4.4 miles | 764 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ When I see hikes ranked difficult, it usually means one of two things. It's often way harder than I expect, or sometimes, way easier. Of course, there's a different in difficulty depending where you are. Mount Beacon hard isn't quite the same as Plateau Mountain hard. The giant stairs was rated hard and with a rock scramble along the shoreline, I was a bit hesitant. However, end ended up being much easier than expected. Long, but straight forward.
Hudson River
Hike 47: Mount Beacon Fire Tower
4.5 miles | 1,394 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ We squeezed in the last of the Hudson Valley's foliage colors last weekend hiking Mount Beacon. The colors were a bit muted due to the grey skies, but still a fantastic day for a hike. Beacon is a mountain I love being on top of but hate to climb. The first mile is grueling - 1000 feet in a mile via stairs and steep, uninteresting switchbacks. The second mile, much less demanding as you wander along the ridge to the fire tower.
Hike 42: Vanderbilt Mansion
3.0 miles | 223 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ On our way home from the long weekend, we decided to stop for one final hike - a stroll along the Vanderbilt Mansion grounds. Just across the Hudson River, and a bit south, is Hyde Park - home to the Roosevelt Presidential Library, CIA and Vanderbilt Mansion. The grounds are beautiful, overlooking the Hudson River, with the Catskills in full view.
Hike 38: Anthony’s Nose
3.0 miles | 705 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★★ It's a Hudson Valley classic hike, yet somehow it's taken us this long to finally experience it for ourselves. Part of it is the crowds. Classic hike = well known = all the people. So while we've considered it on weekends, driving past the LOOOONG stretch of cars on Route 9D at the trail head usually deters us. However, a Friday drive up to the Catskills with no where to be until sundown gave us the perfect opportunity.
Hike 15: Bear Mountain
4.4 miles | 1,165 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ Bear Mountain. THE New York City hike. And we felt like we were there, right along side every one of them, especially on the way down. Somehow in my 14 years as a New Yorker, and nearly 2 decades of living next door in New Jersey, I never visited Bear Mountain. Not for a hike, not for the carousel or zoo, not even for the annual Oktoberfest.
Hike 11: Dennings Point
5.3 miles | 150 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ The plan was to hike Mount Beacon, through the casino ruins and up to the fire tower. We got as far as the top of the metal steps and I couldn't shake the growing shin pain in my right leg. Was it from yesterday's run? I'm not sure. But what was clear was that hiking such a steep climb, starting from a place of pain, was probably not a good idea. Beacon will have to wait.
Hike 9: Butter Hill + Storm King Mountain
3.8 miles | 1,014 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium | Rating ★★★★★ "Bring spikes!" they all said. "Lot's of ice!" I trust my hiking community and arrived at the sunny, mostly dry trailhead prepared with our crampons, but couldn't figure out why. We tucked them into our backpack and started up the steep assent to Butter Hill, on our way to the top of Storm King mountain, with stunning view points along the way.
Hike 8: Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
4.2 miles | 352 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★ The kinda hike. Last week I was super excited to hike Storm King. We arrived around 10am to a mostly empty parking lot. The weather was bright and sunny, with just the right amount of winter nip. As I prepared to put my spikes on, Sean shared the horrifying news - his boots were still in Brooklyn.
Hike 7: Bull Hill
5.7 miles | 1,391 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ This was our first real climb we did this year. After almost a year of living mostly in a single floor apartment during the pandemic, climbing is HARD. Sure, when we're not hiking, I'm out walking or "running" (read: super-slow trot) but the reality is, my new normal is pretty flat. Running up or down flights of stairs to catch a train seems like a distance memory.
Fifty-Two Hikes 