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| On top of the Grand Canyon |
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| The start of Shingle Gully |
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| If you like moss, Shingle Gully is the place |
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| The first crevasse we came across |
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| Ice. Much of it can be found year round |
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| Some ledges |
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| Working our way down into the grand Canyon |
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| Inside the Grand Canyon |
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| A narrowing crevasse |
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| Some snow among all that moss |
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| Many sections that head into the darkness |
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| Working our way out of the canyon |
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| Lots of rocks to negotiate |
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| Some of it really gets quite narrow |
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| Still working our way up |
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| Made my way out of another keyhole |
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| This area is just so rugged |
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| Exploring a cave |
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| The Ice Caves provide a tight squeeze |
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| Another squeeze |
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| Moss and ice |
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| Time for some bushwacking |
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| The Flume |
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| Some light makes its way down here |
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| A scapula? |
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| The last stretch of crevasse |
This is arguably the greatest hike in the Hudson Valley. Although calling this a hike may be a stretch. It's almost exclusively off trail and requires a lot of scrambling. Still it's an absolute classic of the Hudson Valley.
I set out with the Hudson Valley Hikers, an excellent Meetup Group that provides the opportunity to do an extremely diverse range of hikes. About two years ago I did this hike with the VPo Man so I knew what I would be in for.
The walk starts off harmlessly enough following an old carriage trail. In about 20 minutes we reached Shingle Gully. Here we followed the brook to the first crevasse. From here on out it's a wonderland of scrambling through these crazy crevasses. Geographically this area must be one of the more unique areas in the country. There are crevasses all over the place. Depending on where you walk, one must be careful because the ground is known to open up right under one's feet.
We followed the first crevasse for just a little while. We then forked off which led to the Grand Canyon. This is just one of many Grand Canyons in the east. But this particular one is the most wild. Descending into it is no small feat. Once at the bottom the walking gets very interesting. Lots of precarious scrambling into what seem to be mini caves. It gets quite confusing and it looks as if their is no way out. The first time I was here, the VPo Man and I had a bit of difficulty and if I remember correctly, we went up some steep, loose scree.
Today we avoided that loose, scree section and instead squeezed through more than one "keyhole". After some difficult maneuvering and more than my share of tight squeezes we arrived to the Ice Caves. This was done after we did some exploring in another "cave". While making my way down, my camera fell out of my pocket. Oh how pissed off I was! This would be the second time this happened. Fortunately I did hear the camera stop falling. So there was a chance I could find it, if only I could get down to it. After negotiating another nasty, exposed scramble, I was able to get near where I last saw my camera. Just about ready to give up on finding it, I spotted it wedged between two rocks. Amazingly I reached down and grabbed it without letting it fall any farther. And it still worked!!! I love my waterproof, bulletproof Panasonic.
After climbing down the latter into the Ice Caves, we started heading down toward the old carriage trail. This included another great feature of this hike, The Flume. This was a narrow, deep, long crevasse with some more interesting scrambling. One part I had to squeeze through a tight, dirt hole to get to the bottom of the crevasse. Down here there was a rust colored boulder field. It was quite interesting. Here I was reminded of how dangerous an area this is with the remains of a deer. I'd have to imagine that winter is especially tough, since some of these crevasses may get covered up. It would make any spruce trap seem small time.
