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.