Women's Federation Monument

Women's Federation Monument, Palisades Interstate Park (2/6/2011)

Almost a year ago we did a spectacular snowy hike in the Fort Lee area of the Palisades. Today we returned to the Alpine area to do a hike south of the State Line Lookout. This is the majority of the Hike of the Week from 12/30/2010 as described on the NY-NJ Trail Conference website.

After weeks of snow storms, one after another (with sprinklings of ice storms in between) we had no idea what to expect. We discovered that although the entire park was deep in snow (for obvious reasons), most of the trails that make up the hike were at least partially tamped down. But they were also topped by a sparkling layer of ice. The layer was strong enough to hold our weight in some places, but in other places we simply broke right through it into at least a foot of snow in some spots. Because of the ice, this hike would have been very difficult without our Kahtoola Microspikes. Even so, there were still two main legs of the described hike that were simply impassable in their current state. Not a single human or animal had been on those paths since a couple of feet of snow had fallen. Those two legs were the unmarked trail south of the access road, after the "Do Not Enter" sign, and the second unmarked trail north of Ruckman point.

So we made due by following better traveled paths. However, we did take the 0.2-mile spur just north of Ruckman Point, even though it hadn't been traveled in the last few weeks. And while it was tiring, trudging in foot deep snow, the views of the Tappan Zee bridge were spectacular.

Total distance hiked today was 4.4 miles in approximately 2.5 hours.

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