Hike #415 5/10/9
5/10/9 Hudson Palisades; Tenafly Nature Center-NY/NJ Line Loop with Jillane Becker, Shelly Janes, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Kyle Zalinsky, Eric Pace, "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler.
Zabriskie Ruins
Spire rock at Alpine Lookout on the Palisades
Alpine Lookout on the Palisades
Alpine Lookout on the Palisades
Zabriskie Ruins
Zabriskie Ruins
Zabriskie Ruins
At the Zabriskie Ruins
Zabriskie Ruins
Zabriskie Ruins
Zabriskie Ruins
Zabriskie Ruins
Closter Dock Trail underpass below Palisades Interstate Parkway
Long Path culvert under Henry Hudson Drive
Grey Crag on NJ Palisades
Grey Crag on NJ Palisades
Grey Crag on NJ Palisades
Vertical standing rock near Grey Crag, Palisades
Ruckman Point, NJ Palisades
Ruckman Point, NJ Palisades
Ruckman Point, NJ Palisades
Women's Federation Monument, NJ Palisades.
Steps on Long Path, NJ Palisades
Long Path steps on NJ Palisades
View south near State Line Lookout
Shelly resting at Lookout Inn
Lookout Inn along the Long Path
Abandoned cabin near State Line Lookout
Abandoned cabin near State Line Lookout
Abandoned old rt 9W
State Line monument along the Long Path
Long Path crossing into NY state
Descending a bit on the Long Path, Palisades just over the NY line
Long Path along the Palisades near State Line
View from the Long Path on High Gutter Point
Long Path view from High Gutter Point
Crazy looking tree near High Gutter Point
High Gutter Point, Long Path
Along the Long Path, High Gutter Point
View from the Long Path at High Gutter Point
On the Long Path just over the NY line
Along the Long Path around High Gutter Point
Long Path above the Hudson just over the state line
Long Path descending into a saddle of the Palisades just north of the state line
Stairs on the Long Path, Palisades
The Peanut Leap Cascade
Peanut Leap Cascade
Peanut Leap Falls
Peanut Leap Falls
Ruins of the Lawrence Garden, an Italian garden modeled after the garden of Amalfi
Along the Shore Trail, Hudson Palisades
Along Shore Trail at Lawrence Garden
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
View above the Giant Steps, Hudson Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
Giant Steps along the Shore Trail, NJ Palisades
View from the Shore Trail, Hudson Palisades
Palisade cliffs of NJ, from the Shore Trail below Bombay Hook
Along NJ Palisades, Shore Trail. I found her that love balloon.
My next hike would take my group and I to the next connecting section of the Long Path and the Hudson Palisades, beginning in Tenafly NJ. Joining me this time were my girlfriend Jillane Becker, Kyle Zalinsky, Shelly Janes, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Jude Shabrach, Eric Pace, and "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler. I tried to get everyone to wear their work clothes on this trip, but the only ones to do it were Jillane (in her Vet Scrubs), Shelly (in a Lucent Lab Coat), and myself (in Hunterdon County Parks attire). We began at Tenafly Nature Center and hiked along the abandoned section of Hudson Drive to the Little Chism Trail (0a,0b). We followed this trail to the Long Path connection to the Green Brook Sanctuary near where we left off the previous time, and headed north on the Long Path. We skirted the fence of the Greenbrook Sanctuary and passed the Huyler's Landing Trail on the right and soon reached the edge of the Hudson Palisades (0c-3b). There was a great balanced rock below our first viewpoint. We continued to the north on the Long Path, constantly passing views, and also a few parking areas. Amish Paul and Wyatt missed the meeting point, and so parked at something called the Alpine Parking area. Wyatt ran backwards on our trip to join us (3c). We continued along the Long Path between the Palisades Interstate Parkway and the cliff face, and soon came to the ruins of some sort of castle like vista point. There was no longer a view due to trees growing in, and it was very much abandoned and probably nearly forgotten, but it was great (4-8). I crawled through a hole in the top of the thing to have a look around, through a hole, through then up through a narrow man hole (8-10). We wandered around for a while before moving on (10a-11). The trail took us close to the highway, and we found some sort of a trail that passed under both lanes, though it was getting overgrown and did'nt appear to go far (12). We soon began to descend a little bit and passed through a tunnel beneath Alpine Road I think it was (13,13a). It must have been right after this that we stopped by the main visitor center to Palisades Interstate Park and got a few maps. From here, we continued on. Wyatt, Jude and I went a little fast and checked out views the others would'nt have a chance to see (14-17) which included another balanced rock. We finally regrouped and checked out a terrific view, I think it was called Forest View (17a-20h). From here, we continued on the Long Path passing by the Women's Federation Castle. There was a mother's day hike going on during the time we were there and the group was getting a lecture on how the women's federation played such a role in saving this strip of land. We went up in the structure before moving on (20i-21g). From here, we descended a bit on stone steps, then began to ascend more steeply toward the highest point in the NJ Palisades (22-23a). When we reached the top, we crossed the access road onto a newly opened section of the Long Path rerouted off the road (it was in the latest issue of NYNJTC's Trail Walker newsletter) heading over toward the concession area (23b,23c). At the concession stand was a huge parking area and a viewpoint (24,24a). We took a long break at the food place and Shelly bought me a burger. I also got a cheese steak which Eric could'nt eat because it had onions on it, as well as some chicken fingers from Kyle, so I ate well (25-26).
