[Journal entry for September 17, 2010; High Tor]. High Tor is a bald knob on Hook Mountain, a long, north-south striking ridge crest that parallels the Hudson River from Nyack to Haverstraw, NY and then hooks westward towards Pamona. At about 5PM, I park up on the ridge crest along Little Tor Road at the Long Path crossing and head east. The Long Path follows a gravel woods road that runs eastward, just a little below and south of the ridge crest. The woods road runs almost as far as High Tor; after that the Long Path follows hiking trails. Most of the ridge crest is wooded, but I find several nice view points. I detour up to a high spot on a power line right-of-way that commands a very nice view northward to the Hudson River and the Hudson Highlands. The river jogs a bit in this area, which adds to the complexity and beauty of the scenery. The evening is crystal clear. The river and hills are crisp and highlighted by the setting sun. It’s very impressive. The right-of-way is overgrown with bushes, blooming goldenrod and tall grass now gone to seed. I find glacial scratches and groves on some of the rock pavement. They are unusually distinct for the rock of the Palisades. I then continue eastward until I come to a knob of rock called Little Tor. I bushwhack to its bare summit. It, too, looks out onto the Hudson Valley. The town of Haverstraw is below and the town of Buchannan across the river. The two containment domes of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant are lit up brightly by the sun. While at the top, I look around for the trail. There must be one, of course, but it does not stand out. After bushwhacking back down to the Long Path and continuing east, I come across a blazed side trail that heads in the right direction. I suppose that must be it. I stop again after a half mile and scramble up to another high point. A narrow grassy field with several large glacial erratic boulders stretches along a hundred yards or so of cliff-edge. I spend a few minutes watching sailboats in the Hudson and then push on. While I have been to High Tor on several occasions, I do not have a good sense of just how far along the trail it is. I am worried about running out of daylight. I pass a section of the Long path with several low rock cliffs and soon afterward the woods roads fizzles out and the Long Path follows a steep hiking trail up a rock slope onto the summit of High Tor, which is, as the term tor implies, tower-like (toren is the Dutch for tower). The sun is now very low on the horizon and will soon be blocked by clouds. The Hudson River is still mostly in sun, but most of the ridge is in shadow. A fairly broad area of the summit is bare rock ledge, with very prominent columnar jointing. Unfortunately, it is marred by rather too much graffiti. The summit commands a nice view to the south, west and north, but is mostly blocked by trees to the east. I can see Lake Deforest the south, and way in the distance, the New York City skyline. I can see the Hudson to the north and can make out most of Croton Point at its eastern extreme. And I can see the ridge-crest along which I have been walking to the west. To the east, I can make out bits of Tilcon Haverstraw Quarry, bwteen trees, which has chopped out a fairly big chunk of the southwestern part of the Palisades ridge, though leaving the ridge-crest, itself, intact. I recall reading High Tor, back when I was in high school, a 1936 play by Maxwell Anderson set in the era when many of these beautiful spots were narrowly saved from being ground up into concrete aggregate. I stayed on the summit until the sun sinks below the clouds and then hastily retrace my steps back to my car, arriving in the dim light of evening. I sight several whitetail deer on the way. About two hours.