BREAKNECK
RIDGE '98
The Environmental Club
and 20 of its members accompanied by Mr. Thoman, Mr. Guerro,
Ms. Morales, Ms. Santoro took a trip to Breakneck Ridge up in
the Hudson Highlands. This is the second time the club has
made such a trip. The club met in the front of the MTA train
station in Marble Hill, where they took the train to
uncharted territory. When the members got off at their stop,
it wasn't even a real platform - it was like we were being
deserted. To add to this scene of desolation, one could look
up in the sky and see the hawks circling overhead, waiting to
dive on some tender prey from the Bronx. However, a sense of
adventure set in and it became pretty exciting. The trip was
pretty strenuous (don't take my word for it - ask Mrs.
Santoro); everyone had to be sure they were ready to use all
fours to climb up the ridge. It was really fun, no one person
was safe from tripping, the person people expected to trip
the most probably tripped the least, lucky Ivan. Mr. Thoman
was nice enough to let the members break into groups and hike
the trail by themselves. The ridge was so
beautiful; there was one spot where it seemed like the most
colorful place on the trail. The trees had the color of fall
and the leaves had fallen to the ground making colorful beds
(Sounds like a Disney movie huh?). Half way up the trail, the
members all met and ate lunch and boy, can Ivan and Nara eat!
I wonder if they can say "Tapeworm." At the end of
lunch, it was time to hit the last end of the trail. The
members once again broke into groups. However this time two
groups of students and Mr. Guerro took the wrong trail. I
myself had the luck of being in one of these groups. Not only
that, I got stung by a stupid bee and it
felt like I needed a full body scratch. However it was kind
of cool
getting lost, as the trail we took led us to a summer camp
where one could see and get the idea of where all this summer
camps movies come from. Everyone started getting worried and
decided to trace our steps back. Lucky as we started walking
back Mr. Thoman met us half way and we caught up with the
rest of the group. Everyone was hanging out in an abandoned
farmhouse next to a lake where I got some relief from my bee
sting. It was time to start heading to town to pick up some
dinner. As we left the trail one could look up and truly feel
like they had completed a huge quest. 1,000 feet is
definitely not a piece of cake. The town was nice: it was
small, and it had antique shops, gun shops, bike shops and
other types of stores. Mr. Thoman then brought the whole club
a dinner of pizza and we all ate near the Hudson. After our
dinner everyone packed their gear and we all caught the train
at Cold Spring, and made the 40 mile journey back to the
city. The Breakneck trip lasted about 12 hours: it was an
adventure
that I'm sure those who participated would not mind taking
again,
hopefully no one will get stung by those damn bees this time!
Click on the images to enlarge it
