A Frozen Hike

After a long break from any kind of hiking, I wanted to start the year off with a bang. So, as luck would have it, I pick one of the coldest days in January, and it snowed. Fortunately, we weren't the only ones crazy enough to be out on the trail Saturday. We ran into two groups of people who were far more prepared than we were. Next time I hike in the snow, I'm making sure i have crampons.

We drove up to the Bear Mountain Bridge from NYC and parked in the lot of the Fort Montgomery museum. When we asked the greeter for directions to the nearest trail head, he gave us a look of disbelief and pointed to the other end of the lot. Normally, the trail isn't too difficult, but the face that the ground was frozen in several locations and covered by about an inch of ice posed some challenges throughout the trek. Not knowing what you are stepping on is always a concern, but doubly so when you could slip on a patch of ice and fall a hundred of feet down to a river below.

Along the way there are a number of great views of a number bridges and a lake that was frozen solid. Though we didn't walk it to test it out, a few heavy rocks thrown onto the surface simply skidded off without leaving a crack.

Post hike, we stopped by a BBQ place about 5 minutes from the museum along route 9. Food always tastes good after a 4 hour plus hike, but this place was unbelievable. Great chili, good ribs, and great service.

To sum it up, I would recommend this trail to just about anyone in the summer time since there are few, if any, steep climbs, it's well traveled and the trail crosses residential areas a number of times so there are plenty of places to call it quits. I wouldn't recommend this for a solo hike in the winter due to the slippery conditions and potential for steep falls. For a real challenge, this trail connects to another trail that will take you to the top of a mountain who's peak is just inside the borders of West Point, but we chose not to try it due to the falling snow.

Bull Hill via Washburn Trail (5-24)

This trailhead (White) starts out about a mile south of the trailhead for BreakNeck Ridge. Though nowhere near as steep as Breakneck, the accent on this trail was extremely long. During the first 15 minutes of the initial accent we came across a sand quarry. Looking along the side of the exposed rock, there seemed to be some interesting spots for rock climbing, but since nobody want to be carried off the mountain, we decided to keep on the trail. The area of the quarry looks like it would make a great campsite and from what we found (empty bottles, cigarettes and an old fire) others had the same idea. Up to this point, the trail was relatively easy. A flat dirt surface with no rocks and obstacles to speak of.

Shortly after the quarry, we encountered the first of many scenic lookouts. From this location, looking South, you could see the town of Cold Spring in the foreground and the Storm King State Park just on the other side of the Hudson River. For the second time while hiking this area, I saw a train running down the tracks on the opposite side of the Hudson. This wasn't a MetroNorth Train with a dozen or so passenger cars. This was a freight train and easily carried well over 100 cars. A fellow hiker joked that this one train had more cars than there were in all of Israel. Don't know the facts of that, but this train was ridiculously long. (E.L. 700+ft)

As we continued on, the trail became rockier but maintained the same relative slope. A few points along the trail required some scrambling over rocks, but it wasn't anything too difficult. A second scenic lookout comes up a few minutes later with a view to the north. From here, you can see Pollepei Island and the other side of the Hudson. A decent view, but nothing compared to the views up ahead. Just after this lookout, the trail Washburn (White) intersects Undercliff trail (Yellow). After this point, the trail becomes rocky and the slope increases slightly. By this point, most of the group was growing very tired and looking forward to going downhill. (E.L. 1100+ft)

The rest of the way to the top is fairly consistent with spots of rocky terrain mixed with easy walking. One you reach the top, there is a view of the NorthWest that is just spectacular. I can imagine this being a sight to see during a sunset. Across the river you see a few towns in the distance with the State Park and Hudson in the foreground. Even at mid-day it was nice. But, don't be fooled because this isn't the best view. Just a few hundred yards ahead is another lookout looking South. From here, you can see NYC proper. Now that was a view. (E.L 1400+ft)

After this, it was all downhill from there. Immediately after leaving the top, the trail is incredibly easy. Almost too easy. You could actually run down the trail. Conditions were good until we reached a division in the trail. The Washbun Trail (White) turns into the Lone Star Trail (Green) and splits off into the Notch Trail (Blue). This is fairly easy to miss if you're not paying attention as the Washbun-Lone Star transition is a straight shot. Taking the Lone Star Trail will take you East and will eventually take you to the outskkirts of the town of Cold Spring. Taking the Notch Trail will eventually bring you right back to the trail head from where we started OR take you to Breakneck Ridge. We decided to take the Notch Trail. (E.L. 1200+ft)

As for the condition of the trail, the honeymoon was over. Shortly after the split the trail became very rocky. That combined with fallen leaves and other wet tree debris made the hike down relatively difficult when compared to the trip up. We followed this trail for just about a mile until we came upon another Divide. Continuing on the Blue trail, we encountered ruins. The buildings were of concrete and brick and looked to be circa 1900. The entire area around Notch trail at divide is filled with interesting structures like that. Just beyond the two visible structures is a large reservoir or man made lake. Wouldn't recommend swimming, but very pleasing to the eyes. Beyond that is a easy uphill walk that will take you towards Breakneck ridge. (Easy if you haven't already walked for 4 hours like we did). We decided to take the Brook trail (Red). We followed this trail until yet another split upon which we reached the Cornish trail (Blue). After this point, the hike is gravy. Easy downhill walking all the way to the end. A few interesting man made structures along the way make it interesting.

