Agile Trekker: Overlook Trail, Fishkill Ridge Trail, Wilkinson Memorial Trail

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/1/2018	11.1 miles

Map: NYNJTC East Hudson Trails, Map 102

Parking: Sunnyside Road, Beacon Hills

Directions: Take red blazed Overlook Trail. Turn left onto white blazed Fishkill Ridge trail. Pass blue blazed trail (bulldozer junction) and stay on white trail. Go over Bald Hill. Turn right on yellow blazed Wilkinson Memorial Trail. Pass blue blazed trail. At this point we continued around 1.5 miles on the Wilkinson Memorial Trail. I think that put us at around the 5th star on the trail. We turned around at that point. Turn left on blue. Turn left onto the white blazed Fishkill Ridge trail at the bulldozer junction. Turn right onto the red blazed Overlook trail and return to the parking area.

Our original goal was to hike 10.5 miles of the Wilkinson Memorial Trail starting at the east end. We drove there down Old Albany Post Road, and found nowhere to park. Hmm. Our map is 8 years old, and I'm wondering if parking doesn't exist anymore. We're going to buy a new version of the map - I noticed the 2018 version also has mileage markers, which is really helpful when planning hikes. Since our original hiking plan didn't work out, we drove to the Fishkill Ridge parking area for the Overlook Trail and came up with a new plan.

Today's goal was to do a 10.5 mile hike. We overshot it a little and came in at 11.1 miles. Today's hike was strenuous. The red blazed overlook trail goes steeply uphill on rocky terrain. I didn't bring my trekking poles, and wish I had them to help me descend this section of trail on the way back. The morning started out utterly dreary. It was 54 degrees, but overcast and started to rain. I tried not to overdress at the start, because we were heading uphill, but I got chilled and ended up putting on rain pants, rain coat, hat, gloves, and neck warmer. Those all came off later. Luckily the rain stopped soon, and later in the afternoon we had sunny skies. So much more cheerful. The first half of the white trail was hilly, the second half felt more like a woods road. At times we had snow, but managed in our trail runners. We left the microspikes at home - after all, yesterday's hike was completely snow free. We met a few people on the trail and stopped to talk to most of them. I think Garmin should sponsor me, since I get asked so much about Trek's GPS collar. The hike was in no way crowded though, and Trek got to run off leash. He still has too much energy, not slowing down at all until we hit the red trail on our way back to the car. This was a nice hike - it felt like an excellent training hike with rocky terrain - perfect for preparing for more Pennsylvania AT hikes. The next day my legs were shot!

I'm still struggling with shoes. Even with trail runners. How many pairs of shoes do I need to buy until I find the right ones? Today I returned to my Altra Loan Peak 3.5's. I originally was in size 7.5. I decided my toes were too close to the front, so I got a size 8. These don't feel too bad except when I go downhill, my toes jam into the front of my shoe. This was particularly bad on the red trail today. Happy my toenails are still attached! I may try 8.5's next. My previous favorite shoe was Altra Lone Peak 2.5's - where a size 7.5 was roomy both in length and width. Go figure.