Moving to New York from a tropical country, I expected the winters to be freezing cold but no one had actually mentioned to me how brutal the summers could get. Two months of sweltering 35°C meant a lot of cold drinks and swimming pool laps but by the end of August I was itching to get out of the city again. Following on from my trip to Breakneck Ridge I decided to go a little further up along the Hudson line, to Beacon, NY to complete the trek up Mt. Beacon.

Beacon the town is a small, fully equipped, organised mesh of large brick houses, pick up trucks and manicured lawns. So the contrast is very sharp when you step onto the main trail. Similar to other hikes in the Hudson Valley, the trailhead is easily accessible by car, right off the main road. But as soon as you cross that gate, it’s like you’re transported into a whole other world. Within minutes you are surrounded by a thick forest and you encounter a stairway. This goes straight up to give you the first burst of elevation. The mountain is the highest part of the surrounding hills so this was just the first, and easiest, of many steep inclines.

Once you overcome the stairs you’re fully on the rocky trail. It’s staggering to think that in the early 1900s there was an electrified train that could scale this uphill. After about an hour of a slow crawl up the trail, you burst out of the forest into Casino Outlook. And it had me completely awestruck. Many times the first view you see if just a taster but over here it’s incredible. Miles and miles of country side as far as the eyes can see and the Hudson River, expansive as ever. The town of Beacon, now reduced to dots among the green. This is the more crowded portion of the trek but there’s still a long way to go.

Similar to Breakneck Ridge too is the pattern I saw where you finish the full ascent immediately when you start the trek and slowly meander your way around the surrounding foothills during the return journey. This pattern was the opposite to what I’ve encountered in the Western Ghats of India and I actually think this one is easier to follow because at the start you have a lot of excess energy and motivation so before you know it you’ve covered the hardest parts of the trek. But what is common is the fact that you scale one peak first and then only you get sight of your main target, both giving you a sense of how far you’ve come – all the way from that bridge by the water, and also how far you have left to go.

This next phase to the top of the mountain is what I found most challenging because you first head down a bit into the valley between where we are right now and then you scale the even higher mountain so you need to make sure you’re hydrated and energized to power through. I find it really satisfying that it’s now a pattern so familiar to me. Trained in one part of the world but it helps to find out how to pace yourself anywhere else because at the end of the day everyone is playing the same game, just at a different venue.

Another hour of trudging along, some times on all fours across a near vertical rock face, we reach the top of the crest of the mountain and we are at the base of the tower. But I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the view there.

While I was expecting a full view of the river valley that I came from, I was shocked because the peak offers you a stunning 360° view of all the surrounding foothills. The entire other side which I had never seen before with the pristine Beacon reservoir absolutely took my breath away.

The tower is interesting. It was originally a fire tower but was very recently restored (2013) so it is in perfect condition to climb up. As you make your way up the tower, the fast winds cut through the open four sides bringing in just enough cold to get your blood pumping. And the view from the top, as I had mentioned before, is incredible. The metaphorical cherry atop the cake that is Mt. Beacon, this was a wonderful addition in my mind.

The reservoir on the other side of the mountain only came into view now, but what a view it was.

They say that on a good day you can see a 100 miles all the way to NYC but what really blew my mind was the waves and waves of smaller hills in all directions. I could have spent hours up there maybe, but because it is so small it is advised to head down when the next guys come in.

Now that we’ve scaled to the top, around the mountain we go. And this is again characteristic to the Hudson Valley of thick canopies and winding paths. It’s actually easy to get lost here, as I managed to do twice. But in general if you follow the trail markers you should be alright. And generations of rangers and other hikers have left directions in the rocks for you to go. It’s an odd sense of camaraderie you can feel with someone who you are likely to never meet, but know has traveled along the same path as you and is guiding you forward today.

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I’m indebted to my friend who had encouraged me to start solo trekking. It’s a different experience and one that I’ve grown to find very satisfying. When you are with a group, it feels like there’s always something going on. And while that energy can very often be the final push you need to get yourself over the line, a solo trek or a smaller group can make you feel much more in touch with the trail you are on.

It’s the small things you notice. The rustling of all the leaves of every tree in the wind, the cicadas chirping away, the breaking of a twig on the ground, bird calls, the list goes on and on. In the silence, all sounds are amplified and, even for a blind person like me, the shades of green are brighter and more different. A surreal, almost primal connect where you know that you are in charge of everything that happens to you so you have to take in everything around you at all times. This time I was lucky to catch a couple of wild deer grazing on a bush nearby and since it was just me I was absolutely silent, there was no need for wild gesturing and pointing around. For 5 whole minutes I watched the golden majestic animals in their own habitat before they scampered away.

In addition to the adrenaline rush of completing the trek, you also feel a rush of self belief that you can indeed get over that next hurdle. It might be long and arduous. It might be very very tedious. But one step at a time, you can get over it.

That is the great outdoors. That is why I hike.

P.S. Shoutout to the amazing people at Hike The Hudson Valley who’s directions and instructions are as thorough as anyone could need