This wonderful hike, mixing industry and nature, is the Hike of the Week from
10/8/2009 as described on the NY-NJ Trail Conference website. The dominant feature of this hike is the gigantic
George Washington Bridge, one of the main arteries between
New Jersey and Manhattan. You can see it during most of the hike, where it dominates the landscape. Love it or hate it, it's quite awe-inspiring, especially when you
walk directly under it along the shore path.
This area had nearly a foot of snow dumped on it three days ago and most of it is still on the ground. It helped that some folks had walked along the path over the past few days, leaving a bit of a trail, though in some parts the deep snow was quite enervating to trek through. Add the many steep stairs that must be ascended during the second half, and you get a great work-out. The trail head, incidentally, is the southern end of the famous Long Path. It begins in the small lot in which we parked and traverses north into New York state for nearly 350 miles! Laura and I are film buffs, so we also appreciated that fact that we were surely hiking close to where the movie cliff-hanger was born. Fort Lee was Hollywood before there was a Hollywood, and lots of the earliest movies and serials like Perils of Pauline were filmed on these cliffs where the GWB now stands. The famous still on the cover of Fort Lee: The Film Town by Richard Koszarski attests to that. Total distance hiked today was 2.6 miles in approximately 2 hours. (Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)
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In the parking lot |
Heading down the Long Path |
Walking south on Hudson Terrace |
Old houses on Hudson Terrace |
The old and the new |
Beginning of Shore Path |
Heading down |
Very snowy path |
Switchbacks of steps |
Lots of snowy steps |
Hudson looking SE |
[Photo by Laura] |
Laura and the GWB |
Empire State Building |
Quotes from Walt Whitman |
Shore Path looking south |
Heading north |
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Helicopter over the GWB |
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Approaching the GWB |
The snowy Shore Path |
Sleeping mallards |
Cautious mallards |
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Something abandonded |
Nature and industry |
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Shore Path white blaze |
Dan taking ... [Photo by Laura] |
... this tunnel photo |
Good advice! |
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Laura is dwarfed |
Canadian geese and the Palisades cliffs |
Looking to Manhattan |
Can you see Laura? |
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Heading to the cliffs |
[Photo by Laura] |
Laura and the cliffs |
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Barge on the Hudson |
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Climbing Carpenter's Trail |
Very snowy steps |
And climbing |
Taking a breather |
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More snowy steps |
Tunnel under an approach road |
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GWB from the tunnel |
Laura photographing icicles |
Tunnel icicles |
More steps |
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Tunnel under Henry Hudson Drive |
View of Ross Dock in rear |
Buildings in Manhattan |
Still climbing |
Great view of entire GWB |
And more snowy steps |
Laura and the GWB |
State Police boat |
Ross Dock |
Buildings on Ross Dock |
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Verrazano Narrows Bridge in rear |
A snowy Long Path |
Cliff warning sign |
Approaching the bridge on the LP |
Laura's new friend |
What a view! |
The Little Red Lighthouse |
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Footbridge on LP |
Winds around |
Rail for bike walking |
Under the bridge approach |
Fort Lee Historic Park Visitor's Center |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |