Unscathed over Breakneck Ridge

Last Sunday I got out of bed really early. It was a beautiful autumn day and I was all set to go on a hike with the Columbia Hiking Club ... only I was on the waiting list and they were full so I ended up heading out of New York with a couple of other waitlistees (Jon from the WWF and Querin the crazy robot man who I know from IH). We took a train up the Hudson valley which runs right alongside the water most of the way - train with a view - to the little town of Cold Spring ("George Washington camped close to here, drank from the spring and gave it its name") which is a picturesque village not far from picturesque Westpoint Academy on the banks of the Hudson.

We hiked up into the forested hills north of the town, an area called "Breakneck Ridge". The leaves are changing colour and the forest gives the impression of being deep in nature - until you get to the crest of the hill looking over the wide expense of the Hudson and get the sound of buzzing of scores of speedboats and, from some points, the needle-like skyscrapers of Manhattan on the horizon. But it was a big suprise how easy it is to get out of New York, and how beautiful and untouched nature is out there.