Permanently Trapped
The last couple of mornings have been foggy, but once the fog lifts, we've had nice blue skies with puffy white clouds. The temperature gets up in the 80s during the day, but cools off in the 60s at night, which is a welcomed relief from all the heat over the last couple of months. We can't see very far in the distance, east or west because of the high mountains, so we won't have much visual notice of a weather change when it comes. At least Eddie always manages to watch the weather on TV, and we try to get a report when we can connect to the internet, so we won't be caught totally off guard.
Fog Spilling Over the Mountaintop
We are now in a section of the river where there are train tracks running just above the shoreline on both sides of the river; the east side serves a commuter/passenger train, and the west side serves a freight line. I had no idea how many times a day trains would be running on the tracks, and how loud the horns sound. Since it is so rocky right down to the water, there are many tunnels. When we passed West Point, the freight train track went right under the campus!
Moving America By Rail
Our first destination was to stop at an anchorage near Bear Mountain, elevation 1305'. Several years ago, before we had FLUKE, we rode over the Bear Mountain bridge and looked down at a replica pirate ship cruising on the river. I said to myself, someday I'm going to be down there on my own boat, so I was smiling smugly as we rounded the mountain and the bridge became visible in the distance.
Bear Mountain Bridge
The Bear Mountain bridge was built in 1924 and was the world's largest suspension bridge. It was built by the Harriman family and operated as a toll bridge (probably profitably!) until it was sold to the government in 1940. The bridge is very pretty, framed between the mountains, with Anthony's Nose mountain (950'), being the one on the east side that is visible in the photo where the bridge connects to the land. You hikers will be interested to know that this is where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Hudson River.
The anchoring area near the bridge's western side, on the south side of the public dock, is very small, especially for deep draft vessels like FLUKE. The deep river shallows out to a small ledge of about 25' deep and then goes up rapidly to 5' and less. With the swift currents of the Hudson that change direction with the tides, you have to make sure you get your anchor set securely. We dropped the hook in 20' of water, and by the time we pulled out the chain and set the anchor, our depth gauge was reading 55'. This photo shows it is worth the stop; FLUKE is secure with Anthony's Nose in the background.
FLUKE and Anthony's Nose
Another reason we wanted to anchor here was to go ashore and explore some of the areas of Bear Mountain State Park. While going to the summit was out of our scope for the day, there was still a lot to see.
After hitting the dock bulkhead with the prop (luckily, no damage), we landed the dinghy at a nice floating dock. Not knowing much about the crime rate in the park, we wanted to lock up the dinghy with our steel cable, but we only brought the cable and not the lock to shore. Typical. So, we took our chances and just pretended the steel cable was secured from the dinghy to the dock. We would learn later that day that we weren't the only ones to use the fake lock trick.
Right after we left the dock area, we had to pass through a tunnel to get us safely under the freight train track. Then, we could work our way up the side of the mountain on a nice path with a waterfall and overlooks of our anchorage, the bridge, and the eastern shore. There is a huge stag sculpture mounted on the side of the hill, overlooking the river. It is really designed to be viewed from the water, and it is quite visible when you are looking up from way down below. Eddie had to climb around the barricade and look at it up close.
Wayne Notices The Tunnel Is Older Than Eddie
This Stag Is A Big One
There is a gigantic swimming pool that was built in a ravine area. It is quite interesting as the rock walls come right down to the pool deck. The main walkway is on an elevated platform above the pool area with overlooks of the nearby treetops and mountains in the distance. You can see the pool area had a lot of activity. You have to walk through the pool platform to be able to get to the upper level picnic area, lake, and the Bear Mountain Lodge and Inn. Because there were so many people in this area, Wayne carried Ursa. I was beginning to wonder why we hadn't seen another dog since we had left the river dock.
A Pool With A View
We had to pass through yet another tunnel to get under a highway before we reached the main picnic area. There is a huge concession stand, many picnic tables, and Lake Hessian. The iron grills are so cute; Eddie is standing by an owl. They also had a pig (I really wanted Eddie by that one), and a bird, and some other creature I couldn't figure out. There is no swimming in the mountain lake, but you can rent rowboats if you want a good workout.
Who Is The Wiser
Hessian Lake
The parking lot is adjacent to the Bear Mountain Lodge and Inn, opposite of the way we had entered the park, but we wanted to see the lodge, so we walked over there. The lodge has been closed for 6 years, undergoing renovations for another 12 months, but it is a nice looking, rustic, log cabin style building in a beautiful setting with an impressive view of the surrounding mountains. That is where we saw the sign that said there were no dogs allowed in the park, explaining why Ursa was the only canine to grace the park that afternoon. I guess the economy has forced a cut back in park police because we never saw one to tell us to get rid of the dog.
The final part of the afternoon was spent walking to Fort Montgomery. It is accessed from the park by having to go through a “zoo” area, interpretive walking paths (part of which is the Appalachian Trail), geological displays, and a couple of small museum buildings. It is an area full of information about the flora, fauna, and geological history of the area, all concise and interesting if you have the time to read the little signs. We saw the sign that said no dogs allowed, but it was the only way to get to the Fort Montgomery area, so we decided to risk it.
Forts Montgomery and Clinton, both on park property, were used in the Revolutionary War to try to keep the British from moving up the Hudson. They are in a narrow part of the river, so they could defend the waterway fairly well from shore, high up on the adjacent cliffs. Plus, they placed a huge chain across the river designed to slow the movement of the British ships. The British did manage to break through the blockade, but many of the base structures are still visible, and the view from the Fort is worth the walk. I learned in those days they called a latrine, a soldier's necessary. The one in the fort looked a lot more secure than the one we saw hanging off the side of the Tappan Zee bridge! This huge freighter went by when we were at the overlook where the cannons were mounted.
Two Giants
When we left the fort and headed back to the park path area, the sign said that the gate was locked at 4:30, and we were there at 5:00. Sure enough, the gate was closed, and there was a lock in it. However, Eddie went up to inspect the gate more closely and saw that, while the lock was in the gate, it hadn't been pushed closed. So, we “broke” in and headed back toward the dock area. There were no other people in that section of the park. We knew we had to get through another gate on the opposite end, but I had paid attention to it when we went through it in the first place and thought we could climb over it. When we got to it, there were two park personnel there, locking it up. When they saw us, although annoyed, they opened the gate back up and didn't bother asking where we came from or why we had a dog in that area anyway. I think they just wanted to go home and not have to deal with any problems, not that we looked like trouble makers anyway. We may look old enough now to have younger people think that we are just slow and in a befuddled state a lot of the time, so we will be able to safely get away with more stuff like that. We are really sly foxes in wrinkled clothing.
When we got back to the dock we were relieved to see that no one had molested our dinghy. Back to FLUKE for a fish dinner of grouper and hogfish, frozen from our spearfishing adventures. Then, it was falling asleep with the rustle of the railroad tracks nearby and the cool mountain air coming in the ports.
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