How to Hike The Giant Stairs Palisades Trail in NJ

I recently completed one of the most popular hikes in Fort Lee Historic Park and that would be the Giant Stairs Palisades trail. If you’re planning on hiking it for the first time, this post will help you do that and while it is a pretty easy in the navigating sense (a bit more moderate on the hiking difficulty though), there are certain things you’ll want to know before you go as to ensure you complete it on time and not get lost.

Quick info on the Giant Stairs Palisades hike:

• Name: Giant Stairs Palisades (Also known as the Giant Steps Palisades).
• Location: Fort Lee Historic Park (New Jersey).
• Distance: 4-5 mile loop.
• Difficulty: Moderate and difficult sometimes.
• Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
• Recommended hike? If you’re in NYC or just visiting this park outside of it for the day and you enjoy hikes, definitely explore this one. It has nice mixes of elevation change, boulder hopping and even crosses with other thru hikes like the Long Path (lots to see). There is only 1 real way to access the trail here and I’ll be showing your the directions to reach it in a moment.

Here’s 5 things to know about the Giant Stairs Palisades hike:

1. This hike is a 4.5 mile loop hike and involves crossing 3 trails (aqua, white, then a mix of aqua/white).
2. Most people start this hike by parking at State Line Lookout Palisades (and finishing there).
3. It is moderate to difficult depending on your physical shape.
4. Make sure to do this hike with at least 5 hours of daylight to spare.
5. You can do this hike clockwise or counter clock wise (I prefer the clockwise trail).

Those are the most immediate things I wanted to share with you about the Giant Stairs hike because I did come across several people along the trail who weren’t properly prepared for it and thus had to turn back (in my experience, this happens a lot with hikers).

1) First you’ll need to reach Palisades State Line Lookout:

On the above map, it’s literally by the area which says “You are here” and its a very popular spot located by Palisades Highway (eastern side) and when you enter it, there will be a large parking area overlooking the Hudson River. There’s also a cafe there to eat at. In addition, there’s picnic areas there too. However, there is no real trailhead to the Giant Steps hike from there as you’ll need to find it, but for this step just start at the Palisades State Line Lookout.

2) To find the Giant Steps Palisades hike, look for an aqua colored trail marker:

Basically what you’ll do is park at State Line Lookout, walk towards the viewing areas, then turn left which will have you stepping on broken roads. From there, it’s easy to find the aqua colored trail marker but keep in mind that it can either be a single marker on a tree, a rock or even on a sign. Here’s an example:

Just as well, you should also know that this aqua colored marker represents the Long Path hike which is actually 100’s of miles long. While you’re not going to be following the Long Path trail in it’s entirety, you will cross a small section of it during the Giant Steps hike.

But once you find it, you have 2 choices:

1. You can do the hike clockwise in which case you find the aqua colored trail and follow it north.
2. Or you can do the counter clockwise approach to this trail, in which case you still find the aqua colored trail, but follow it south.

It doesn’t matter which option you choose, because you’ll still come out the other way since this is a loop hike. I personally did the clockwise route which is how I’m going to be describing this hike to you.

3) Follow the Aqua trail for about 0.7 miles to the Shoreline Trail:

As you walk on the broken down road, the Aqua trail will take you into the woods and away from the road. Keep following it. You’ll pass a gate that takes you through beautiful viewing areas of the Hudson River:

That path will continue downward and you will reach a section of the aqua trail which takes you left. Follow that. You’ll pass a small “bridge”. From there, you’ll find the white trail intersection. That is the Shoreline Trail.

4) Follow the white trail for the next mile (that takes you down to the Giant Stairs Palisades):

The White Trail (Shoreline Trail) will take you down to the base of the Hudson River, through a pretty small waterfall, known as Peanut Leap Falls, and this will lead you to the giant steps. On the way down, you will cross a “warning sign” telling you to turn back if you can’t devote enough time to this hike as people sometimes start this hike late in the day and risk getting lost because it gets dark. That’s why I said you should start this hike with at least 5 hours to spare.

