite end of the entrance with the tree growing over it.

As we continued on The Long Path we veered right up an unmarked trail that had numerous warnings not to proceed of a satanic nature.

As it turned out the trail just led out onto a road with houses nearby, so we turned around and rejoined The Long Path once again. We continued to where the map indicated there was a scenic overlook, but it wasn’t anything special so we retraced our steps back to the vehicle. On the way back we stopped at the first tunnel entrance and walked along the side of the wall to see what else we could find. Where the wall ended there was another tunnel.

We did not go any further, but I plan to go back and walk the top of this tunnel in the future to check out what else there is to see. We found our way back to The Long Path and hiked back to the parking lot.