Taurus From Cold Spring

West Point in foreground, with the Tappan Zee and NYC skyline in background

Newburgh Beacon Bridge with Mohonk and Slide in background

Constitution Island and Cold Spring

Mighty Storm King

Breakneck Ridge

Nature reclaiming lost territory

Remains of the Cornish Estate

I love the vines.


With the humidity gone and clean, crisp air replacing it, hiking season is here. Today the sun shined bright with crystal clear blue skies. Weather conditions perfect for my first jaunt up Taurus or Bull Hill. I like Taurus. Bull Hill just seems so lame.

I took the Washburn trail from the same parking lot that Little Stony Point is located. The Washburn does not let up. After walking around in circles at the former site of a mine, I continued the ascent with view points popping up every so often. I mostly walked up with a very friendly woman from Cold Spring, who gave me great information about the other trails in the area. Originally, I planned to do an out and back. She convinced me to go out by the Cornish Estate. It was welcome advice.

The views from Taurus were outstanding. The NYC skyline could be made out. Both the Tappan Zee and the Bear Mountain Bridge were in view. Bear Mountain and Anthony's Nose and surrounding mountains dominated. Another view point just off the summit took in all of Breakneck Ridge leading to Mt Beacon. The Gunks and Catskills could be made out in the distance. Most specifically, Mohonk, Castle Point and Sam's Point in the Gunks were in view along with Slide and the Central Catskills, as were the mountains of the Devil's Path.

From Taurus I descended down into the notch between Taurus and Breakneck. Walking through here in the almost all hardwoods forest led me to thinking that I'll have to come back in a month. The trail down led to a pretty brook that had old ruins, maybe an old mill. This trail eventually led to the Cornish Estate. Really, really cool looking old ruins. A lot of different vegetation grew attached to the structures in a way that would make any great artist jealous. I walked out from here on a trail gradually descending with a nice young woman from California. She asked me about places to go around here. Nothing, of course, here can compare to the Sierras, but I recommended that she really check out the Gunks. But, she did mentioned she really enjoyed this hike. Well, so did I!!!