When we got done eating Jillane and I went to check out an abandoned ranger cabin of some sort, where inside we found a great nautical map of the lower Hudson, so we of course had to grab it (27-28). A second cabin was locked up so we could'nt get in. From here, we followed the Long Path to the abandoned section of the original Rt 9W (29), then turned off into woods. We descended a bit more, and soon reached the NY state line at a boundary marker (30, 30a). From here we descended on the right following closely to a fence erected on the state line. A gate through the fence took us into NY state (30b,30c). The trail continued on a narrow pathway along the cliffs with some stunning views over the river, including more balanced rock chimneys and a view of the Tappan Zee Bridge (31-42l). After taking a break at a great viewpoint, we continued on descending along some more elaborate stairs (42m-43).
We soon crossed over a stream where the Long Path turned left and the Shore Trail exited to the right. Wyatt, Kyle, and I wanted to cover the remaining piece of the Long Path we had'nt yet done to Rt 9W, so we ran as quickly as we could to that road. When we got there, the trail turned right along 9W to the entrance to an observatory. I asked the lady in the booth if we could park there for next time and she said no, despite what it said in the Long Path guide book. Disappointed, we returned to the Shore Trail and then descended following it to east (43b-44). Wyatt, Kyle and I ran as hard as we could without falling down the Shore Trail steeply. When we reached the bottom, we came to the incredible Italian Garden, aka Lawrence Garden which was supposed to be modeled after the Garden of Amalfi, which I understand is a part of Italy renowned for gardens. Best of all was the incredible Peanut Leap Falls which far exceeded my expectations because the book referred to it simply as a "cascade" (45-52).
As Shelly climbed down, she took a slip and almost fell a long way down the steep hillside. Fortunitely, she was rather unscathed. We hung out at the falls for a bit waiting for Mr Buckett and Eric, while swinging around on a giant swing secured to a tree along the Hudson (52a-56).
When Mr Buckett and Eric got close we hurried on our way heading south along the river and the Shore Trail (56a-56i). We soon reached a talus slope referred to as the "Giant Steps". This section was far more difficult than I anticipated the Shore Trail would be. We scrambled along the rocks for some time, climbing around and having a good time (56j-68).
We finally descended off the Talus Slope to the shore line again at a large boulder (69,70) and followed closer to the shore (71-72c). High tide routes sometimes turned away from the shore up the Palisades a bit, but we stayed low. We also had to ascend a little bit to an old woods road the trail used, then made our way down to a picnic pavilian (72d-72h). We waited for Eric and Mr Buckett here and climbed around on the pavilian (72i). We passed some historic buildings (72k) and continued on the shore trail which took us across the parking area and on a walkway before reentering the woods (72l-72s). I found a mylar balloon that read "I love you" on it and climbed down a small cliff to get it for Jillane, securing it to her backpack (73). We soon reached the base of the Huyler's Landing Trail and used it to ascend steeply back up to the Long Path. Kyle, Wyatt, and I decided to try to run it, which we did. We had to wait a while at the top. When we got back to the entrance to the Greenbrook Sanctuary we found Amish Paul waiting for us (73a), and he drove Eric a short distance down Rt 9W so he could just walk the abandoned part of Hudson Drive to the cars, cutting off only about 1/4 mile of the hike. The rest of us walked 9W to the road, then followed it back to the cars, passing the pond on the way (73b,73c).
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