About a month ago I went down to Storm King Mountain to go for a hike on this historic mountain and explore some of the lower Hudson Valley. I drove over the Storm King Bypass Highway, stopped and took a few pictures. The views in this area on a warm spring day where truly fantastic, and I was inspired for a long time to come.

I took Route 9W and Route 32 all the way down to Storm King. I looked out over West Point then drove up to the Overlook on the Bypass. I went up to the parking lot and took the steep trail up the mountain, somewhat afraid of heights. I looked around and my breath was taken away. I walked further and looked around some more. I was inspired.

I looked down at the sweeping and inspirational views of the Hudson River. The river was so powerful as where the mountains. The river winds through this area. I hike further on the mountain and got inspirational views to the west, and then to the North. I wrapped around to the south side of the mountain and looked south on the river. More beauty.

There was no escaping the industrial landscape though. The river was dotted by power plants, bridges, and the Newburgh oil terminal. None of these things where pretty, but necessary for our lives so dependent on electricity and fossil fuels.

I couldn’t believe that the plan originally was to blow this mountain up and make it into a massive pump storage plant, inaccessible to all but Consolidated Edison employees. This would have destroyed such beauty, despite the real benefit the plant would have had to reducing air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

I went down the easy trail back to the parking lot. Not as impressive of a view, but an easy hike on back. With a broken boot it was a bit painful and resulted in blisters on my foot. Still I enjoyed the beauty. On the way back home I visited Bear Mountain State Park Overlook, and then went across the Bear Mountain Bridge, and took Route 9D north. More amazing views.