A Fork In The Trail

Finally, finally, New York decided to get it together and show up for Spring (except today is monsooning). This past weekend brought out the best of the best in perfect warm-but-not-too-hot temps, blooming trees and flowers at every turn, and nary a cloud in sight. All the usual spots to soak it in--Central Park, Battery Park, etc--quickly fill to the brim with eager New Yorkers starved for sunshine at times like this, so Kev and I decided to go big and really soak it all in at Bear Mountain State Park. A short drive up the Hudson River, Bear Mountain is a beautiful expanse of woods, lakes and trails overlooking the river with spectacular views from every vantage point.

With lofty ambitions of tackling a "challenging" hike, yet not a clue as to which trail that might be, we set out blindly for a path that appeared sufficiently steep and winding. Starting out, happy and un-sweaty:

Things got pretty hairy pretty quickly. Five minutes in, gleefully trotting along oblivious to what lay ahead, we came to a fork in the trail. Kevin felt both options looked promising.

To the right, a nice orderly stone stairway built into the path to form the next leg of the trail. To the left, nothing but dirt, leaves, rocks, and twisted tree limbs forming not much of anything. Imagining ourselves modern-day Robert Frosts, we chose the "adventurous" and "more challenging" fork less-traveled by to the left.

Immediate regret. There's a reason the road less-traveled is less-traveled. Foolishly believing we could blaze our own path like a pair of pioneering explorers, our legs and (my) Lululemon yoga pants were no match for scaling the side of a mountain. Only a few yards in, thighs burning, lungs heaving, with sweat beads dripping into our eyes, thoughts of This might have been a mistake began creeping in. Kevin may or may not have cursed the bear of Bear Mountain. I took a tumble at one point. All I can say is, taking the road less-traveled certainly made all the difference.

More than ready to trade in challenging for easy, legs still shaky (ok so we are out of shape!) from descending the trail of terror, we hobbled along to one of the more picturesque spots in the park--easily accessible via a well-marked 1 mile paved path. Which lead to a breathtaking view of the Hudson River valley...

And even spotted our first deer!

Sometimes the road more-traveled by provides the best views.

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