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Thanks: Paul Degnan MapBuilder TinyUrl.com


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
Run The Planet July 2005 Site of the Month

OCA: Northern Portion

• Distance (out-and-back): 8 miles (incl. John’s Field).
• Type: Loop.
• Surface: Mostly smooth.
• Hilliness: A number of brief ups-and-downs, with 2 short but intense hills if you circle John’s Field.
• Water: NO. (Only at Rockefeller Visitors’ Center.)
• Other: Remember to turn RIGHT at the top of the switch-back hill after the run around John’s Field.

Click to View.

To the left is a 11.9 miler I ran from Sleepy Hollow High School, the first portion of which is on the OCA to Rockwood Hall. I then headed into the Rockies themselves when I got back to the bridge across Route 117. If you look just above the 7 mile mark, the stretch in which I turn south again is a brutal series of switchbacks. Here's a Google Map of the course just from Sleepy Hollow High School to Rockwood Hall and back (with mileage of just over 8 miles (the measurement ends when you start doubling back)).

Google Satellite I: The OCA North requires a broad view. It essentially runs from the bottom center (a close-up is in the next shot below) across Route 117 and to the left, ending just to the left and below the golf course, which is the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. You continue toward Cortlandt after crossing Route 9. The rest of the park area you see is the Rockefeller Estate. You can see why one might fear getting lost there.

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The building below is right at the base of that diagonal stretch. There are several spots where the Rockefeller Park is easily accessible to your right, and you ultimately cross a bridge over Route 117. The OCA veers to the west just across the bridge; after you cross, you turn left for the OCA and right for the Rockefeller. It’s well-marked with the familiar green sign-post for the OCA.

Just to the right of this structure is a trail in the Rockefeller

This is a pretty straight-forward running, with no road crossings. It’s easy to follow. As one frame of reference, “Sleepy Hollow” used to be “North Tarrytown.” This segment of the OCA ends in Scarborough just to the west of Broadway/Rte 9 (Albany Post Road here). When you reach this road, you may be tempted to turn right to Route 9. Resist. Route 9 has no shoulder, two narrow lanes, and a 40 MPH speed limit. Trying that could qualify one for a Darwin Award.

GoogleMap OCA entry points are the pin at Phelps and the one at Sleepy Hollow High School

Instead, turn left down the hill and follow River Road around. It is something of a switch-back that takes you down, but gradually. Right before you head down to the Scarborough station, take the right up Scarborough Station Road. This is a hill, at the top of which you will see a church steeple. To continue on the trail, cross Route 9 and turn left for a brief stretch to the next light. Turn right and you see the OCA a short distance ahead. It crosses and you go to the left. I’ve not run this part, although I have driven by it.

There is a very nice diversion shortly before the trail ends and right after you’ve crossed the bridge across Rte 9 (which is the second bridge you cross). You can see it on this Rockefeller Park Map, in the area around “John’s Field.” Note, this is not part of the OCA and it does not allow bikes. You take a hairpin turn to your left and then the trail switch-backs down. Just follow it to the right (you cross 5 wooden bridges over a creek), and it takes you around a beautiful open field that overlooks the Hudson. Work around counter-clockwise and up a switchback hill and through an opening in the trees to a promenade of grander days, on large cobblestones (the pictures above). This is “Rockwood Hall”on the map. You then continue around to either the trail you came in on or to a road you must go down to pick up the trail at the bottom of the switch-backed hill.

You can also enter the system here, at a parking lot at the end of Route 117, past Route 9. But be warned, if you finish here, the last few hundred meters of your run will be up that pretty steep switchback, which is in the picture to the right.

Also, you can ride bikes on the OCA. The OCA North (because it goes away from the Aqueduct itself for stretches) is not especially flat and straight. On off-peak hours (and all week-end, you can bring bikes on Metro-North trains, although you should have a pass. You cannot ride in the Rockefeller Park. (By Public)

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Last edited on ... August 15, 2008