Shaupeneak Ridge

[Tom Rankin]

What do you do when you have a 3 day weekend? Go hiking all 3 days!

Saturday and Sunday are already out here, but today, we decided to stay local and check out one of the Scenic Hudson Hikes. We chose Shaupeneak Ridge, because it is one of the closest to our house. After some early yard work, we packed up one pack with snacks and water and hit the trail around 1:20 PM. There are 2 places to park, and we chose the lower entrance near Esopus. The hike starts out thru a meadow that looks like someone mows it every few days. But it soon dives into the woods and becomes fairly steep in places. The first stop was a small waterfall. It was a nice place to stop and have lunch.

The hike continues up hill for quite a while until you reach the first view point. It looks down on the Hudson towards Norrie Point. The views were probably cut, but hey, this is the Hudson River Valley and private lands, so whatever...

We pressed on to the 2nd view point, which was supposed to show us the Catskills, but we never found it! When we came to Louisa Pond (which looks a lot like a swamp to me! ), we knew we had missed it. Oh well, we've seen the Catskills a few times!

At the swamp, there is another parking area and kiosk. The Scenic Hudson group has put a lot of $$$ into making their areas really nice. There was almost no litter, the trails are well maintained, and the maps were very easy to follow. This was more or less the high point of the hike, around 700' higher than the start, which surprised me that it was even that high. We continued around a loop, stepping over a dead raccoon ( ) and passing by several meadows and bogs. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering around this lovely park, and we had not done half of the trails. The turtle just before the parking lot was an added bonus!

After we left, we checked out the next nearest Scenic Hudson Park, located at Black Creek, just down the road. Again, there is a large sign, gravel parking lot, informative kiosk, and pamphlets galore.

We finished the day with a very short stroll to the Burroughs House, called Slabsides. Beware of the Rock Monster!

If you live near the Hudson Valley, I strongly encourage you to check out Scenic Hudson. They have 24 different places to visit, all up and down the River. Hey, maybe they give out a patch!

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Nice report Tom. Shaupeneak is probably my favorite of the Scenic Hudson properties. There is a radio tower at the 980' privately owned summit. The tower is well shielded from view as the red trail loops around it. Like you I have never found the "Catskill View" as it is shown on the map. Perhaps there is a winter view through the trees, or maybe there was once a plan to cut a view. IIRC the northern extension of Poppletown Road which is seasonally maintained offers some views as it approaches Union Center Road.

The locals have told me that when this place was privately owned it was an informal hiking and hunting area. It was well known only amongst the locals. At that time there was a much enjoyed rope "swing" at the Hudson River viewpoint, where one could swing out over the ledge. The swing had to be removed in order for Scenic Hudson to open the site to the public; an unfortunate but necessary victim of the age of litigation and liability insurance. Some remnants of the swing are still visible below the ledge.

Louisa Pond is a bog which accounts for the swampy appearance. I don't know if Dr. Kudish has studied it. No doubt it holds some interesting data.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Mark, one of those 'locals' we met told me that he has hiked here for many years. I used to be a 'local' to the area, but I was not really a hiker then. Funny how things change! The 'local' said that the Catskill view point indeed exists, but it is very small. It must be unmarked.

As for the radio tower, wow, I never saw it, and that's a good thing!