Last weekend me and a few friends decided to hike
Breakneck Ridge near Cold Springs, NY. We started at 10 am at the beginning of the white trail on the Hudson River, scrambled up some pretty steep elevation gain in the first 0.5 miles of the hike. The views at all of the lookouts were incredible - overlooking Storm King, the Hudson, and Bannerman's Castle on Pollepel Island. The first 0.5 miles or so were strenuous and took a good portion of an hour to complete, but after that the terrain was relatively level. For the first ~2 miles of the trail we were completely in the sun (while scrambling up some exposed faces). We went another ~4 miles along the white trail until it converged with the blue trail, followed the blue trail for ~1 mile, then took the yellow trail ~5 miles leading back towards the Hudson, finishing at about 3pm. The last ~2 miles were all downhill; a nice end to a beautiful and calm trail.
The sounds of civilization was barely heard - only the occasional airplane passing overhead - and the sun and breeze were typical of the Hudson Valley: relentless, soothing, refreshing.
The entire ~9 mile loop took about 5 hours to complete, with a moderate-strenuous difficulty. Bring at minimum 2 liters of water!
