I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt. With all the climbing, I was hot at times. Open areas on top of the ridge were cool though. I also had on my UD vest, which made things a little hotter too. Of course, there is still no shade.I wanted to park off of 9W, but that lot was full. That ended up being okay, because I think the lot on 218 that I started from gave me more more elevation gain. Luckily, I saw two hikers coming down one trail and going up the other. The two trails were a little hard to spot from the road.
I followed behind the hikers on the white trail. My heel was rubbing, so I had to loosen my shoe. This was steep uphill early. Some of it was runnable though, so I cruised past the hikers. Then after climbing several hundred feet, I got on the blue trail to the right.
This trail went downhill and then followed a stream. I knew I'd have a lot of climbing ahead of me. It was quite rocky. I began to switchback up the mountain, but it was still steep. Some older guys with packs were going very slow. I blew past them and continued past some younger hikers with a dog.
When I got off the blue trail, I turned right on to the white trail. Although, I was most of the way up, I still had to climb a little too. This was a fun trail. This is the main loop and most popular loop. I started coming across many people. It was a mix of running and hiking.There were a couple viewpoints. The real views started on the yellow spur trail. It climbed to the very top. There was an incredible view in the beginning. You could look straight up the Hudson River. You could see nearby Bannerman's Castle and Breakneck Ridge across the river. Far off in the background was the Catskills. They looked amazing. I chatted a little with a couple here.
I then ran along the ridge. There were more people all over. A few couldn't believe I was running, but it wasn't bad at the top. I stopped briefly at a couple views, but none were as good as the first one.
I then started to descend. I couldn't quite run this. It was a mix of running and hiking down. It looks like I could've looped out farther here, but I did end up seeing all that I needed to see.At one point, I thought I was heading back the way I came. I was correct. Instead of heading down to my car at the white trail, I went the other way. I was adding the second loop.
This was a nice woods road type section now. I had to hike up it though, as I was tired. I had no food with me, just water. I also ate no lunch.
I almost missed a sharp turn on the blue trail. It is a good thing I didn't miss this amazing part. It was a bald type area at the top. I could see the mountain I had just climbed. At one point, I could see up the Hudson and Breakneck Ridge too. I took a lot of photos and videos.
This was fun, but I was now exhausted, as I hit mile 5. I saw much fewer hikers here, which was too bad, as this section might've been better. I checked out several more decent views.
There was a nice one a little lower down. I talked to another couple there. I was disappointed to find out I couldn't run down much. Going the other way would've made this loop more runnable. Still, I did run some of this steep rocky descent.The bottom near the car was a lot more running. Then of course I slipped and fell right near my car. My leg stretched out, but luckily there was no issue. I got back to the car near 6.5 miles.
This wasn't a long run, but it sure was tough. There was so much climbing packed into it. The scenery was amazing too. I love this area of Southern New York. I will be back often and have other nearby places I've yet to explore.
I've run two straight days, so tomorrow will surely be an off day. I'd love to hike somewhere or maybe bike. I'll get back at it Monday. My leg is feeling good now. Eventually, I want to run 6 days a week again. That will probably be 3 days of road, 3 days of trail.
6.4 miles - 2:11:30 (20:33 pace) 2056 feet of elevation gain
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