[Journal entry for November 11, 2023] Although the Fall Colors are fading in northern New Jersey, the trees at the base of the Hudson Palisade cliffs are still very vibrant. I arrived at the Alpine Boat Basin at around 9AM, and parked at the big lot there. Although the Palisades Interstate Park has started to charge for parking, no fees were being charged today; the payment machines were all covered in black plastic. The bright morning sun was lighting up the face of the Palisade and the trees growing beneath it were glowing, mostly in yellow and orange colors, though a few were bright red. I pass the 1760 Kearney House, said to have once hosted George Washington. The Park has done a nice job repairing the damage caused by flooding from Hurricane Sandy, which struck back in 2012. I first viewed the Hudson River from the sea wall at the north end of the boat basin. It has only small ripples and its surface reflects the sky and the big cliff of the Palisade, ahead of me.

I then backtracked a little and took the Old Alpine Trail uphill and north. The trailhead is south of the old stove pavilion. One must be careful not to follow the another, river-level trail that hugs the shore but dead ends in only a quarter mile. The Old Alpine Trail rises about a hundred feet, and then levels out, following the top of the sedimentary rocks below the volcanic rocks of the cliff, proper. The woods in this section are just a little past-peak and very beautiful, especially with the sun backlighting their leaves. Many of the bright red trees are escaped ornamentals such as Japanese Maple. Their progenitors were planted a century ago beside mansions way above me, at the cliff edge. The mansions are now gone, and although the foundations of a few such as Cliffdale Manor survive, these plants serve as a reminder of those bygone days. I pass one Wood Aster plant, still in bloom. Otherwise, the fall flowering season is over.

The trail drops down to river level in about a mile. The skirts of the cliffs are littered with huge boulders that have fallen off the Palisade. Most of these are ancient, but I pass a large slab, perhaps eight feet wide, with fresh surfaces. I judge that it crashed down sometime during the last year. Although the foliage along this section of the Shore Trail is not especially bright, the many views of the river, and the less frequent views of the cliffs above, are terrific. I pass below Rickman Point, identifiable by its many Red Cedar trees, a promontory of the cliff that I shall visit later.

The Shore Trail opens up into a wide bushy glade, my signal to look carefully for the Forest View Trailhead (blazed in blue and white). I head up this trail, which switches up a big gulley that cuts the Palisade. I pass the crushed and rusted remains of a car. I guess someone drove it off the cliff (hopefully unoccupied) way back when. A Boy Scout troop passes me, coming down. Some very large trees, and especially Tulip Trees, grow in this section of the Park. The lower part of the Trail is earthen, but the upper part has an extensive stone staircase, as the way becomes steeper and steeper. Finally, I joint the Long Path (blazed in blue), which follows the cliff edge north-to-south, and intersects the Forest View Trail just south of a little foot bridge. However, my climb is not yet over; the trail ascends another hundred feet before leveling off at a little “castle”, the Women’s Federation Monument. I head south on the Long Path, following the cliff edge and visiting several wonderful viewpoints from which I can see the colorful top of the woods below the cliffs, the Hudson River and the Palisade, itself.

1. The cliff edge by the castle offers a nice view of the river, but an even better view can be had from a little promontory located about a hundred yards south of it. It’s not accessed by the Long Path, but by an unblazed trail that closer to the cliff edge. This trail passes the ruins of an old mansion. The building is gone, but the swimming pool and hedges survive. It also passes a narrow but enormously-deep chasm, surrounded by a green fence – a tension crack in the rock of the Palisade. The viewpoint also has a fence and a nice view, especially to the north. I can see below me colorful woods, the River and the remains of an old pier extending out into it. The view also takes in some of the cliff face of the Palisade. Vultures are circling just below the cliff edge.

2. I continue south along the unblazed trail. Another viewpoint is just short of another chasm. I call it Little Ruckman Point. In my opinion it has the best northward view of the cliffs in this section of the Park.

3. I continue south along the unblazed trail as it follows the edge of another chasm, this one much wider than the first. The trail rejoins the Long Path at the western end of the chasm, crossing the stream that flows into it by a wooden footbridge. I then take another unblazed trail that heads north, out onto the sliver of land between the Palisade and the chasm. Ruckman Point is at it north end. It offers another terrific northward view. It’s a bit bigger and more open than the other viewpoints – I suppose because its drier – and is decorated by many Red Cedar trees.

4. I backtrack and rejoin the Long Path, heading south again. The Long Path runs very close to the cliff edge here. I detour a short distance through the woods to a spot that offers a particularly dramatic view of the Palisade, one that really emphasizes how near-vertical is the cliff face.

5. The Long Path now curves westward, putting the cliff edge out of view. But at a point where it is really quite far from the cliff edge, and where the Palisade has a bit of a promontory, one can bushwhack straight east through the woods to the cliff edge, were there is a very nice northward view.

6. The Long Path crosses a little stream via a footbridge. An unblazed trail just south of the bridge leads to the waterfall where this stream plunges over the edge of the Palisade. (Actually, the stream clearly has been diverted to make this waterfall; perhaps it decorated someone’s mansion, way back when). I’ve seen it when it was roaring, but today only a little water is dribbling down the cliff face. The view is northward and terrific.

7. A short unblazed trail leads to a concrete bridge that connects the southern of two rock columns to the mainland. These columns are not fully-detached from the cliff face, but the chasm between is deep – perhaps twenty feet of so. The views from the column are not as good as the best views I had encountered earlier today. But the path to them is exciting!

8. The Long Path passes the Park Office, near Exit 2 of the Palisade Interstate Parkway. An overlook is situated at the east edge of the big grassy lawn behind the building. It is picturesque, with nice stonework and cliff-top trees. It offers a nice view of the River, but one cannot see the face of the Palisade or the woods below from it.

I then descended back down to river level, taking the Old Alpine Trail (really a wide gravel road). At the bottom, I took one last look at the Palisade from the pier at the north end of the boat basin, and then headed home.

About three and a half hours.