Urban Hike Along the Hudson

We took some time off from the heat and smoke of California to visited our daughter in NYC. Nope, we didn't drive across country with our RV. And yes, the air quality was so much better in NYC. While visiting her, our daughter wanted us to go hiking up along the Hudson to see the beauty of the Hudson River and hike that region. So we took the train to Tarrytown, a very cute town, where we started our hike along the Croton Aqueduct after having a wonderful lunch in town. The Croton Aqueduct, one of the first in the US, carried water from Croton River to Manhattan until 1955.

Today the aqueduct is a trail that is about 26 miles long. We decided to hike the trail north passing by Sleepy Hollow, a high school, a weir, graveyards, beautiful houses, and old ventilators of the aqueduct until we reached Scarborough station, total hike of 6 miles.

We were lucky to see more than urban dwellings. A deer looked down at us as we hiked beside this rocky formation.

The Old Croton Trail took us by Rockefeller State Park, which looks like another fun place to hike and explore. We crossed over Route 9 and headed to Scarborough. When we got to Clear View School the trail detours along Route 9 where we passed the old entrance to Beechwood Estate.

The estate was once owned by Frank A. Vanderlip, president of National City Bank of New York from 1909 to 1919.

While he was vice president of the bank, he had two of the columns moved from Wall Street branch to his estate in Scarborough. The columns look so out of place along the road, but it reminded us of times so long ago when folks like Fords, Rockfellers, and many other famous folks would come here to relax from life in busy cities, like NYC.

Shortly after passing the once grand entrance, we walked on Scarborough Station Rd passing grand private estates until we came to this cute Post Office. There was a sign for overnight parking during certain times of the year. I commented on a possible free RV spot for the night if we ever make it this way by RV. At the train station, we realized we would have a long wait until the next train; so, we headed back to Tarrytown by way of Uber. Back at town we snacked on wonderful yummy pastries while sipping on excellent coffee and tea.

HOPE

There's hope in that valley, I tell my husband as we headed out on a Saturday morning in hope of finding a site at Hope Valley Campground off of Hwy. 88.

We were trying to camp at a higher elevation in hope of escaping the heat that has been relentless this summer in the Bay Area-- lower 80s would be wonderful.

We knew the likelihood of snagging a unreserved site on a summer weekend was like zero, but we headed out anyways since there is lots of places to boondock off of Blue Lakes Rd.

We got lucky that we didn't have to travel too far, and we were lucky that we had nobody on either side of us or in front and back of us.

We nestled in-between trees that provide shade.

Even though the sky was filled with smoke from the numerous CA-fires burning throughout California, we had peaceful views from our campsite.

 After settling in and eating lunch, we headed off to the Tamarack parking area to hike along the PCT.

We passed numerous hikers heading north along the PCT with packs as we headed south towards Lily Pad Lake.

The trail was not difficult, no more strenuous than our Ridge trails close to home, just a bit tiring since we hadn't adjusted to the elevation of about 8400 ft.

The heat of the day was getting hotter, but we had chosen the direction south that provided us with shade from the pines. At the top of one climb, we were rewarded with the view looking south to the craggy range southeast of our destination.

Just when we were about to give up hope of hiking to Lily Pad Lake, we came across a PCT section hiker telling us that it isn't that much further--just after the dried up pond. There was only one couple resting and enjoying the peacefulness of this lake. There are numerous campsites for those wishing a place for the night. It sure was a wonderful place to rest and soak hot feet.

After resting, we headed back north to our car. Along the way back, we were rewarded with this view of the Nipple. I'm so glad we didn't head north that day since the hike to the Nipple is mostly open trail. That hike will have to be when the weather is much cooler.

Back at camp, we relaxed and went to sleep early--like all the other folks boondocking close by. It was so quiet...then early morning someone's dogs started barking at 6 AM...and barked and barked and barked.

We got up, ate, and explored the Valley. We discovered a trail at the end of the dirt road where we were camped and hiked a small portion of that.

 And then we headed down to the river to see its condition. We walked the dirt road checking out boondocking sites and met some friendly campers.

Yes, we would come back here to explore more of Hope Valley!