Tom Rankin
Well-known member
As the other thread says, I don't hike much in my own back yard. I thought my own back yard was pretty flat. I was wrong! The Hudson Highlands can be quite challenging, even though they never rise more than about 1500'. But considering the trailhead is about 10 feet above sea level, you get the idea! 
We started out at the old incline railway parking lot on 9-D. The railway itself looked pretty overgrown and we saw no herd path, so we decided to take the tourist way up. A 1 mile trail starts here (an old fire road), and winds up the mountain, gaining about 1000' to start the morning off with a bang! Near the summit of North Beacon, there is a nice lookout over towards the Hudson River and beyond. We could see the Catskills and the Gunks in the distance.
From there, we took another fire road (following red blazes) over to the old, rusty lookout tower. It sits on a bare slab of rock, atop South Beacon. The views here are more or less the same. It was interesting to see a vulture perched about half way up the tower. It eventually flew away when we got too close for his comfort.
Now, we looked South West towards Breakneck. We could see what we thought was the ridge line, and there is a white blazed trail leading all the way there. But there was a lot of up and down in between. There was one nice stream about half way there, that looks like it would have water all the time. The trail is little used, sometimes even covered with grass, and very narrow at times. There is even a little posion ivy in a few spots, owing to the low elevation. There are a few places where we had to do some rock scrambling.
(At one point, we asked some other hikers a question about another trail, and they whipped out a map. We were so embarassed not to have a map! We bought the set the next day).
A little more than 3 hours after we staretd, we were at Breakneck. There are a few places off the main trail where the views are great. Storm King is just across the river, and Bannerman's Island can be seen down below. Using binoculars, we 'caught' a few people wandering around on the Island. The views down the river are a little obscured, but we could see North and West for a great distance. There were quite a few people at this end of the trail, and we later saw tons of cars parked near the tunnel. The Breakneck end is definitely more popular than the Beacon end.
After lunch we headed back the way we came. We toyed with the idea of descending Breakneck to get to the tunnel, and maybe bumming a ride back to our car, but we decided to just walk back thru the woods. We met a few people on the way, some of whom we had seen earlier in the day going the other way. One was even a NH 4000'er. He wasn't convinced the glue marks on my hat had recently held a 4000'er patch, so I showed him my little 111 triangle.
We got back to the car in a little over 6 hours. I estimate the trip was about 11 miles, and involved 2400' or so of up, down, up, down, up, down, etc. The weather cooperated as well. There were some light breezes, a few breaks in the clouds, and no rain. Most of the time, the trees offer plenty of shade. Not a bad little hike!
Thanks again to everyone who gave us suggestions!
If I get a chance, I'll tack on a few pictures to this post in a day or two...
We started out at the old incline railway parking lot on 9-D. The railway itself looked pretty overgrown and we saw no herd path, so we decided to take the tourist way up. A 1 mile trail starts here (an old fire road), and winds up the mountain, gaining about 1000' to start the morning off with a bang! Near the summit of North Beacon, there is a nice lookout over towards the Hudson River and beyond. We could see the Catskills and the Gunks in the distance.
From there, we took another fire road (following red blazes) over to the old, rusty lookout tower. It sits on a bare slab of rock, atop South Beacon. The views here are more or less the same. It was interesting to see a vulture perched about half way up the tower. It eventually flew away when we got too close for his comfort.
Now, we looked South West towards Breakneck. We could see what we thought was the ridge line, and there is a white blazed trail leading all the way there. But there was a lot of up and down in between. There was one nice stream about half way there, that looks like it would have water all the time. The trail is little used, sometimes even covered with grass, and very narrow at times. There is even a little posion ivy in a few spots, owing to the low elevation. There are a few places where we had to do some rock scrambling.
(At one point, we asked some other hikers a question about another trail, and they whipped out a map. We were so embarassed not to have a map!
We bought the set the next day).A little more than 3 hours after we staretd, we were at Breakneck. There are a few places off the main trail where the views are great. Storm King is just across the river, and Bannerman's Island can be seen down below. Using binoculars, we 'caught' a few people wandering around on the Island. The views down the river are a little obscured, but we could see North and West for a great distance. There were quite a few people at this end of the trail, and we later saw tons of cars parked near the tunnel. The Breakneck end is definitely more popular than the Beacon end.
After lunch we headed back the way we came. We toyed with the idea of descending Breakneck to get to the tunnel, and maybe bumming a ride back to our car, but we decided to just walk back thru the woods. We met a few people on the way, some of whom we had seen earlier in the day going the other way. One was even a NH 4000'er. He wasn't convinced the glue marks on my hat had recently held a 4000'er patch, so I showed him my little 111 triangle.
We got back to the car in a little over 6 hours. I estimate the trip was about 11 miles, and involved 2400' or so of up, down, up, down, up, down, etc. The weather cooperated as well. There were some light breezes, a few breaks in the clouds, and no rain. Most of the time, the trees offer plenty of shade. Not a bad little hike!
Thanks again to everyone who gave us suggestions!
If I get a chance, I'll tack on a few pictures to this post in a day or two...
