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Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
Vroman's Nose, New York

With the end of fall approaching, we took what might have been the last beautiful, sunny, and warm day and headed out west to hike the Vroman’s Nose Loop Trail just west of Middleburgh in upstate New York.  The leaves brightly displayed the glorious fall colors only seen in this part of the country at this time of year, and the sun warmed us up to allow us to focus on the beauty that was all around.

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
Glorious fall in upstate New York!

Vroman’s Nose

Vroman’s Nose out in Fulton, New York is one of the most prominent and well-known natural landscape features in the Schoharie Valley. The exposed bedrock consists layers of varying sedimentary rock.  About 25,000 years ago, it was carved out by the Wisconsin glacier during the last period of glaciation, along with the rest of the valley. Glacial striations, scratches visible on the surface of rock from the advancing then retreating glacier, are still visible from the summit today.

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
Some old graffiti etched into the rock at the summit. The glacial striation is quite visible here, and looks like large, long claw marks.
Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
Looking out towards the Catskill Mountains from the summit of Vroman’s Nose.

This fertile area was heavily occupied prehistorically by the Mohawks of the Iroquois. Vroman’s Nose was named after the Vroman family who acquired the land from the British during the 18th century. During the Revolutionary War, this area was a hotspot, with the Vroman Massacre of 1780 and a fort right in the town of Middleburgh just a mile and a half away, which was actually how the town was initially founded.

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
At the summit, the trail follows along a steep descent providing a long stretch of beautiful views.

A hotel was supposed to have been built on the summit in the 1930s, but the plans never came to fruition. This area was first preserved by the Vroman’s Nose Preservation Corporation in 1983, which was a small group of local residents who wanted to keep this local feature safe from development. New York State is in talks with the Vroman’s Nose Preservation Corporation to turn the trails and surrounding lands into a protected State Park.

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
The woods along the trail near the ridgeline opened up and sunshine spilled down.

Hiking Trails

There is one main loop that takes hikers up past the summit and around back down, but several trails offshoot from the main path really allowing you to make your own way.  We followed the green trail up, and started our descent down along the blue trail, but decided to cut back via the yellow trail to add a bit more mileage to our hike.

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
Hiking up from the beginning of the green trail.
Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
This large collections of cairns greeted us as we made our way down along the blue trail.

Where is it Located?

Vroman’s Nose is located in the town of Fulton, New York, just southwest of Middleburgh.  The parking area for the hiking trail is located on Mill Valley Road, just off of NY Route 30, on the south side of the road.

Maps

There is no official trail map for Vroman’s Nose accessible online, but plenty of people have posted images of their GPS’d hikes. Mine is just below.

Visiting Vroman’s Nose in Fulton, New York
Our mapped hike at Vroman’s Nose using the Alltrails app.

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