[at-l] New Years hike

[hudsom@us.ibm.com (Mark Hudson)]

Beautiful day for hiking yesterday. I took a new route (for me) up Mt
Beacon to the fire tower - I've never made it to that part of the ridge
before either. Stiff climb, good exercise. I think Mt Beacon is just short
of 1600 feet, but you start at probably 100 feet. First was trying to find
the trailhead. The Map labeled the road wrong, but there's only one road in
the right place. "Where's the parking area shown on the map?" Drove up a
cul-de-sac and there's a woods road running off the back of it, but no
blazes. "Well, maybe this goes someplace..." Turned into bushwhacking
alonog a crude path, then I saw a guy hiking, hopefully on the right trail
<g>. Turned out that the proper trail runs up his driveway, labeled
"Private Drive, No Access" - but the sign is only meant for vehicles. So I
know where I should go next time.
The steep climb kept me warm, then I got the great views off the ridge,
just a bit of haze off in the distance. Almost two hours of steady moving
to get to the firetower, and then I wouldn't chance climbing it, each stair
landing consisted of one plank and lots of air... but the view from the
bottom of the tower was open and just as good. Off in the distance the sun
was glinting off the river under the Tappan Zee Bridge. Too cold and windy
to hang out long, but I got to enjoy the views going back too.

Hmm, bout 500 miles in for the year, almost all on the Colrado Trail. Where
did all the weekends go? Looks like I'll be on the Tuscarora Trail this
year...

skeeter