Bull Hill (Mt. Taurus)

Hudson Highlands region, Putnam County, NY

5 November 2005

Story and photos by Rich

Saturday morning saw Zhanna, Aaron and Rich departing Jessup at 7:30am for the East Hudson Highlands. Target area for today's hike: Bull Hill (Mt. Taurus), NY. Trails here are moderately steep and very rugged. Thick and loose leaf cover made footing a bit tricky in the washed out, rockier sections. This nearly 6-mile circuit hike climbed 1200 feet from the parking spot on Rt. 10 to the summit, with additional elevation gains and losses along the entire route.

... Rich and Aaron during a rest break at the Bull Hill Junction geocache.

... "This must be the moose that's been following us on all our hikes!"

The loop they followed crosses the underground Catskill Aqueduct twice. A half-dozen lookout points offered stunning views with unique perspectives both to the north and to the south. Not quite as dramatic or as panoramic as those found on Storm King Mountain, but noteworthy nonetheless. Thick haze obscured scenes on the distant horizon to the north. In addition to lunching and napping at one particularly busy and noisy outcropping ledge, the three weekend adventurers found two geocaches and recovered one NGS tri-station (its two reference marks were intact, but the station mark had been pried out, obviously stolen [Bastards!]).

... BULL HILL RESET RM 2, one of the intact reference marks.

Temperatures were in the upper-60s and low-70s, with mostly sunny skies in the morning, turning partly sunny in the afternoon. What a spectacular early-November day! No wonder so many other hikers were out on the trails today.

As usual, everyone's focus was mostly on enjoying the weather, the scenery, and each other's company, so the photo-taking ended up being a sort of neglected afterthought, except for some horsing around snapshots that Rich had managed to capture in the fading daylight while Zhanna tried her hand (and foot!) at a bit of casual bouldering.

... At the end of the day, Z & A pose at Split Rock.

... "Not much room on this here little ledge."

... "Ok, now how am I going to get up there?"

... "This probably isn't going to work."

... Ah! Made it. At the top in three moves!!!

Dinner was had at a decent seafood restaurant called The Riverside in nearby Cold Spring (a touristy, somewhat Jim Thorpe-ish hamlet on the Hudson).