Breakneck

I'm a Colorado kid so I like to think I have some outdoorsy blood in me.  I've even climbed a 14ener with my Dad and sister.  That's a peak 14,000 ft above sea level.  That was a drama-filled day. 

I've gone camping many times and I've done a relative amount of hiking.  I've tried bouldering and even done rock climbing walls.  Here we are at a place in Brooklyn back in 2010 with small group.  This was before Dan and I were dating.   But oooh did I have a crush on him.

Anyways, sorry for the sidetrack.  All that's to say, we aren't total amateurs but we definitely were not remotely prepared for the the most dangerous day-venture we've ever had. 

Remember on Friday when I said I was hoping the three mile hike we had planned for the weekend wouldn't be a beast?  Well, it was.  In fact it was a monster that ate a beast.  It was by far the most physically difficult thing I have ever done. Ever.  

My friend Nicole, from my grad school days, invited Dan and me and several other people to join her on a day trip upstate to Beacon NY to hike a trail her friend told her about.  That hike was up Mt. Beacon and it was supposed to be about a 3 hour round trip hike with a Fire Tower at the top.  I didn't register the name of the hike in my brain I just knew it was supposed to start with a metal staircase (that's what I read online).  Well, when we got off the train at 10:30 am, we just followed the 100 some odd other people walking along the road and entered this:

See that little note at the top?  "Breakneck ridge is a steep rock scramble that is for experienced hikers in excellent physical condition only.  You are about to about to ascend 1,240 feet in only 3/4 of a mile."

Yeah, I was intimidated by the sign but my friend's friend said the hike was doable and we all assumed it was still a 3 mile hike and there were seriously 100 other people walking up the trail and none of them seemed like professional rock climbers.  So we followed.  And also, what does 1,240 feet in only 3/4 of a mile really mean?  We didn't think it through and we paid for that choice.

That sign was seriously no joke.  I looked it up later, this trail is labeled the most strenuous trail in the Eastern Hudson Highlands. People have died here.

The pictures don't even do it justice, it felt like a nearly vertical climb and it wasn't a hike it was literally rock climbing without a harness.  I mean grabbing onto giant rocks and hoisting your body up fully aware of the sheer cliff you were hanging off.  I was terrified and we all admitted that when we got to the first overlook.  The trail was called Breakneck Trail and the name pretty much explains why.  If you fall, you will surely break your neck and die.

Despite the terror, we had a few things working in our favor: 
1) The weather was perfect.  Sunny with a cool breeze. And hardly any bugs. 
2) We were all clueless.  Had we known what the day would hold we never would have started. Once you're in, you can't go back. 
3) All the vegetation was still bare.  There were no leaves on the trees and no brush.  It made the view a little less lovely (everything was brown) but that really helped during the hike because we didn't get scrapped up and covered in poison ivy. 

Dan led the way up the rock scramble and we rejoiced when we got to the first overlook.  There were two more passes of similar climbing difficulty but the "you're going to fall off of a cliff feeling" wasn't quite as intense.  At one point there was a turn in the trail that would have taken us back down the mountain quickly but Nicole really wanted to see the fire tower and we all assumed it couldn't be that much farther so we went along in that direction.  None of us knew how much farther away that actually was, including Nicole.  We stopped for lunch around 12:30 and then kept forging ahead.

On the same trail that day there was a marathon race happening.  Yes, you read that right.  Some group of thrill seekers were actually running that trail.  Running.  It was so crazy dangerous I can't even understand why anyone would ever want to do that but we kept having to stop mid-climb to let these people pass.  We were climbing up as they were running down.

And then finally, salvation. 

I'll admit, by the time we got to that stupid fire tower I was mad.  We had gone nearly 7 miles and my feet were blistered and my knees were shot.  The distance doesn't sound like much but when 90% of it requires upper and lower body strength it's a different story.  Since we had hiked all the way to the Fire Tower we had to climb the stairs.  It was terrifying.  This is me and Nicole at the top.

Even though we reached our destination we still had a mile and a half left back down the mountain into the town of Beacon.  It was super steep so no easy task after what we had already done.  Turns out, the hike down from the tower was the original trail we should have started on.  We had done everything in reverse and added the rock climbing at the beginning as a cruel starting point.  We had done Breakneck Trail AND Mt. Beacon. Lesson learned, don't assume someone else knows what they're doing. And, get a map you understand.

When we reached Beacon it was after 4:30 pm.  We had been hiking since 10:30 that morning and we had to walk another hour through town to get to the train home.  The original plan was to get dinner in the town but we couldn't find a place that didn't have a long wait or wasn't cash only so we scrapped that plan and just crashed on the train.  We got back to Grand Central after 7 pm a total of 11 miles later (according to a friend's fitbit - that was 30,000 steps).  We hadn't used the restroom since before 8 am that morning and had not consumed near enough water.  So Dan and I treated ourselves to double burgers and fries at Shake Shack before getting on the subway and heading home.

You guys, I'm a naturally anxious person.  If something can go wrong, trust me I thought about it.  Many many times during the day I thought we were going to die or someone was going to get seriously hurt.  Dan and I were not in shape to even hike 3 miles of any great difficulty let alone 11, but we did it and we're still standing, albeit extremely sore.  And after all of it I'm ever more grateful that God was watching over us and that He blessed me with Dan's company for the day and for the journey of life ahead.  When I was beyond done with the day and we still had so much left to go, he encouraged me, helped me, and kept me moving forward.  He put up with four girls all day long and never complained once and I think he even had a little fun.  It was certainly a day we will not soon forget. 

For Terri Mom and my mom...as a reference, this area is one stop farther on the train past Cold Springs and Boscobel.