The S62 knows something you don't
The S62 bus pulls away from the Staten Island Ferry terminal every twelve minutes, carrying commuters to Hylan Boulevard and the occasional hiker who's figured out that New York City owns a mountain. You'll ride past vinyl-sided houses and strip malls for eighteen minutes before the driver calls out "Rockland Avenue and Nevada Avenue"—your stop for High Rock Park, the northern entrance to the Greenbelt. The forest begins exactly where the sidewalk ends. No visitors center fanfare, no admission booth. Just a wooden trail marker and two thousand eight hundred acres of kettle ponds, tulip trees, and trails that feel lifted from the Catskills.
The Greenbelt Conservancy maintains thirty-five miles of marked trails through what remains of Staten Island's glacial spine. High Rock sits at the system's northern edge, where most visitors never venture past the first half-mile loop. That's your advantage. The serious trails begin where the casual walkers turn back.
Moses' Mountain isn't on most maps
The Blue Trail starts behind the High Rock environmental education center—a modest building you'll pass on your left after entering the park. Look for the blue blazes on the trees, each painted rectangle about four inches tall. The trail descends first, counterintuitively, into a hollow thick with mountain laurel before climbing in earnest. You'll gain two hundred feet of elevation over the next mile and a quarter, switchbacking through oak and hickory forest that blocks all sound from the neighborhoods below.
Moses' Mountain tops out at 401 feet—the highest natural point in the five boroughs, though few New Yorkers could name it. The summit clearing appears suddenly after a final steep pitch. On clear days you'll see the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge framing the harbor, Lower Manhattan's cluster of towers, and on exceptional mornings, the ridgeline of the Watchung Mountains in New Jersey. Locals call this spot "the only real view" because unlike the Todt Hill water tower or any rooftop, you've climbed to it under your own power through actual wilderness.
The trail system rewards exploration
The Greenbelt's color-coded trail network links five major parks: High Rock, Bloodroot Valley, La Tourette, Reed's Basket Willow Swamp, and William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge. The White Trail traces the entire Greenbelt spine for seven miles, but the most interesting route combines the Blue and Yellow Trails in a four-mile loop that takes you past Ohrbach Lake—a former reservoir now ringed with white pines—and through the Bloodroot Valley's stream corridor.
Bring the Greenbelt Conservancy's printed trail map, available free at High Rock or downloadable from their website. Cell service drops to nothing once you're a half-mile in. The trails are well-blazed but intersect frequently, and the woods are dense enough that wandering off-route means genuine disorientation. Rangers find lost hikers here several times each season, usually people who relied solely on phone GPS.
Timing matters more than you'd think
The trails open at dawn and close at dusk year-round, but your experience depends entirely on when you arrive. Weekday mornings between nine and eleven are nearly empty—you might encounter one or two dog walkers on the entire Blue Trail. Weekend afternoons bring families to High Rock's nature center, though most stay on the paved paths. Early spring, before the canopy fills in, offers the best views. Late October brings the leaf-peepers, but by mid-November you'll have the trails largely to yourself again.
Avoid visiting after heavy rain. The trails here drain poorly—a legacy of the glacial clay subsoil—and what looks like a simple path becomes a ankle-deep mud channel within hours of a storm. Local hikers check the weather two days back, not just the current forecast. If it rained Thursday, skip your Saturday hike.
What the regulars know
The picnic area near High Rock's parking lot has tables under a pavilion, but the better lunch spot sits a quarter-mile down the Yellow Trail: a cluster of flat rocks overlooking a seasonal stream. In summer, this spot stays ten degrees cooler than the exposed summit. The regular hikers—you'll recognize them by their worn boots and trail-stained packs—eat here while day-trippers crowd the official picnic grounds.
Bring more water than seems reasonable. The Greenbelt has no fountains once you're past High Rock's building, and the summer humidity makes the climbs more taxing than the modest elevation suggests. A two-liter bladder isn't excessive for the full loop. Also bring tick checks. The deer population keeps the tick numbers high from April through October. Check yourself thoroughly after every hike, particularly behind the knees and along the waistband.
The forgotten borough's best secret
Staten Island absorbs the jokes about being New York's afterthought, but the Greenbelt represents something the other boroughs genuinely lack: wild space that requires effort to access. No Instagram crowds, no influencer photo queues. Just trails that demand you pay attention to blazes and footing. The ferry ride itself costs nothing, the S62 accepts MetroCard, and the trails charge no admission. You can leave Manhattan after breakfast and be standing on Moses' Mountain before lunch, having spent nothing but the subway fare you were going to spend anyway.
The Greenbelt Conservancy runs occasional guided hikes and trail maintenance volunteer days, but you don't need to join a group to access any trail. Everything's open to the public, every day. The forest doesn't care whether you're a borough resident or a visitor. It simply exists, remarkably intact, waiting for the small number of people who bother to take the ferry and the bus and walk past where the pavement ends.
Practical notes
High Rock Park entrance: 200 Nevada Avenue, Staten Island. Take the Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall Terminal (free, 25 minutes), then the S62 bus toward Hylan Boulevard. Exit at Rockland Avenue and Nevada Avenue (18 minutes, MetroCard accepted). Walk uphill on Nevada Avenue for three minutes to the park entrance. Trails open dawn to dusk daily, no admission fee. High Rock Nature Center operates Wednesday-Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM, with free trail maps and restrooms. The Blue Trail to Moses' Mountain is 2.5 miles round-trip, moderate difficulty, allow two hours. Wear sturdy shoes with ankle support. No food vendors exist within the Greenbelt—bring everything you need. Parking available at High Rock for drivers (free, 20 spaces). Greenbelt Conservancy website has downloadable trail maps and current conditions. No bikes allowed on trails. Dogs permitted on leash.
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