Scenes from the Trail: Washburn/Undercliff Hike

Date: September 2, 2012

Location: Hudson Highlands State Park, NY

Difficulty: Moderate (does involve some steep and rugged stretches)

Description: I had planned to do a nice long day hike during the Labor Day weekend, and almost decided on Fishkill Ridge, but then found myself feeling less-than-energetic. Resultantly, I ended up deciding on a lesser hike. While I have traversed most trail segments near Cold Spring at least once, I had never walked the stretch of the Undercliff Trail (yellow blazes) between its intersections with the Washburn and the Notch. Along this stretch, the trail map shows a jutting out viewpoint that had intrigued me for a while since its location suggested that it was likely to be an excellent vantage point and provide views of Storm King and Breakneck from a perspective quite different from the numerous other viewpoints in the East Hudson Highlands. So I decided to visit this viewpoint.

Having taken the 10:50 a.m. Hudson line train to Cold Spring, I headed to the trailhead for the white-blazed Washburn trail and started my ascent on a stretch that I had covered uphill during my Mt. Taurus hike in 2010, and downhill last year. It was extremely humid at this time, and the dense vegetation in the early stretches of the trail seemed to make it even worse. After a while, I found myself near Mt. Taurus' quarry hole, and thereafter the trail begins a steep ascent. Luckily, the weather improved around this time, with an intermittent breeze bringing relief from the humidity. After passing by several viewpoints with excellent views of Cold Spring, Constitution Marsh, West Point and the Hudson, the Washburn finally intersects with the yellow-blazed Undercliff. I turned left onto the Undercliff here. There are a couple of viewpoints just after the intersection but the views they offer are very similar to those from the Washburn viewpoints. Heading on, the Undercliff continued along the flank of Mt. Taurus with mild undulations, till viola...I came upon a series of rocky ledges offering dramatic views of Storm King, Breakneck, the two Beacons and the series of ridges formed by Breakneck, Scofield, and Fishkill. Given that this viewpoint had been the main purpose of this hike, I was glad to not be disappointed. I spent over 45 min here, enjoying the view, taking photographs, and just reflecting. Thereafter, faced with the choice of continuing on the Undercliff and then switching to the Cornish, or retracing, I chose the latter, having traversed the relatively featureless (except for the mansion ruins) Cornish several times. I made it back to Cold Spring with enough time on my hands to grab a Mango lassi (it actually tasted more like a smoothie than a lassi, but was very refreshing regardless) before I made my way to the station to catch the 4:10 back to GCT.

Relevant Trail Map: NY-NJTC Trail Map #102