Suri and Greg joined Batya and me as we drove up to Beacon. It had been four years since I last enjoyed this same hike, but it was new to the three of them. The parking lot at Mount Beacon Park was full, but we parked on the street just outside the parking lot, next to a non-native Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana):
Callery pear
After stretching for a few minutes, we entered the woods, soon arriving at the foot of the staircase:
Stairs in Mount Beacon Park
We climbed 800′ along the stairs and the steep switchbacks of the red-blazed Casino Trail, arriving at the ruins of the powerhouse of the incline, which is slowly disintegrating. Here is part of a brick from the local Denning’s Point Brick Works, from which the powerhouse was constructed.
Brick from Denning’s Point Brick Works
What’s left of the powerhouse:
Mount Beacon Incline Railway powerhouse
The silenced massive gears of the Mount Beacon Incline Railway:
Mount Beacon Incline Railway powerhouse
The large ledge adjacent to the powerhouse ruins provided a lovely view of the Hudson, the City of Beacon, and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge:
Hudson River, City of Beacon, and Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
We continued our hike on the red trail. Here, the fire tower on South Beacon Mountain comes into view:
South Beacon Mountain fire tower
Someone went a little overboard on building cairns. I’m not even sure why one cairn would be needed here, as the trail was well-marked:
Cairns
We detoured from the red trail to visit the fire tower, following an unblazed trail that runs along bare rock. The fire tower is looking good! The flag is a new addition that hadn’t been there at my last visit. Also, there were many plaques of dedication mounted to the stair treads:
South Beacon Mountain fire tower
A panorama of the Hudson Highlands, from the top of the fire tower:
Hudson Highlands from South Beacon Mountain fire tower
A panorama of the Hudson River, from the top of the fire tower:
Hudson River panorama from South Beacon Mountain fire tower
The hiking newlyweds:
Charlie and Batya
The tower is 60′ tall. I forgot to take a shot from the top platform looking down, but this is from about 45′ from the ground:
Looking down from South Beacon Mountain fire tower
We ate lunch at the base of the tower. I saw a number of blueberries there and elsewhere on the hike, and while most were too small, I ate a couple of larger ones, which were suitably sweet:
Low-bush blueberries
After lunch, we returned to the red trail, which soon ended at the yellow-blazed Wilkinson Memorial Trail. We turned left on that trail. Whereas the red trail had been a former woods road, the Wilkinson Memorial Trail was a foot path. In many cases it moved through wooded areas, though every once in a while we came to a clearing with a scenic view.
Hudson Highlands from Scofield Ridge
The Beacon Reservoir:
Beacon Reservoir
I believe this is Glassbury Court at Cold Spring, a subdivision for seniors:
Glassbury Court at Cold Spring
The yellow trail ended, and we turned left onto the very short blue-blazed connector trail. This took us to Dozer Junction, where we took turns posing on the Caterpillar D2 tractor:
Batya at Dozer Juction
Charlie at Dozer Junction
Dozer Junction was practically at the end of the short blue trail, and we turned left on the white-blazed Fishkill Ridge trail.
A pretty bed of haircap moss (Polytrichum):
Haircap moss
Another scenic view of the Hudson River:
Hudson River
A tone-mapped image, showing Greg and Suri as they descend a trail, with the Hudson below:
Hudson River
Another view of the Hudson River, the City of Beacon, and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge:
Hudson River, the City of Beacon, and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
It was nice hiking among the trees:
Tree
Wildflower:
Wildflower
We saw a Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula), with a very vivid orange color. Unfortunately, he was very skittish, and other than this backlit silhouette which barely shows any color, I could not get a good photo of him.
Baltimore oriole
The yellow trail led back to the red trail at the first switchback, and we walked down that and then descended the stairs to Mount Beacon Park and the car.