Micro Hikes

My neighbor and I love to hike. We live in a town full of amazing hikes in the Hudson Highlands. This spring we got to talking and comparing mental trail logs. We both were putting hiking last, after kids, jobs, chores...

So we made a pact. We would get up and out the door at 6:00 AM to hike the first knob of Breakneck Ridge each day. It's only a few hundred feet of elevation gain and less than a quarter mile, but it's ten minutes that gets the blood pumping, and sweat pouring with some dirt thrown in as you scramble up the rocks. We even get a payoff view of the Highlands, Catskills and Gunks. I still get in the longer hikes that I was doing before, but now I don't mind if I go a few days with out one.


Anyone else do micros?

Microhikes...makes me think of Microbrews :wink:

Seriously though...high quality hikes in a short time/distance.

I have some favorites including Gile Mountain, ten minutes from our place. It is about .75 miles up and there is a fire tower with a kick a$$ view.

Very cool and nice views. Kind of like night skiing in a sense. A couple hours after work is great to be able to get a quick fix...

I used to live right near the Middlesex Fells Reservation north of Boston and could do quick hikes right out my apartment door up into the woods.

Breakneck Ridge, though. Very, very cool. I just did the full loop this past weekend, and agree that's a great rock scramble and fantastic views!

What a concept!!

I used to live adjacent to the Nuclear Lake Section of the NY AT, so I could bushwack right out my back door and do a loop of the lake,returning on the Beekman Uplands Trail. Not exactly a micro hike, but an easy seven miles that made an awesome trailrun/hike combo.

Must be cool to have Breakneck Ridge for a "backyard"!!!!

una_dogger said:

Must be cool to have Breakneck Ridge for a "backyard"!!!!

Click to expand...

Very cool indeed. Throw in Bull Hill and Anthony's Nose for a Hiker's Nirvana. It's one of the main reasons we chose to live in Cold Spring. I just have to time my hikes to avoid the herds.

I love Micro's

Mt. Tom from Route 141 about .75 each way, some good climbing though
Mt. Norwottuck, longer but easier than Tom
Bare Mt. (Holyoke Range) I think it's only .6 or .7 to the summit, great views
Bald Mt. (okay you have to be in Franconia Notch but it's maybe .4 if you don't do the loop over Artist Bluff)

Indian Brook Falls

This one descends a steep gorge less than a 1/4 mile to a pretty waterfall. It's not on most maps, so really only the locals go here.

A short 2.5MB video is here.
http://www.tirnalong.com/Videos/IndianBrookFalls.wmv

It's located in Philipstown Park on the "Trail of Trees". Hike # 11 in

http://www.philipstown.com/22.pdf