Trains out of the Hudson Valley were so packed this past weekend that some riders could not even get on board, as crowds chasing fall color overwhelmed trails, roads and parking lots across the region. The crush came just as New York's foliage spotters say much of the Hudson Valley is approaching its most colorful stretch of the season.
Metro-North Railroad has been scrambling to keep up with that demand, adding 28 trains to its fall weekend schedule to help riders reach the Lower Hudson Valley, according to lohud.com. The railroad's “Leaf Peeper” service returned on October 3 and runs through November 8, with three extra morning trains heading toward Beacon and Poughkeepsie each weekend and three extra afternoon trains returning to Grand Central Terminal, according to a statement from mta.info. The MTA says the schedule changes are meant to accommodate its growing ridership more comfortably.
CBS News New York's Tony Aiello reported on the scene as CBS News captured the foliage draw and Metro-North's efforts to meet the demand from crowds heading into the region.
Trails And Trains Pushed To Capacity
The scramble for space wasn't limited to the rails. Hudson Valley Post described an unusually heavy Saturday rush before a forecast Sunday washout, reporting that “everyone from the Hudson Valley and even more people from New York City decided Saturday was the perfect day for fall activities,” per Hudson Valley Post. The outlet's own writer said the trail up Mt. Beacon was more crowded than they had ever seen it, calling it “already a legitimate challenge on a quiet day.”
Riders described a standing-room-only Metro-North car and a packed station platform, the report said. One Instagram user said he missed his first train back to New York City because it was too full to board, forcing him to wait roughly another hour for the next one. Over at Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills, visitors said they spent part of their day stuck in traffic and circling for parking.
Why The Timing Matters
The crowding arrived right as the state's foliage trackers flagged the Hudson Valley as entering its colorful window. The I LOVE NY Fall Foliage Report, the fifth released this year and based on observations from more than 100 volunteer field observers, said New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Cornwall were among the locations expected to see the most significant color changes this week, per iloveny.com. The same report said near-peak-to-peak foliage was expected throughout much of the mid-to-upper Hudson Valley during the week of October 14 through 20.
That timing lines up with the region's usual pattern. Leaves in the Hudson Valley typically begin turning in late September, and peak color typically lands between mid-to-late October and early November, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. Statewide, color tends to appear first at higher elevations before spreading across the rest of New York, the state's I LOVE NY report tracks conditions across all 11 of the state's vacation regions, as noted by lohud.com in a separate report on scenic foliage spots. The Catskills and parts of the Hudson Valley typically develop color after the state's highest elevations up north, per the Poughkeepsie Journal.
A Familiar Autumn Scramble
Hudson Valley Post framed the weekend's chaos as part of a recurring pattern, describing New York City day-trippers descending on the region each fall as an annual ritual that has produced massive crowds in year's past. Metro-North has leaned on extra service to manage that demand before. In 2024, the railroad added three more fall-foliage trains on the Hudson Line for a single weekend, calling it the most fall-foliage service the railroad had ever offered, according to mta.info. In 2021, Metro-North extended extra Hudson Line service for an additional weekend after reporting that ridership had reached its strongest level of that fall, and had already added five Saturday trains and four Sunday trains to provide extra capacity since early October that year.
With near-peak color still settling over New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Cornwall, and weeks of the Leaf Peeper schedule still to run through November 8, more crowded weekends on the Hudson Line appear likely before the season winds down.
