Plotter Kill Preserve

A very nice and large hiking trail about 7 miles long. The front entrance where mostly people go to. The red trail leads to the main waterfalls. There is also a way down to the bottom of the waterfall if you follow about 15 mins on the red trail.
There also the back trails which is about a quarter mile before the front entrance. There is also parking in the back entrance. There is a shed as you walk into back trails in the left hand side. I have notice it seems to have more vegetation and numerous beaver dams that you wouldnt see at the front entrance.
It is very lively with nature. I have seen multiple orange salamanders and frogs in the waters. If you decide to dip your toes into the water, beware and watch out for leeches.
The flow of water is slow this time of year. And I think if I remember it is usually rapid falls during beginning of Spring when all the winter ice melts.
It is also disappointing that you spot empty bottles all over the trails.

The Plotter Kill Preserve is a good place locally to take a hike, check out nature and see a few waterfalls. There is reasonable parking to be found right off of Route 159, and after parking, you can quickly immerse yourself in the natural surroundings of the preserve.
If you like waterfalls, they are fairly close, or if you want to go on a longer hike, there are ample opportunities to do that as well. The terrain in which you can hike features some hills, but should be reasonable enough for people of all skill levels.
One drawback is that the waterfalls are typically viewed from up top, so if you’re like me and like to get to the bottom of a waterfall, it’s not necessarily easily accessible (which in the overall scheme of things, may not be such a bad idea).

Really lovely succession forest preserve with a couple of short loops and one very long one, but with three access points and four-​season hiking glory. The big draw here is obviously the three big waterfalls, although the cascade (Jacob’s Ladder) at the lower end of the preserve is worth the hike, especially in high water (and we are told, when it freezes up).
We haven’t been here in winter but the blue loop by the Mariaville Rd. Parking area looks like outstanding snowshoeing in season, as with the leaves down the view of the gorge is lovely and the slopes are gentle up and down. Once you cross the bridge over to the red trail, the slopes get trickier (lots of rocks and branches, and the occasional steep section, worse in wet conditions) but have nice side branches.
Be careful about doggy trails, as the markings on the main trails are erratic. There’s no trash collection point so make sure you take in a garbage bag to help schlep out other peoples’ garbage, your karma will thank you. Hiking shoes and water de rigeur, and this is the kind of trail I’d recommend throwing a loop of rope into your backpack on general principle, in case there’s trouble, since there are some nasty drop-​offs here and there and the slopes aren’t entirely stable (as you can see from the various rather large slide areas).
The Coplon Rd. entrance point requires a bit more of a hike to get the full loop, but is likely to be less crowded, and has the advantage of coming in over cleared land so you get the full sense of the layers of succession.
Ignore the «official» website via the county and the small, not entirely up to date or helpful map available there, and try this great blog, which has a link to a much, much better topo map which also features a trail not marked on the official map:
hikingplotterkill — dot — wordpress — dot — com
Downsides: it’s well-​traveled, since it’s so accessible, so you won’t get much solitude in good weather, and the incongruities of trail trash and the odd graffiti on trail structures is a bit jarring.

3 Waterfalls! Yay! Basically, I only hike places that have waterfalls. I hiked about ¹⁄₃ of the trail I think before turning back. The terrain can be pretty rough, allot of climbing up and down, and it gets very exhausting, very fast. But If you just do the trail head, which is still a good work out, you can check out all 3 waterfalls. It’s dog friendly, deft buggy, and as mentioned it’s no stroll in the park so wear hiking shoes/​boots. All in all, it’s a great trail.

The only thing a hike needs to have to get me there is waterfalls. Plotterkill has 3 waterfalls: Upper Falls, Lower Falls, and Rynex Creek Falls. I love waterfalls. There are 3 different trails and you can get a map at the Schenectady County link for the preserve (I like the long trail).
There is one part of the hike that is appropriately named The Eroding Hillside – that is exactly what it is and you should use caution when going up and down it (I favor the bear crawl posture at this section). Other then salamanders and plants, I haven’t seen many animals here. There are some really cool looking fungi growing on rotting tree stumps.
I like the red trail Early in the hike there is a yellow trail that off shoots to one of the falls and there is a nice place to picnic and dangle your feet in the water.
My favorite part is this dry creek bed (which isn’t always dry) you can pretty much (carefully) walk up to the end and look over the top of the high falls. Its scary but beautiful.
The end of the hike takes you out to over look I-​90 (which is a bit boring and the most exciting part of this hike is the earlier parts).
It is dog friendly, with leads of course. It is non-​whiney kid friendly too.
I would classify this as a easy hike and not just a nature walk
There is a small parking lot but it fills up early on the weekends in the nice weather.