The Casino Trail is a trail that leads to the ruins of an old casino (see photo) on Mount Beacon. It has become one of the most popular trails in the Hudson Valley, largely due to a spectacular view from the ruins of the old casino. The trail starts out following the path of the former Beacon Incline Railway, which was once the world’s steepest funicular. It closed in 1978.
This is one of the most popular trails in the area for athletes getting ready for mountainous trail races. It is one of the main access points to the Hudson Highlands, which has dozens of miles of trails leading to a fire tower, hidden waterfalls, Breakneck Ridge, the Wilkinson Trail, and Bull Mountain with views of New York City, the Catskills, the Shawangunk Ridge, Storm King and the New Jersey state high point. Every spring this ridge is home to the Breakneck Point Marathon. It’s not uncommon on the weekends to see people doing laps up and down with loaded packs and hiking poles, resupplying at their cars (often adorned with ultramarathon stickers) before heading up for another lap. The math is easy; the trail is roughly 1 mile long with 1000’ of elevation gain. So 2 laps = 2000’ of gain, 3 laps = 3000’, etc. The trail has a very competitive Strava segment that could be an FKT in its own right. The single ascent time is 11:39 by Jeffrey Seelaus.
Since 2016 I’ve wanted to see how many laps I could do in a day. Since the park is only open from dawn to dusk, 12 hours seemed like a sensible timeframe (instead of the usual 24 hours that these types of challenges often have). 12 Hours could legally be done (if using civil twilight to define dusk and dawn) between about February 24th and October 15th, though someone could certainly set a 12 hour record in less than 12 hours. Each lap starts at the gate and ends at the overlook next to the casino ruins (see photos of both). There are a few places where the trail splits with a steep option and a more gradual switchback option. All are fair game, just try to avoid cutting switchbacks and encouraging the creation of even more trails. The most laps I could find in 12 hours (in daylight) on Strava was 16 laps by Jay Lemos on November 27, 2021. You must either do more laps than the previous best, or do the same number of laps (finishing back at the gate) in less time than the previous best.
Note: Just before attempting this myself, after some extensive digging on Strava, I came across the Mount Beacon Everesting Challenge, started in 2021 during the height of Covid, when there were very few races to choose from. I won’t list their names here since the park is technically closed at night, but the idea was to “Everest” (gain the total height of Mount Everest) on the Casino Trail, in 24 hours, during the middle of winter. It looks like 3 people have succeeded at this very difficult underground challenge. All attempts during this challenge appear to be supported.
https://highlandscurrent.org/2022/04/29/end-of-the-line/
