[Journal entry for April 27, 2012; High Tor State Park]. I have visited High Tor, a rocky knob along the crest of the Hudson Palisades ridge, several times, but until today I have never been to the lower part of the Park that includes the swimming pool and picnic area. In past years, the gate on South Mountain Road in New City NY has always been shut. Today, though, the gate was open and I drove right up to the parking lot by the swimming pool. The park road follows a little stream. I spotted a couple of turkeys walking near it. The stream flows over a low head dam, perhaps four feet tall, which once impounded a small reservoir. It is now completely silted up and overgrown with phragmites. I poked around the area of the pool – or rather pools, for there is a small children’s pool and a larger, deeper one for adults that is complete with diving boards. The pool complex looks in good shape. The pools are being filled for the season. A large, smooth outcrop of diabase, located nearby the pool, has beautifully preserved glacial scratches on its surface, some of the best that I’ve seen anywhere along the Palisades. The park road goes over a little bridge nearby the pool. It has very picturesque stonework, as does the massive gate at the park entrance. The little stream then ascends a rocky hillside, making a small waterfall. I walked further up the park road, to a large house set among flowering trees. It is boarded-up and in moderate disrepair, but it’s a very beautiful structure. I then hiked uphill, and connected with the Long Path (blazed in blue), the hiking trail that follows the ridge crest. The woods road that starts in the corner of the parking lot was in very bad shape, with many deep gullies and exposed rock pavement. I avoided it, and instead took a lesser-used hiking trail that wandered over several hilltops, bare of trees and with grassy meadows and lichen-covered rock ledges. I intersected the Long Path in about ten minutes. This part of the Hudson Palisades ridge is oriented east-west, with the steep northern side looking out over the town of Haverstraw. I found an overlook that commanded a spectacular view that included the Hudson River valley and the Hudson Highlands in the distance. I then followed the Long Path eastward. This section is a woods road, relatively easy to walk except where it has been rutted by park vehicles. I took several side trips to visit overlooks. In about a half hour I reached a steep section of the trail that ascended up onto High Tor. The prominent and bare rock knob commands a wonderful three hundred sixty degree view of the surrounding land. The hexagonal jointing of the diabase is spectacular, tough its natural beauty is somewhat marred by rather too much graffiti. In addition to northward views it afford a great view to the southwest that includes Lake deForest and the NY City skyline in the distance. I continued south on the Long Path, which climbs down across rough gullies among bare bedrock. I took this section very slowly to avoid having an accident; it is extremely difficult and dangerous. There are several nice overlooks along this section. One looks down on to the enormous piles of gravel that have been mined from Tilcor Haverstraw Quarry and which are being readied for shipment by barge. I reached an intersection where the Long Path turned south and downhill, with an unblazed trail continuing along the ridge crest. I followed the latter for a half mile or so, but turned back before reaching its end. I then rejoined the Long Path and took it downhill to South Mountain Road. A little before the road I came to an intersection with a spur trail, blazed in whit, a sign that read, “Spur Path (High Tor State Park) - 2/10 mile to the site of the historic Youmans-Van Orden House and High Tor Vineyards". Unfortunately, I did not have time to visit the site, I then walked South Mountain Road back to the parking lot. I tried to by a soda from a convenience store along the way, but at 6:30PM, it was already closed. About three hours.