After the hike, we were starving. We started at Noon and finished by 5pm. To grab some food, we decided to kick back at one of the finer dinning establishments Cold Spring has to offer; The Cold Spring Depot. I have to say, the food on the menu looked great, unfortunately the service sucked. You would think 10 hungry hikers would have meant good money for any restaurant. But, after being seated and waiting 15+ minutes for someone to take our order, we decided to go to plan B. A bar just up the block. Now, before I continue, I have to say this... After being on your feet, treking through a mountain for 5 hours, you're so hungry that anything tastes good. But this place had something called a Murder Burger and after one bite, I knew why they called it that. You wanted to kill anyone who got in the way of eating it. Probably the best burger I've had in years.

Anyway, after a burger and fries and a few pitchers of beer, we cought the 6:58pm train out of Cold Spring and returned to the city. All in all a good day out...

Anthony's nose is smaller than it looks

*Rory, Patrick, Michelle, Gina, Orin

So, back to the mountain we go. Michelle, Orin and Patrick (who are now officially referred to as "hiking buddies") came along with me on this trip up. We met up with Philip, the man who started my little mini-hikining obsession, and one of Orin's many model friends, Gina.

Anyway, we parked on the western side of the Bear Mountain Bridge and the trail head was litterally, right there. This hike started off steeeep. Not even 20ft up trail head and it turned into a hand over hand scramble very quickly. The ascent wasn't the most difficult, but it was consistently steep and very rugged. After about 10 minutes of hiking, we hit the first landing and the view was simply one of the best I'd seen at such a low elevation.



Anyway, we reached the top in less than an hour. Someone anticlimactic given the "epic" nature of some of the other hikes of done this year, but still worthwhile. If I lived in the area, I would take this route again and try one of the different branches, but its just too short a trail for a two hour round-trip drive.

Breakneck (Not Brokeback) Ridge

So,
This hike takes place along Breakneck Ridge, which is just 10 miles North of the Bear Mountain Bridge along the East side of the Hudson river along route 9D.

Orin, Patrick, Leslie, Deepthi (sp?) and I started out around 11:30 in the morning. The trail starts out near a tunnel and is deceptively easy during the first few hundred feet or so. But, after about 10 minutes along the trail, "This is rock climbing, not hiking", sums it up. Needless to say, the next hour an a half up the side of the trail was pretty hard. We had to use our hands, grabbing onto trees and anything else we could find to help pull ourselves up to the next landing. Along the way, we ran into lots of other hikers. We shadowed one particular pair of hikers, a couple, for about a half hour before they tired of laughing at us simple city folk and sped off up the mountain.

Once we reached the top, the view was spectacular.

On the way down, we got a little bit mixed up. The first time I did this trail, I recall taking a bend off to the right. Orin, God bless his soul, recommended a trail that broke off to the left. With neither map, nor compass, we continued on not knowing where the hell we were going. Fortunately, other hikers (the ones with enough sense to bring a map) were kind enough to point us in the right direction

The hike down was fairly interesting, as we had a very interesting coversation about diversity with Deepthi. Deepthi, fresh out of India, gave us some insight into the India Equivalent of Affirmative Action, which has historical roots with British colonialism. Apparently, they are having similar debates concerning their programs as we are having here.

All in all, it was a great trip. We made it back to the city by around 5pm and most of us (at least I know I did) collapsed in bed the second we got home.

The first expedition 7/14/07

Popolopen Tourne Trail

We started out my first hike of the summer. Dan, Michelle, Orin and I hiked to the Bear mountain lodge at around 10am and made it up to the top of the mountain shortly after 1pm. We had a few stops and mishaps along the way. A few scrapes and bruises, torn pants, a dropped camera... but even those mishaps didn't take away from the natural beauty we all experienced while hiking the trail up the peak.

The hike started out on fairly level ground. Lots of thorny bushes along the way. It was hot, but if you have sensitive skin and cut easily, wear long pants because you will get cut. Also, theres LOTS of poison ivy up in them thar hills. Surprisingly, we didn't touch any, even after stepping through it a few times.

After about twenty minutes of a fairly easy hike, we hit upon a steep incline. It was one of two really steep inclines along the trail, not including the scramble to the peak of the mountain. Shortly after, we stopped at around noon to recharge by a river and found a huge boulder where the four of us could sit down and enjoy a good meal. Power bars, water, cereal and fruit... After two hours of hiking, everything tasted great.

After the brief rest, we trekked across the river and up the other side of the valley and essentially went right into the steepest portion of the ascent. When we finally made it to the top... ohh boy, the view was a sight to see.... actually, this was part of it. I'm still playing around with the panorama function on my camera, so this is just a small portion of the view from the top.

We also found LOTS of raspberry bushes along the way, a slew of grape vines, and a really unusual tree that stumped all of us. We also came across a white tail dear. We were maybe 10 ft away from it and he just kinda stopped and staired at us for a good minute before running away.

Once the hike was finished, we headed over to the Ticknor' Family Compound. Michelle's parent's put together a great Barbecue for us and we devoured whatever they put in front of us.

Check out these pictures of the hike and bbq as well as these.

All in all, this was a great trip up and I'm looking forward to doing it again. The next hike will be up Breakneck ridge (please, no brokeback jokes) during the fist weekend in August.

** Photos by Michelle Ticknor