Shakedown Hike: The Palisades - March 14, 2002

his hike was the first of several shakedown hikes leading to my upcoming trek on the Appalachian Trail which will begin in early April.

The Palisades

• Route: took the A train to 175th Street (George Washington Bridge station), walked to the bridge entrance and started: Over the bridge, entered Palisades Interstate Park, followed the "Long Path" along the top of the Palisades to "Hulyer Landing Road" (a trail really) down the hill, followed the "Shore Trail" back and then climbed "Carpenters Trail" before returning over the GWB.
  
  
• Distance: 2 miles of bridge, 12 on trails, 14 total.
  
  
• Purpose: Check out: Lekis, Belt pack, camera, gorp, clothes, legs.
  
  
• Weather: Beautiful sun (with a little haze) temperatures mid 40s to close to 60. Ground was fairly dry in spite of yesterday's rain.
  
  

The George Washington Bridge

he hike started with the George Washington Bridge. Although this is a huge piece on non-natural construction, I consider it a truly magnificent structure and, almost like walking under the sequoias in Yosemite, it is an experience that makes you seem - well just very small. Something was added for this transit that I had never seen before. Armed soldiers. Two were at the center of the span and others were lounging around on the Jersey side. An unfortunate but necessary intrusion of the real world into my attempt to escape for a short while. I couldn't help but feel a bit superior, or perhaps privileged would be a better word, on seeing the myriad drivers fighting their way across the span on their morning commutes. For my part, I was escaping in the opposite direction.

The Long Path

The Southern Terminus of the Long Path

The trail starts after you get off the bridge and navigate a few under and overpasses on the Jersey side. I got onto the "Long Path", a trail which (as of now) goes north some 300 miles through New York State, almost to Albany, the first section largely along the Hudson. One might say this maize of walkways is the "Springer" of the Long Path

It's more than a little ironic that New York's own trail, the Long Path, starts on it's way north from New Jersey.

Canada Geese at the Cliff Precipice

There's nothing like early Spring. The trees have just those little yellow buds, the early birds and winter stay-overs (Hermit Thrushes, Chickadees, Canada Geese, Mallards) are starting to get flirty and the whole woods is starting to wake up from a long winter's night. It was gorgeous hiking along the top of the Palisades. Although the Palisades Parkway is within earshot (and occasionally within sight), it's still a marvelous escape from the nearby city once you hit the dirt. The hiking was intentionally chosen to be easy so I could work up my Leki technique. But the views across the Hudson are magnificent.

This used to be an area of old estates and houses and there are numerous stone walls, overgrown cellars, and always the precipitous cliff. A couple of properties were not taken when the park was formed: St. Peter's College and Greenwood Sanctuary (which as a member I actually have a key to, but that was for another day). These were skirted. The trail "corridor" ranges from several hundred feet to a mile or more (the distance from the Parkway to the cliff edge). Given the resulting impossibility of getting lost, I still managed to loose the trail once.

The Huyler Landing Trail

The Turnoff down to Huyler Landing

After passing Greenwood Sanctuary (about 6 miles from the GWB) I took the trail down the hill called "Huyler Landing Road". I seem to remember reading in one of the NYNJTC books that this used to be a thoroughfare in pre-revolutionary and revolutionary times.

Huyler Landing Road

Cargo from NY would be shipped across the Hudson to the landing beneath the Palisades and horse drawn carriages would take it up the hill. This is one spot where the cliff becomes merely a steep hill, and the switchbacked trail is the remnant of this carriage road. Upon reaching the bottom, I now was on the almost perfectly flat "Shore Trail" along the West shore of the Hudson.

The Shore Path

The Hudson Shore

The contrast between the two shorelines could not be greater. On the side where I was hiking is a beautiful second growth forest (admittedly with access roads, several picnic grounds, etc.) whereas across the Hudson from where I was standing was the highly developed waterfront of Yonkers NY.

The Shore Trail

This section of Palisades Interstate Park was largely a result of gifts from the Rockefellers. (whereas Harriman State Park - where the very first section of the AT was built - the northern section of Palisades Interstate Park, was from gifts of guess who? Mrs. Averill Harriman). Thank God for the occasional rich do-gooder.

Looking up at the Cliffs

The Palisades as seen from the Shore

The Carpenters Trail

The Bridge from the Hudson Shore

After a few snack stops and lunch eaten while sitting on a piece of driftwood on the Hudson shore, the George Washington Bridge started coming into view. I was getting back to my start point.

After passing a very large empty parking lot (the rubes won't be out for another couple of months)

Looking up the Steps of Carpenters Trail

I found the bottom end of the Carpenters Trail. This goes straight up the cliff. But instead of a technical climb it's hundreds, perhaps thousands of stone steps. This is the type of climb I love to hate. I think nothing makes you breathless as fast as steps. And these go on for ever. Remember Gollum leading Frodo and Sam up the Long Stair to get to Cirith Ungol? Well maybe it's not that bad, but it sure was tiring.

Once at the top I found my way back to the pedestrian walkway of the GWB and after passing a few more soldiers, I crossed the span to get the A train home again. Not a bad little hike.

Summary

Well How did things go?

• Lekis: I'm new to trekking poles. My idea was to get used to the rhythm of using the poles. At first it was bit unnatural to move them with each step. I found that it seemed hard to swing them so fast. But then I relaxed a little and just concentrated on moving my arms in a natural motion. The poles moved by themselves and I got into the feel of it. I also found the best way to adjust the height was not to try to make a 90 degree angle with the arm or some such, but just adjust them down until the arm motion was natural. In other words, if the stick drags, or if you have to lift it to make the cycle, it's too long - shorten it. I also found I would occasionally break the regular rhythm, like when I had to avoid rocks, descend steeply, etc. I just went with the flow, and when the trail evened out, resumed my regular pace. I didn't particularly try to transfer any weight to the poles, I figured when the rhythm got natural, that would happen by itself. Once in a while I would give myself a two poled push up a little rise and was reminded of the Olympic cross country skiers we watched last month.
  
  
• Belt Pack: I have just got a new one (my 6th) - an Outdoor Products "Roadrunner". It's a fanny pack turned to the front. Does that make it a "tummy pack"? It was just fine. Fit all my stuff (camera, binocs, emergency stuff, lunch) and it didn't pinch, bulge, or swing unnaturally. No big deal but still it's important.
  
  
• Camera: I am still learning the ropes of my new digital Camera, a Nikon Coolpix 775. I managed to shoot 49 pictures of which I have selected a few for this web page. For the most part the color balance, focus, resolution and ease of use was quite good. I still need to understand some features and especially to watch the battery usage. These images don't too look bad, do they?
  
  
• Gorp: I took a "healthy" mix consisting of walnuts, raisins, dried bananas slices and Bakers semi-sweet chocolate chunks. It was fine. But I brought too much. I'll have to play it by ear trying to figure out the right quantity for the AT. Lunch was a bagel with Swiss cheese. Great.
  
  
• Clothes: I could have worn shorts, but I choose to wear lightweight long pants. They were fine. One discovery: Patagonia Capilene briefs don't have a fly opening in front. Obviously this can be worked around. The Paramo Mountain Shirt (long sleeve asymmetric fleece) was fine over this temperature range. It kept me warm and dried off rapidly when I made my stops. My shoes (New Balancec 905 trail shoes) were fine as was my hat (the "Bug Cap").
  
  
• Legs: Saturday I ran a Half-Marathon and was not happy with my performance. My hamstrings were giving me a lot of trouble - tight and sore. Today I had but a very slight twinge in one hamstring but aside from normal fatigue, the legs held up fine.

Soo ... What's next?

Pb