What to do in Ulster County in the Spring…

10 Things to Do in Ulster County This Spring

Some of us aren’t from here originally. I came from Germany in 1998 and I find myself discovering new things to do still, after almost 30 years. Here are some of the highlights I have discovered over time. Some of them you might know already. I’m always in wonder and awe of the area we live in.

1. Minnewaska State Park Preserve

Twenty-two thousand acres on the Shawangunk Ridge. Thirty-five miles of carriage roads. Fifty miles of footpaths. Sky lakes carved by glaciers sitting at over 2,000 feet. Minnewaska isn't a park you visit once. It's a place you return to until it becomes part of how you think about where you live.

Spring is when it opens back up fully. Start with Gertrude's Nose if you want a real hike — 6.8 miles of exposed cliff edge and views that go all the way to New Jersey on a clear day. The Rainbow Falls Trail near Lake Awosting runs harder after spring rain. Worth the timing.

Note: Part of the Lake Awosting Carriage Road is closed for restoration in 2026. Check parks.ny.gov before you go.

2. The Mohonk Tulip Festival

Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz hosts this through mid-May. Thousands of tulips across Victorian grounds, garden tours, live music. It sounds like a lot. It isn't — it's quieter than you'd think, and more beautiful. The kind of afternoon that slows you down in the best possible way.

3. Sam's Point and the Ice Caves

There's nothing else like this in the region. Seven and a half miles out and back, with western views that open wide and sudden, a 180-foot waterfall you look down on from above, ladder scrambles through narrow rock corridors, and ice caves that stay frozen into summer. You come back from this hike having seen something.

Reserve parking before May. Spots go fast.

4. The Ashokan Rail Trail

Eleven and a half flat miles along the northern edge of the Ashokan Reservoir. Free. Accessible to everyone. The Catskills on one side, the water on the other, and in spring, the whole thing coming back to life at once. It doesn't ask much of you. It gives a lot back.

5. Woodstock–New Paltz Art & Crafts Fair

May 24th at the Ulster County Fairgrounds. Forty-four years running. Makers and artisans from across the region, handmade goods, the particular energy of people who chose to build something with their hands. If you've never been, go. If you have, you already know.

6. The Farmers Markets

This is where you learn who your neighbors are. Kingston, Saugerties, New Paltz, Stone Ridge, Woodstock — the markets reopen in spring and with them something essential comes back. Bread Alone loaves. Farmstead cheese. Cut flowers. Someone you haven't seen since October. Show up with a bag and no agenda.

7. Overlook Mountain, Woodstock

Five miles round trip from the edge of the village. The trail climbs hard for the first half and then opens up at the top into fire tower views — Ashokan Reservoir below, Catskills in every direction, Hudson Valley stretching east. The same view that stopped the Hudson River School painters in their tracks. Hotel ruins just below the summit. A Buddhist monastery at the trailhead on your way back down. It's a complete day.

8. The Catskill Mountain Railroad

The train runs along the Esopus Creek in Kingston. Spring is the best time — high water, trees just coming in, everything still unhurried. Good for kids. Good for anyone who wants to slow down and watch the landscape move past the window.

9. Kingston

The city is awake again. Galleries in the Rondout. Live music. The Stockade District on a Saturday. Kingston has drawn artists, writers, and people with serious ideas about how they want to live — and that energy is real. Walk it. Eat somewhere good. See what all the fuss is about. There's a reason people keep arriving here.

10. Twin Star Orchards, Mother's Day

May 10th. New Paltz. Noon. Market vendors, great cider, a property that feels like it earned its place in the valley. This is the kind of spot people bring up when someone asks them why they moved here. Not the views, not the real estate — this place. Come see for yourself.

Hudson Dwellings Realty Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Greene & Orange Counties hudsondwellingsrealty.com We live here too.