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- Apr 1, 2009
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Breakneck Ridge is a classic Hudson Valley hike, and probably one of the steepest hikes you can do anywhere without roping in. It's on the east side of the Hudson, just a few miles up from the Town of Cold Spring, and directly across the river from Storm King Mountain. It's pretty tough, and the first mile or so is actually more of a climb than a hike, but the views are great and it's a fantastic workout.
I got out there last weekend with Son of Beanbag. I've done this hike more times than I can remember, and I think this was Son O's third time.
The trail starts straight up and keeps going for about an hour of hand over foot climbing and rock scrambling. There are multiple routes you can take, some of them requiring technical rock climbing moves.
Here's Son O' at the very beginning of the climb:
This is the hill profile for the first 1.5 miles of the hike:
This is a picture I took of Breakneck from across the river last winter on Crow's Nest Mountain. The trail is easier and less exposed the farther left of the spine that you go. The farther you go off trail to the right, the more difficult and exposed things get. Since we were feeling adventurous, we swung it as far right as we could. No problem as long as you don't fall.
Son O' rockin' his Horton beanie and A-100, relaxing before the really hard stuff hard stuff starts.
The climbing was steep and required some planned moves- your basic "put your left foot on that lip and your right hand in that crack" kind of stuff. Looking back down on a steep section:
One of the more technical sections forced us through a pretty tight spot where we had to take off our packs and pass them up to get through. Son O' did the photos honors when it was my turn:
I was enjoying the challenge, but I had never been this far out to the right, and it was a little scary because I was responsible for not only bringing myself back alive, but also my son-- Like I always tell him, be careful because if anything happens to you, guess who gets in trouble? While I was always mindful of maintaining contact with the trail, we were where we were, and the terrain forced us to continue proceeding up this more exposed section until we were finally able to figure out a way up and over back to the trail. It wasn't the hardest climbing ever, but the penalty for screwing up was serious injury or death. Sorry no pics, we were busy concentrating on making it home in one piece.
While the views are great the whole way up Breakneck, here is the first official map view of Storm King Mountain on the west bank of the mighty Hudson River. Your intrepid climbers:
We hung out here for a while, ate a bit and watched a freight train and a barge make their way through the valley past Storm King:
After our rest and with the longest steep section behind us, we started up again:
Once again we went off trail to the right, and things quickly got steep and technical. It wasn't so easy to keep taking pictures while climbing, so here's some views looking down a few steep sections:
It being Fall, I took some obligatory foliage shots. In another week this whole valley will look like a fruit bowl:
After a lot of climbing and major elevation gain, we finally started the hiking section of our trip. The top of Breakneck is nothing special but we caught a few more views before we headed down into the woods to finish our loop.
Bannerman's Island, a Civil War ammo depot:
Some more foliage views (it hasn't peaked here yet):
Back down into the woods:
Over some streams:
and done.
Whew, great hike and views. I managed to balance out the risks and rewards of taking my 13 year-old son climbing without ropes, and we made it home safe.
I'd say the main wilderness survival skills we worked were fitness, climbing (if that counts), and risk assessment, which I think Son O' is already pretty good at for a 13 year old.
Can't wait to get back out.
Thanks for looking:thumbup:,
BEANBAG
I got out there last weekend with Son of Beanbag. I've done this hike more times than I can remember, and I think this was Son O's third time.
The trail starts straight up and keeps going for about an hour of hand over foot climbing and rock scrambling. There are multiple routes you can take, some of them requiring technical rock climbing moves.
Here's Son O' at the very beginning of the climb:
This is the hill profile for the first 1.5 miles of the hike:
This is a picture I took of Breakneck from across the river last winter on Crow's Nest Mountain. The trail is easier and less exposed the farther left of the spine that you go. The farther you go off trail to the right, the more difficult and exposed things get. Since we were feeling adventurous, we swung it as far right as we could. No problem as long as you don't fall.
Son O' rockin' his Horton beanie and A-100, relaxing before the really hard stuff hard stuff starts.
The climbing was steep and required some planned moves- your basic "put your left foot on that lip and your right hand in that crack" kind of stuff. Looking back down on a steep section:
One of the more technical sections forced us through a pretty tight spot where we had to take off our packs and pass them up to get through. Son O' did the photos honors when it was my turn:
I was enjoying the challenge, but I had never been this far out to the right, and it was a little scary because I was responsible for not only bringing myself back alive, but also my son-- Like I always tell him, be careful because if anything happens to you, guess who gets in trouble? While I was always mindful of maintaining contact with the trail, we were where we were, and the terrain forced us to continue proceeding up this more exposed section until we were finally able to figure out a way up and over back to the trail. It wasn't the hardest climbing ever, but the penalty for screwing up was serious injury or death. Sorry no pics, we were busy concentrating on making it home in one piece.
While the views are great the whole way up Breakneck, here is the first official map view of Storm King Mountain on the west bank of the mighty Hudson River. Your intrepid climbers:
We hung out here for a while, ate a bit and watched a freight train and a barge make their way through the valley past Storm King:
After our rest and with the longest steep section behind us, we started up again:
Once again we went off trail to the right, and things quickly got steep and technical. It wasn't so easy to keep taking pictures while climbing, so here's some views looking down a few steep sections:
It being Fall, I took some obligatory foliage shots. In another week this whole valley will look like a fruit bowl:
After a lot of climbing and major elevation gain, we finally started the hiking section of our trip. The top of Breakneck is nothing special but we caught a few more views before we headed down into the woods to finish our loop.
Bannerman's Island, a Civil War ammo depot:
Some more foliage views (it hasn't peaked here yet):
Back down into the woods:
Over some streams:
and done.
Whew, great hike and views. I managed to balance out the risks and rewards of taking my 13 year-old son climbing without ropes, and we made it home safe.
I'd say the main wilderness survival skills we worked were fitness, climbing (if that counts), and risk assessment, which I think Son O' is already pretty good at for a 13 year old.
Can't wait to get back out.
Thanks for looking:thumbup:,
BEANBAG
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