My significant other and I took a 1.5 hour drive to Beacon, New York to hike at Breakneck Ridge yesterday. The temperature was in the high 60's (in Fahrenheit) or about 20 Celsius if you're a metric person; the weather was nice and sunny. We thought today would be a good day to go hiking.

Breakneck Ridge has quite a lot of trails you can take. Certain pathways will take 2 hours, but others can take up 4 hours. We decided to take this route below and it took us about 3 hours to hike the loop.

The beginning was quite vertical. We ran into a bunch of rock faces and had to be very careful as we climbed up the trail. Most of the hikes we have had involved walking up steep inclines, but very rarely did we have to actually climb. It was quite a different experience, but at the same time, it was pretty fun. Figuring out the optimal foot placements and places to grab was like doing a puzzle.

Reaching each plateau was very satisfying as we were rewarded with a nice view of the Hudson River. I was able to take a nice picture of the river from the 2nd plateau with a conifer in the foreground, and a freight train and the Storm King Highway in the background.

In the latter half of our hike, we came across a small wetland and could hear the calls of the spring peepers and wood frogs (audio examples). At one of the latter plateaus, we enjoyed a very nice view of Pollepal Island and the Bannerman Castle.

However, the biggest highlight, in my opinion, was the small waterfall and creek we encountered during our descent. Something about the sound of water trickling down the creek feels very relaxing. While none of the trees have begun to regrow their leaves yet, the scenery was still pretty nice overall. It could be the moss providing a nice hint of vibrant greenery.

By the time we reached the end of the trail, our feet were pretty tired. That said, it was a very pleasant hike and we look forward to visit Breakneck Ridge again and try out the other trails, especially when the trees will have grown their leaves out.