[at-l] Trip report: Breakneck Ridge - November 8, 2003

[papabear.nyc at verizon.net (Papa Bear)]

On Saturday, I met with a small group from my running club (New York Flyers) for a hike along Breakneck Ridge. This ridge is a steep exposed series of rocky crags which rises on the east side of the Hudson River to a height of about 1200' in a little over a mile.  Across the narrow gorge on the west side of the Hudson is Storm King Mountain.  This is one of the most striking areas of the Hudson Highlands, where the Appalachian Mountains cross the Hudson. It lies about 10 miles north of the Bear Mountain Bridge, where the Appalachian Trail crosses the river.

I met Ulana on the train which left Grand Central at 7:53 AM, and a bit over an hour later we disembarked at the Breakneck Ridge station, where we met Tim and Lisa. This station is merely a sign on the side of the tracks - no platform, no shelter, no nothin' - just a sign.  The railroad schedules a few stops here for hikers on Saturdays and Sundays.  It seemed popular on this date since about 8 or 10 others got out at the same point and disappeared in several directions.  Surprisingly, I met Jerry, another Flyer, where we got off the train.  He was here to join another hike (sponsored by the ADK) originating at this same location.  There are 3 major trails heading up from this area and lots of loops are possible.

The day was perfect for hiking.  Sun with a few wisps of clouds and a chill wind with temperatures in the low 40s . You had to bundle up when you weren't moving and we were all lucky we had enough layers of warm clothes to wear.  The four of us got started up at an easy pace about 9:45 AM, and we soon experienced the exhilaration of the views as we rose higher and higher.  The going was slow, not so much because of the steep rocky terrain, but because we had to stop every few minutes to take pictures.  Across the river was the majestic Storm King rising abruptly from the river.  The late Fall season, where most of the leaves had fallen, was especially revealing of the bare mountains and the rocky terrain.

After about 20 minutes we came to a flat viewpoint with a flag flying and we stopped and caught our breath.  But this was but the first of 4 or 5 viewpoints, each one higher, each one with views more expansive than the one before.  The dominant features were Storm King directly across the river, the Hudson to the south with West Point on the far shore and the wide valley to the north with Beacon on the east and Newburg on the west with the Beacon Bridge (I-84) spanning the river between.

As we reached the higher crags the trail leveled off and became more wooded.  We passed a group of about 8 West Point cadets and were in turn passed by a couple of day hikers.  Most of the time we enjoyed the views and the trail by ourselves.  As we got to the highest point on the ridge we could see South Beacon Mountain to the northeast (our goal for the day) and far to the northwest across the river we could see the Shawangunks and the Catskills.

After the first mile and a half, the going got pretty easy with some ups and downs but with fewer spectacular views.  Out of the wind we were considerably warmer, and so off came a few layers.  At about 3 miles we came to the intersection with the Yellow Trail (Wilkinson Memorial Trail) and decided to take lunch here.  It was about 12:30 PM. South Beacon Mountain was about another 1.5 miles along the trail so we decided to loop back along the yellow trail at this point and save South Beacon for another day.

We had to bundle up for lunch and soon got moving again down the yellow trail.  This was much easier terrain going back. The trail followed a parallel set of ridges about a mile north of Breakneck Ridge, and eventually brought us to Sugarloaf, a prominent 900' mountain overlooking the Hudson about a mile north of Breakneck Point. The top is an open grassy ridge which affords good views of Beacon, Newburg and the Hudson.  Right at the foot of Sugarloaf sits Pollepel Island, a few hundred yards off the east shore of the river.  An old abandoned castle sits on this little island and recollects another era of wealthy landowners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Soon we descended a few rocky ledges on the south side of Sugarloaf and crossed some gentle terrain and one brook though an area which still had a few leaves on the trees.  We got back to the road close to the parking lot and were back at Lisa's car about 3:30.  Ulana and I were grateful to get a ride back instead of the train and so came an end of a spectacular hike which (at our easy pace) was not tough at all.

POSTSCRIPT:  As we headed back to the city along the Sprain Brook Parkway, I noticed some odd colored patterns in the sky which I first though was from an imperfection in the car window.  But Tim said it was a couple of "Sun Dogs". These are like rainbows, but they appear in a circle much closer to the sun (Tim said 33?) and are caused by ice crystals in the clouds rather than water droplets. They are unusual and seeing them depends on having thin clouds just the right distance from the sun when it is low in the sky. We thought this unusual and beautiful site was a fitting coda to today's adventure.

POST-POSTSCRIPT:  AT about 7:30 PM I looked out our front window and saw the moon, nearly covered by the umbra of the earth's shadow and I recalled that the lunar eclipse was soon to become total.  I called a few friends and got my birding telescope and tripod out, put on my winter coat and gloves and went out to our backyard.  I met my friends and we sat on a conveniently placed park bench and watched this magnificent event in the cold.  Once the moon was completely covered, about 8:15 PM, we went back inside where it was warm

It had been a great day, from start to finish!

Hiking pictures:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_breakneckridge