Sam's Point Preserve: Shingle Gully, Grand Canyon, Ice Caves, The Flume

As I stated last time, this is arguably the best hike in the Hudson Valley.  To call it a hike is a bit of a misnomer.  When venturing into Shingle Gully, it's more of a scramble or canyoneering.  It's all off trail and if one is unfamiliar with the terrain, it's remarkably easy to get lost.

Just like in November, I would do this hike with the Hudson Valley Hikers Meetup Group.  Caysey does an excellent job leading groups through here.  Today would be no different as the group was full of strong hikers.

Today I came armed with my GPS.  I really want to be able to negotiate my way through here on my own.  The GPS will help, but now that I've been through here a few times now, I'm sure I can manage.  The trickiest section is finding the Grand Canyon from Shingle Gully and the Ice Caves.

With the heavy duty winter we had, there was more ice and snow in the gorges than I recall from the previous two trips.  Despite this, traction device would not be necessary.  But this also had to do with the fact that Caysey chipped away at some ice in one of the areas.

Shingle Gully

Lots of ice and moss

The hike starts off with a modest climb on carriage trails.  Once at shingle gully, the hike is all off trail (until the return to the carriage trail).  Shingle Gully is a nice little scramble that leads to the first crevasse.  On this day, the temperature must have dropped 20 degrees.  Hot and humid turned to dry and cool in a couple of feet.  Our first encounter of snow were here.

The view from the top of Grand Canyon

A nice stop for lunch

A ledge to admire the views and stop for fotos

Looking out toward the Catskills

The big, bad GC

We then stayed in this crevasse before climbing out and over to the Grand Canyon.  Views of the Catskills can be had from up here.  This is always a great spot to have a snack.  Although less than 200 feet deep, the Grand Canyon is still quite impressive.

Walking on the bottom of the Grand Canyon

One of many narrow passages

Some more ice to negotiate

Molly's Hole

Looking up from Ice Caves

A nice little scramble leads down into the Canyon.  This crevasse leads to some of the more interesting scrambles.  A climb over a massive pile of rocks, leads to a couple of tight squeezes.  Eventually we climb out of the crevasse a hike through the dwarf pines to Molly's Hole and the Ice Caves.  Both of these spots are similar.  Molly's Hole could not be explored due to the massive ice build up inside.  We all ventured into the Ice Caves until it narrows to next to nothing.

Resilient tree

Steve admiring the trees

Heading down into another crevasse

I don't want to be around when that rock falls

From the Ice Caves we headed into another crevasse and which may be the most interesting section of the hike, The Flume.  The first crevasse we climbed into, Steve and I could not help taking fotos of all the precariously located trees.  It's truly amazing how resilient some of these trees are.  After a quick scramble out of the crevasse, one has to be very careful walking to the top of The Flume.  There are crevasses coming at you from all sides.

Making her way out of the "rabbit hole".

The Flume

Climbing into The Flume can be a bit of a challenge.  This is why Caysey brings some webbing along.  A couple of the guys found a way down without any assistance, though with a bit of exposure.  There's also a "rabbit hole" that one can use to get down rather easily, though a bit of a tight squeeze and difficult to see where one is going.  You also should not mind getting a bit dirty.  This would be the route I chose.

Once in The Flume, you immediately realize how narrow and deep this crevasse is.  There was a huge rock pile, which appeared after Hurricane Irene.  I definitely would not wanted to have been around for that.  Walking out, I couldn't help but think how fortunate we are in the Hudson Valley to have these places.  Then again, I think that after almost every hike. 

Black Snake