This past Sunday,my 16 year old grandson and I climbed Mt. Beacon (officially called Beacon Mountain) on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, New York. The top of this mountain is 1,531 feet above sea level. With the trees just starting to bloom, I was able to see further into the woods. I listened and watched for any bird I might see. However, we only heard two birds and they were nowhere to be seen. The trail that we chose is a dirt and gravel road used for maintenance. The locals call it the "fire road." The topology varied from level to steep and leveling off again, and so forth up to the top. This is considered the easiest approach to the top. On the way up, we passed the reservoir, which supplies the City of Beacon with its water. The photo above shows the Hudson River with Dennings Point (in Beacon) on the eastern side of the river and Newburgh, NY on the western bank.
As we started to leave, my grandson told me about the monument commemorating the Signal Fires used on Mt. Beacon during the American Revolution. We found it on the edge of the mountain behind an old fenced-in communication tower. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) erected a monument at the site in 1901 and repaired it in 1929.
As I wrote above, we only heard two birds, but high on the mountaintop were two butterflies. One lit on a rock enabling me to photograph it.
The mountain was the site of an incline railway. For years there has been talk about rebuilding it. Also, in the 1920s and 1930s, there was a hotel, restaurant and a casino near the top. I told my grandson that I would definitely like to see what remains of the buildings. We'll do that on my next climb.
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