1.9 Mile Hike Along the Beacon Hill Carriageway & Trail
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Minnewaska photo slideshow
Anyone who has read my ramblings for a while knows that there are two places that will get me going on and on about how beautiful they are and how much I love being there. One is the Berkshires, which I generally visit many times throughout the year between races and the occasional run. The other is the Shawangunks, which I typically only get to see three or maybe four times a year. Most of my visits have been for one of the three races I've done there - the Pfalz Point trail race at the Mohonk Preserve (2x), the After the Leaves Have Fallen trail race at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve (2x), and the race that first introduced me to one of the most beautiful spots in the northeast, the Summer Solstice trail run at Minnewaska. I've run the Summer Solstice Race 4 times, and tonight would be the 5th. Needless to say I was very much looking forward to visiting the Gunks and Minnewaska again!
The weather didn't look terribly promising for today, grey and cloudy with intermittent showers. So I scrapped plans to go down around lunchtime and do some riding before the race, and only went down about an hour and a half early to do a little hiking. In particular, I wanted to walk the Beacon Hill carriageway, which is short (a little over half a mile) and according to the Shawangunks Trail Companion by Jeffrey Perls leads to a nice overlook. Plus I'd never been on it before, and if I had time I could hike the Beacon Hill trail from the overlook to the Minnewaska carriageway overlooking Lake Minnewaska.
The weather on the drive down reinforced my reasons for not making this a day in the Gunks - I ended up opening and closing the moonroof half a dozen times because of rain squalls, though I could see a few patches of faint sun off to the east. The drive through New Paltz was slow and crowded as usual, and the drive up into the mountains was as beautiful as it always is, with the added interest of seeing some of the cliffs shrouded in clouds... could make for an interesting run!
One plus about arriving early and on a day with lousy weather - plenty of parking spaces! I parked in my "traditional" spot and contemplated the wisdom of going for a walk, since just as I pulled into the parking lot the rain kicked in nice and steady. But I had a little over an hour to kill, and I've certainly been wet before, so I pulled on my rain jacket, grabbed my camera, and headed down the road for the Beacon Hill carriageway amid rumbles of thunder (there were only a few rumbles, but they were LOUD... guess that's what happens when you're closer than normal to the source of the thunder.
The carriageway was an easy walk, other than my getting progressively more wet, and the surroundings were beautiful as always... the mountain laurel was in full bloom, and there were lots of cool rocks. I've never been to Minnewaska in the storm before, so the view from the end of the path was unusual to me... I could only see the nearest ridges, shrouded in mist and rain. Very cool!
I still had over half an hour to kill, so I decided to make the walk a loop and headed off on the Beacon Hill trail. This was a fun trail to walk - it basically wound its way along the ridge through pine glens and mountain laurel, over rocky ridges and past glacial erratics, with occasional views along the way (not that I could see much!) Beautiful, beautiful hiking! Despite the rain I never had any problems with my footing - the biggest difficulty I ran into was my camera lens fogging up for all the moisture, which made a mess out of some of my photos. While I was walking the rain let up (hurray!) Eventually the trail ended at a picnic area that I've visited before (another viewpoint) but this time shrouded in mist from the low-level clouds. Time was getting short, so I jogged down the carriageway (with a pause to take a picture of two turkeys in a nearby field) and got back to the car with about 15 minutes to spare before the start of the race - just enough time to get changed and head over to the start.
I'm glad I decided to go for the walk before the race, in spite of the rain... not only did it loosen up my legs but it reinforced my plans to come back down to Minnewaska later this summer to run and hike some trails I haven't been on yet.
JMH
