100 Things: no. 84

84. Hike Breakneck Ridge in NY: I made this one of my 100 Things a couple of years ago and since then I've hiked breakneck about half a dozen times. I put it on my list because I'd been wanting to do it for a while and when I finally went for the first time we ended up hiking the wrong trail by mistake.

My very first attempt was with Niki.. saying it that way makes it sound like Mount Everest.. my first attempt. Ha. What I really mean is..  since I organized the hike this was my fault- we didn't have a map. Long story short we took a trail head about 3 miles away from where we meant to start and never made it to the actual breakneck trail that day. What we did do was turn our 4 mile hike into something like 12.

The real trail head is right here before this tunnel in the image above. We drove right past it! Today I could find that trail in the dark. With my eyes closed. No, that's a lie, but I can find it ok?

The above images are not from Breakneck- they're from that first mistake hike with Niki. It was a great day though, even though we were exhausted, had to walk 4 miles along the road back to my car after we got off the trail, and feared being lost a few times. (We actually met up with another hiker on the trail and took a photo of his map so we could find our way out of the woods.. he thought we were hilarious.)

This image below is of Marissa. A month after the mistake hike, Marissa and I finally hiked the real thing. It was really, really, tough.

Alexi and I hiked breakneck last summer. We met there just for the hike.. and an awesome meal of course. I hope we get to do a lot of that this summer! Anyway, Alexi is a much faster hiker than I am and she had me running up this trail, I thought I was going to die. We're at the first viewpoint in the picture below.

Matt and I had been talking about doing this hike for years before we finally got to do it together this past summer. Ah, It's such a great trail, I'll never get tired of it.

For anyone that lives near Manhattan, the town of Cold Spring (where breakneck is) is only about 1 hour away.. and you can even take the train (Metro North) to the center of town. I highly recommend this trail, but go early because it's popular.

The trail ascends about 1200ft in the first 3/4 mile, making it pretty strenuous with some great scrambles. The unobstructed views of the Hudson River Valley make the challenge worth it.

Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for hiking season to start.