51 miles of mapped trail cross Fishkill, 1.9 per square mile of land. 4,558 acres are parks and preserves, 199 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: Hudson Highlands State Park (39 mi), Stonykill Environmental Education Center (4 mi), Sarah Taylor Park (outer) (0.9 mi).
Ahead of 97% of U.S. towns · #51 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Conserved land
43%
7,507 acres · of 27.3 sq mi of land
Trails
51 mi
1.9 per sq mi of land
Park land
4,558 ac
199 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
74%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.2 mi
0.1 mi paths
Highest peak
1,611 ft
South Beacon Mountain
Lakes & rivers
5
1 beach
What kind of outdoors town is Fishkill?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Fishkill is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns, #51 of 758 in New York. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.
A+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Fishkill’s overall grade.
Water is 15% of Fishkill’s area (5 of 32 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 37%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
43% of Fishkill’s land. Water is left out: Fishkill has 27.3 square miles of land and 4.7 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Fishkill’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State parks5,079 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits2,354 ac
State conservation713 ac
Other state land440 ac
Town or city348 ac
Private owners44 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government3 ac
State Conservation Area · 4,427 acPrivate Other or Unknown · 1,597 acState Park · 652 acState Resource Management Area · 579 acPrivate Conservation · 546 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 27 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 6 of 34 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)
Managed by
Acres
Public access
Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve
State Conservation Area
State parks
4,427
Open
Fresh Air Fund Lands
Private Other or Unknown
Land trusts & nonprofits
1,597
Closed
Shlt / Rodman Assemblage
State Park
State parks
630
Open
Scofield Ridge
Private Conservation
Land trusts & nonprofits
546
Closed
Stonykill Environmental Education Center
State Other or Unknown
State conservation
467
Open
Fishkill State Correctional Facility
State Resource Management Area
Other state land
263
Open
Baxtertown Woods Wma
State Resource Management Area
State conservation
246
Open
Long Dock Park
Private Park
Land trusts & nonprofits
125
Unknown
City Of Beacon Land
Local Park
Town or city
120
Unknown
The Park At University Settlement Society
State Recreation Area
Other state land
108
Open
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
55 places to go in Fishkill
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Fishkill
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.1 mi
off-road bike paths
1.0 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
13Tennis
13Baseball
8Basketball
2Pickleball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
10 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 6 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
The best walking months in Fishkill: April, May, July and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Daylight (h)
9.5
10.5
11.8
13.3
14.5
15.2
14.9
13.8
12.4
11.0
9.8
9.2
High (°F)
36
39
48
61
71
80
85
83
75
64
51
41
Rain (in)
3.2
2.6
3.6
3.6
3.7
4.3
4.2
4.3
4.3
4.4
3.4
3.8
February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.4 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Fishkill →
Next door
Fishkill and its neighbors
Fishkill has the second most mapped trails of the 8 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Fishkill
Where can I hike in Fishkill?
The longest trail networks: Hudson Highlands State Park, 39 miles; Stonykill Environmental Education Center, 4 miles; Sarah Taylor Park (outer), 0.9 miles; Sarah Taylor Park, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Fishkill is conserved land?
43% of its land, against a typical 5% for a New York town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Fishkill’s trails?
Hudson Highlands State Park and Stonykill Environmental Education Center don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Fishkill?
1.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.1 of off-road paths and 1.0 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Fishkill?
66,928 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Fishkill or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 5,639 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Fishkill have?
Ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #51 of 758 in New York. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Fishkill neighbors.
Photo: Rolf Müller (User:Rolfmueller) · CC BY-SA 3.0