Tom Rankin
Well-known member
We climbed Mt. Beacon in the Hudson Highlands today. We've both been there before, but every year Laurie and I have a party to thank the Balsam Lake Mountain volunteers for a job well done. Last year, we started a tradition of hiking a fire tower before the party. This year, we chose Mt. Beacon. It's just a over 1/2 hour away from our house. It starts at just about sea level and goes up to 1650'. According to the sign at the bottom, it is 'The highest point between the Atlantic and the Catskills'. I'm not sure where they draw the line, but the Gunks might want to have a few words with them! 
We met Connie and Jeff at the PA at 10:00 and off we went. This is one of the 28 properties now owned by Scenic Hudson. They have a great brochure that lists every park, with facts and figures. You first walk a short ways on a flat smooth trail, but that does not last long. After the ruins of the old incline railway, you go up a very long series of metal staircases. After the stairs, we started a series of switchbacks that lead to the ruins of the old hotel. From here, the views are great. We could see the Catskills, Gunks, Stewart Airport, 2 Hudson river bridges, etc.
But we were just getting started. The true summit is about a mile away, and almost 500' higher. We made the easy walk over, passing tons of people along the way. We actually had the top to ourselves for several minutes, till a throng of people showed up. But as we got up to leave, boom, they were gone, even faster!
The views from the top of the tower are even better than the lookout. You can see just about every Catskill peak, the Gunks, all the way down to NYC, several other towers in all directions, etc., etc. And it didn't hurt that it was almost a perfect weather day. It was sunny, the temps were in the upper 40's, and there was almost 0 wind.
The climb for the day is 1500' over about 4 miles. Aside from celebrating another great season at BLM, this marked the 900th time I've stood at a summit. But who's counting?
We met Connie and Jeff at the PA at 10:00 and off we went. This is one of the 28 properties now owned by Scenic Hudson. They have a great brochure that lists every park, with facts and figures. You first walk a short ways on a flat smooth trail, but that does not last long. After the ruins of the old incline railway, you go up a very long series of metal staircases. After the stairs, we started a series of switchbacks that lead to the ruins of the old hotel. From here, the views are great. We could see the Catskills, Gunks, Stewart Airport, 2 Hudson river bridges, etc.
But we were just getting started. The true summit is about a mile away, and almost 500' higher. We made the easy walk over, passing tons of people along the way. We actually had the top to ourselves for several minutes, till a throng of people showed up. But as we got up to leave, boom, they were gone, even faster!
The views from the top of the tower are even better than the lookout. You can see just about every Catskill peak, the Gunks, all the way down to NYC, several other towers in all directions, etc., etc. And it didn't hurt that it was almost a perfect weather day. It was sunny, the temps were in the upper 40's, and there was almost 0 wind.
The climb for the day is 1500' over about 4 miles. Aside from celebrating another great season at BLM, this marked the 900th time I've stood at a summit. But who's counting?
