Statistics
According to my AllTrails.com recording of this hike to Beacon Mountain (October 1, 2020), it was:
- Distance: 6.19 miles
- Elevation Gain: 1,545 feet
- Moving Time: 3 hours 1 minute
- Total Elapsed Time: 3 hours 3 minutes
Getting Away From NYC
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I couldn’t travel anywhere on any of my planned trips. I was supposed to go on three separate vacations this year (home to California in May, Europe in June, and home/Lake Tahoe in August), but thanks to travel restrictions, I had to cancel all of them and I stayed just within walking distance of my Brooklyn apartment.
I did get to go on a socially distanced day hike with a few friends in July, which was nice, but not really a getaway when you come back to the same apartment and bed that night. So, I made a plan to take a few days to travel up to Beacon, NY. I chose Beacon because I could easily get there via the MetroNorth train, and the hiking trails and the AirBnB I found were within walking distance from the MetroNorth station.
I arrived Wednesday evening, relaxed and got a decent night’s sleep, and then explored the town a bit Thursday morning before going on the hike.
Pre-Hiking Crepes in Downtown Beacon
Another reason I chose Beacon as a mini-getaway destination was that there were a good number of vegan-friendly restaurants I could eat at. One of my favorite parts of exploring a new city is trying their local food establishments. One place that caught my attention was Royal Crepes in downtown Beacon.
There were many crepe options on their menu, and a good number of them could be made vegan and/or gluten-free. I opted for my favorite combo: peanut butter and banana. I also ordered a regular cup of coffee and sat outside under one of their red umbrellas to wait for my crepe.
Not too long after, they brought out my beautiful crepe. I’m not sure if the whipped cream was vegan or not, but I didn’t really want any anyway, so I just ate the crepe without it. It was delicious – creamy, sticky peanut butter with perfectly ripe, soft banana slices. The crepe was thin, soft, and had a light flavor as well. Definitely, very satisfying!
Hunt for a Restroom around Downtown Beacon
It didn’t sound like the trailhead for the hike I had chosen had restrooms, so I began searching for somewhere I could go before starting the hike. I stopped in a few places (two restaurants and a bank), but they didn’t allow non-customers to use their restroom. The bank directed me to the diner. The diner may or may not have let me use their restroom without buying something, but I wanted to be nice, and asked for a cup of coffee to go before asking to use their restroom. I tipped them well, and took my very hot coffee on my walk to the trailhead.
Getting to the trailhead ended up being a hike in itself. It was a 20-minute walk to get their, and much of it was a decent uphill slope. (There was a lady who speed-walked past me on the street leading up to the trail, but turned around when she got to the gate where the trail started. The hill is definitely great for a workout.)
On the Trail to Beacon Mountain
Finally, I passed through a gate and the hike officially began. The first 1.3 miles was a pretty steady uphill climb (about 10% grade) – not difficult, but definitely will get you warm. About a half-mile from the gate and shortly after crossing the creek is a small but very nice waterfall. At about 0.9 miles, you turn onto a much wider trail that I found out later is used often for motorbikes.
Rainbow Falls
After 1.3 miles, you get to the northern edge of the Beacon Reservoir. Since it was still early autumn, not many of the trees had started turning color yet, but there was a good smattering of yellow and orange mixed in with the green foliage. I decided to walk along the top of the dam wall on the northern edge of the reservoir, which then led to a dirt trail that followed the edge of the reservoir. This was pretty flat to the southern edge of the reservoir (about half a mile).
From there, I decided to take the trail up to the peak of South Beacon Mountain. This is only 0.2 miles to the top, moderately steep (about 20% grade), but a lot of it is on large, smooth rocks that might be slippery (definitely when wet). But once you get to the top, you are rewarded with some gorgeous views of the Hudson River and the region to the west and south. A nice place to have a picnic.
I didn’t stay up there for long and headed back down to continue my hike. I followed the Casino Trail about 0.8 miles to the site of the old casino with more gorgeous views of the Hudson River and valley. Very close by there is the remains of the Beacon Hill Incline Railway Powerhouse. It turns out this site is the remains of the Beaconcrest Hotel and Casino that operated in the early 1900’s, and the funicular ferried guests from the bottom of the mountain to the hotel.
From there, I retraced my steps part of the way on the Casino Trail about 0.4 miles before turning left onto a trail leading up to North Beacon Mountain (about 0.5 miles). It was a little tricky figuring out where to go once I got up there, but there is a small trail just to the right of the fence surrounding a building (I guess for maintenance), and it goes around it a bit. If you get behind the building, you will find the Daughters of the American Revolution Monument that is up there. it seems strange that it is so out of the way now.
From there, I hiked back down to the maintenance road that brings you back to the reservoir. Then I retraced my steps coming up back to the trailhead.
Post-Hike Eats in Downtown Beacon
I’d worked up quite an appetite by the time I was done, and I found a vegan-friendly Thai restaurant, Sukhothai, that I could order pick-up from. I ordered from their website shortly after I passed the gate at the trailhead, and made my way toward the restaurant.
At this point, my feet were KILLING me. I’d already walked quite a bit before the hike, getting to the crepes place, looking for a restroom, and getting to the trailhead. And then getting from the trailhead to the Thai Restaurant was probably another mile of walking.
Before getting to the restaurant, I also stopped at The Chocolate Studio to pick up a couple of vegan and gluten-free cookies. There are many vegan options to choose from, and a handful of them were also gluten-free. I got the Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk and the Espresso cookies.
Then I went over to Sukhothai, picked up the Pad Thai I had ordered, and took it back to my AirBnB to eat. I could have eaten it at their outdoor dining area, but I needed to get back in time to get ready to teach my flexibility class online. (One of the nice things about teaching online is that you can pretty much do it from anywhere that you have stable Internet!)
The Pad Thai was just ok … it was a little on the bland side, but it was filling especially after all the hiking and walking I did. I also ate part of the oatmeal cookie, too, and that was quite good. (Both cookies were – I ate some of the Espresso one the next day.)
All in all, Beacon is a great place not too far from New York City for a brief getaway, and lots of hiking options available. I have friends who have also done the Breakneck Ridge Trail that goes up to Beacon Mountain but from the south, and it looks brutal. Lots of rock scrambling where you have to be using your hands to ascend steep rock. Maybe I’ll try that someday, but I was grateful for a much more moderate hike!