Nearly a week out from my hike on Mount Washington, my ankle had still yet to fully recover, so I didn't plan any serious hikes for the weekend of the 10th. However, I ended up taking a trip with the family down into the lower Hudson Valley, driving through state parks in the Hudson Highlands region which we frequented decades ago when living nearby. Upon driving through Bear Mountain, a small mountain along the Hudson River, I decided to hike up, meeting my family (in the car) at the summit. It was a short hike, made difficult by the July heat, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.
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| A view of grassy rocks along the trail. The Hudson Highlands region of New York is geologically distinct from nearby mountain ranges, a distinction that was notable throughout the hike. |
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| The nearby West Mountain pokes above the trees from a clear spot early in the hike. |
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| Rocks protrude from the grassy floor of a maple forest. Grassy forests, a relative rarity farther north, are a common feature of the Hudson Highlands region. |
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| A large collection of large boulders, near a spot where the trail crosses a road. I took a side-trip to climb through some of these, but didn't find anything interesting. |
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| Hills to the west just barely peer beyond the edges of the nearer forests. Peaks in the Highlands are remarkable homogenous, with most summit elevations within ~100' of each other. |
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| West Mountain (R) and The Timp (L) behind it, seen from one of many rocky overlooks along the trail. |
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| A swamp at the west end of nearby Queensboro Lake. The lake itself is obscured by trees. |
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| A wide view of the southeasterly Bald Mountain ridge, with its summit toward the right side of the picture. |
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| A shot beyond the nearer hills to highlands by Hook Mountain along the Hudson River in Rockland County, some fifteen miles to the south. |
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| The day's thick humidity is easy to see in this shot of a cell tower to the southwest. |
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| A granite outcrop near the summit is covered in these blackened scours, each a few inches deep, a formation I've never seen anywhere else. |
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| Tiny orange mushrooms grow beneath small rocks along the trail. |
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| White waterfront buildings in Peekskill, seen from an overlook on the southeast side of the mountain. |
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| Just a peek of the Hudson River can be seen over the saddle-like col between Dunderberg (L) and Bald (R) mountains. |
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| Despite the humidity, skyscrapers could be seen in Lower Manhattan, over forty miles to the south, beyond the cliff-face of The Timp. |
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| This overlook provided an excellent view of the Bear Mountain Bridge, one of the few bridges over the Hudson between New York and Albany. |
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| A view along the Hudson River pointing north, looking out towards hills in southern Dutchess County. |
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| A shot of buildings and trees in downtown Peekskill, darkened by the shade of afternoon clouds. |
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| Another view north of hills in Beacon. A limb of Stissing Mountain (left of center, below the larger peak) actually beats out Manhattan for distance, located nearly fifty miles northeast. |
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| A freight train heads towards cloudy shade along the rail line that runs parallel to (and, in this case, through) the Hudson River. |
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| Fishermen and commoners alike enjoy a Saturday afternoon on a dock extending out into the Hudson. |
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| A view of cars through suspension wires traversing the west end of the Bear Mountain Bridge. |
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| Old brick factories along the railway now house the Iona Island Estuarine Research Reserve. |
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| A wide view of the city of Peekskill and the hills beyond it to the east. |
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