A day of discovery for us today. We decided we would start our day by heading for the Hudson River and driving up the east side and returning back to our campsite down the west side. We had acquired some maps in the campsite office when we arrived and elected to use them for today’s journey. This concept may not have been entirely sound because we soon found that virtually every entity refers to each road by a different name. While the local authorities call a road Mohonk Road, our map indicated it was county roads 1 and 6 and the state refers to the road as 44 or 55, depending on which signs were still standing after protracted neglect. I believe this method of ambiguous nomenclature was designed to confuse even the smartest folks, a classification to which I do not apparently belong. Signage here lends challenges to navigation which must be similar to those encountered by explorers prior to compasses or maps existing.
We wandered around on the Roads With Many Names and ultimately made it to Highland, NY, where we crossed the Hudson to the eastern shore. We strangely found our way onto Hwy 9 running up the east shore although we also noted there was a Hwy 9 on the western shore. Anyway, we drove north up the eastern shore Hwy 9 passing by a mansion owned by the Vanderbilts, which was very spiffy. We also went by FDR’s tiny little estate in Hyde Park which was also very nice. It only occupies about 50 or more acres right alongside the Hudson and has a very nice view for a house owned by a Democrat.
After continuing north for a while, we found ourselves on Hwy 9G (another Hwy 9) which continued north until we crossed back to the western shore at Catskill, NY, which is not really in the Catskills. From there we went south on Hwy 9 on the western shore through a town called High Falls. High Falls has a little waterfall that is not really very high – maybe 30 feet in a couple of different cascades but the water passing over the falls is pretty neat anyway. The water seems to have a nice tan color, probably due to the recent rains. We stopped in High Falls parking along the town’s main drag and bailed out of Charlotte to take what they refer to as “The 5 Locks Trail.” This is a gorgeous little gravel path that passes five locks which used to be a part of the D & H canal system that connected the Delaware River with the Hudson River. This canal system was about 100 miles long, had 102 locks and was dug by men using picks, shovels, horses and cheap labor. It is nominally 20 feet wide and at least four feet deep. The barges that traveled on the canal were pulled by mules that had children guiding them. The system operated 9 months out of the year so most of the poorly paid munchkins that guided the mules ended up being uneducated because folks at that time thought orphans and runaways were not suitable for anything other than indentured servitude. Must have been a pretty miserable life for the kids although the canal owners made quite a bit of money.
All of the roads we traveled today passed through exquisitely beautiful countryside. Most of the roads are pretty narrow and the road surfaces were paved such that the suspension gets quite a workout but the scenery more than makes up for the lousy highways. The Hudson River Valley, at least this section, is just spectacular with beautiful buildings with many architectural styles, gorgeous vistas and lush forests with abundant wildlife.