For me, it took me about 2 hours to finish this hike, but I like going fast. If you’re not like me, start a lot earlier. And even if you are, still start early as this area is in a spot where traffic issues happen often. For any hike you do, it’s always a safer bet to begin early because even if you finish with time to spare, it leaves room open to explore even more stuff (instead of rushing). But anyway, the Shoreline trail (white), will take you through some muddy areas and eventually:

5) You’ll hit the Giant Stairs Palisades section of the hike afterwards:

There’s a gate you’ll cross beforehand and a sign that says it’s about to start. From there, you’ll be crossing giant boulders for the next 1.5 miles. The 1.5 miles you do will not be entirely filled with boulders and there will be sections of regular trails to cross in between, but you will have to cross 3-4 sections of rocks, boulders which are all part of the Giant Stairs Palisades region. Here’s one of these sections (notice the white trail markers on the boulders):

Definitely take your time here, enjoy the scenery and the hike itself. Make sure to keep following the white markers along the way (they are easy to spot). As you reach the end of the white trail, you will come across the following giant cliffs:

Shortly after that, you will finish the Giant Stairs area and will cross another sign that for you represents the end of that part of the loop trail, but for people who started on the other side of this hike (who do it counterclockwise), it’ll represent the start of their hike through the Giant Stairs Palisades. Here’s a picture of that area: 

6) Continue for 100 feet until you find a giant rock with aqua/white colors:

This rock is huge and will be to your right (if you follow the trail clockwise from the start like I did). Once you see it, turn right and you’ll now be on the white/aqua trail. This will take you up the mountain wall area in a zigzag which is about half a mile long. It is pretty strenuous so keep that in mind. I suggest trekking poles for this area if you’re not a fan of uphill hiking. Here’s a picture from that section (notice the white/aqua marker on the tree):

What’s going to happen is that once you reach the top, you’ll see a sign that basically gets you back on the aqua trail only (the shoreline trail goes in the other direction). Basically the 2 trails separate and from that moment, you’ll cross a bridge at the top, turn right and continue back to the parking area on the now single aqua trail (The Long Path). There’s a few more steps to climb after, but it’s not long until that ends.

7) Follow the aqua trail back to the road and then the road to the parking lot:

Once you reach the road, the aqua trail continues into the woods, but you’ll want to turn right and follow the road back to the parking lot from there. It’s about a 5-10 minute walk from there.

8) And once you reach the parking lot, you have officially completed the Giant Stairs Palisades hike!

From that point, you can choose to explore more of Fort Lee Historic Park which I highly recommend exploring some of the best day trips from NYC in general but there’s also other options available nearby such as:

• Exploring Bear Mountain State Park.
• Exploring Harriman State Park.
• Exploring Hudson Highlands State Park.
• Doing even more incredible hikes in the Hudson Valley region.
• Or if you live across the Hudson, you can also see my recommendations for the best day hikes near NYC.
• If you prefer exploring hiking trails in NJ only, then I have a list of the best hikes in NJ to see and yes the Giant Stairs is on it.

Here’s a preview of some of these hikes and what they look like:

All of these hikes are all north of Giant Stairs Palisades and most of them are about 1 hour away. Either way, I hope this post on hiking the Giant Stairs Palisades was clear enough and that it helps you enjoy this hike as much as I did.

Other questions you may have about Giant Stairs Palisades before you go:

How long does the giant stairs hike take?

It typically takes people 2-3 hours to hike the entire Giant Stairs hike.

How long is the giant stairs palisades?

The loop hike is about 4 miles while the giant stairs themselves (part of the hike) is about 1.5 miles.

How hard is giant stairs?

Giant Stairs is a moderate and above level hike. If you are pretty fit, you should be able to do this hike without issues.

My rating for this hike is 4 out of 5, but here’s other Giant Stairs Palisades reviews I found:

In my opinion the Giant Stairs Palisades hike is pretty good as you can see, most of the Giant Stairs Palisades reviews rate this trail higher and either way I do recommend you try this hike once and if you have any other questions you’d like to get answered about this trail, let me know!