[Journal entry for August 24, 2017; Schunemunk Mountain] Schunemunk is a prominent ridge, with an elevation of 1664 feet, located just west of the NYS Thruway’s Harriman Tolls, a little north of the Hudson Highlands. The mountain is known for its broad ledges of “puddingstone”, a strikingly colored meta-conglomerate with white quartz clasts in a fine grained purple matrix.

I arrived at the Long Path (blazed in blue) trailhead around 10AM, and parked on the west side of Route 32 in Highland Mills New York, just south of a rusty steel train trestle. At first, the trail follows the train tracks northward. Some of the slate boulders along the trail display prominent slickenslides (fault lineations) , a reminder of the tectonic activity that creates these rocks, four hundred million years ago. Goldenrod and Queen Anne ’s Lace bloom along the edges of the right-of-way. After a half mile, the trail turns sharply west and crosses a small stream decorated with brilliant Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). It then crosses open hardwood forest and asscends, gently at first, and then very steeply, up a sandstone cliff to the top of High Knob, a high point separated from Schunemunk Mountain by a deep ravine. This hill offers a great view of the Hudson Valley. The river is a bright ribbon that crosses the flat plain of central New York and that disappears from view as it flows between Breakneck Ridge and Storm King Mountain, at the north end of the Hudson Highlands. The trail crosses the bushy crown of High Knob and then follows the edge of an escarpment on it west side, occasionally passing beneath arching Pitch Pine trees. The view of Schunemunk ridge is superb. It then descends steeply down into the narrow ravine and climbs back up onto Schunemunk Mountain, following the edge of a scree field. A view point at the top offers a good view back south toward High Knob.

The trail then traverses the flank of Schunemunk Mountain, through low hardwood forest, the ground beneath which is densely carpeted with Blueberry bushes. I passed several extremely large anthills, one four feet across and a foot high. The trail reaches the ridge in a half mile or so. It is an extraordinary place, with broad rock ledges formed of flat and tilting plates of puddingstone that are very different than the sandstones and slate that outcrop lower on the mountain. The Long Path wanders from ledge to ledge, between Pitch Pine copses and Blueberry meadows. Lines of stones, arranges by the trail crew, point the way though what otherwise would be a very confusing terrain.

Evidence abounds that Ice Age glaciers covered the ridge: The ledges have the distinctive roche moutonnée shape of glacially-modified rock outcrops, with a gently rising north side and a steep glacially-plucked south side; the quartz clasts of the puddingstone have been planed flat on all the top surfaces; glacial flutes and glacially-polished surfaces with striae (those these are rare); and glacial erratic boulders of sandstone, originally from further down on the mountain.

I followed the Long Path to the summit, which is an unremarkable ledge a little higher than all the others that is marked with a painted “1664”. A little further north, I took short spur trail to the “Megaliths”. Slabs of puddingstone, some fifty yards long, became detached from the ridge, slid lower on the hillside, and are now steeply tilted. I was tempted to explore the cracks between them, which I suppose are the entrances to small caves, but decided that the surfaces were too steep to safely traverse. Instead, I sat at the edge of the ridge and gazed down at them.

I rejoined the Long Path and took it north to the Dark Hollow Trail (blazed in black) and took it eastwards. It descends steeply down off the ridge into the valley of a small brook. I made a detour to visit an east-looking viewpoint that commanded a great view of the Hudson River. Once at the brook, I took an unblazed trail southward. It follows the brook, though rarely in sight of it, through low woods with very dense Blueberry ground cover. The trail was tricky to follow, for the overhanging bushes obscured it, yet absolutely necessary, for the bushes are so dense as to be more-or-less impenetrable. Eventually, the trail opened onto another series of rock ledges, though at a level well below that of the ridge; indeed, the cliffs of the ridge were occasionally visible way above me. The trail winds through picturesque copses of Pitch Pines and patches of Blueberry, and occasionally opens up onto nice views of the Hudson Highlands, to the east. Quite a lot of autumn red was showing amid the green Blueberry and Maple, a reminder that the end of summer is approaching. Eventually, the trail intersected the Long Path, which I took back south. Once again, I climbed High Knob. The view of the Hudson River was even better than in the morning, owing to the lower sun angle. I reached the trailhead at 4PM. Tough I had drunk two liters of water during my hike, I had not had any lunch, so I stopped at Taco Express, on Route 32 in Highland Mills. I had an excellent dinner of homemade quesadillas. 6:00.