It
was another perfect morning, with blue skies and calm water. We left the marina on high tide at 11:00 am and
were back on the Hudson. The Stony Point
Lighthouse was to the west. We were
entering the Highlands section of the river, where mountains line both
sides. Dunderberg Mountain, to the west,
marks the southern entrance. Bear Mountain
State Park is next on the west and includes an inn hidden in the trees.
We
passed the small town of Highland Falls and then saw the fortress-like walls of
West Point ahead. West Point opened as a
US Military Academy in 1802 and, of course, still operates as such today. The Hudson River is at is narrowest and
deepest here, measured at 175 feet deep.
Our depth gauge said 170 feet. On
our left was Storm King Mountain and at 1,355 feet, it is the tallest peak in
the Highlands. Small marinas and yacht
clubs dot the shores.
The
New-Beacon Bridge connects the hillside towns of Newburgh to the west and
Beacon to the east. Now we were in the
New Hamburg area and noticed more small pleasure craft traffic as well as commercial
barges. We passed under the Mid-Hudson Suspension
Bridge. Poughkeepsie, the home of Vassar
College is on the east bank, with Hyde Park and FDR House to the north.
As
we approached Kingston, we saw the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse (built 1872) in
the middle of the river. The Catskill
Mountains were visible to the north. At
Rondout Creek we turned left and slowly went by the Kingston waterfront, under
a bridge, and arrived at the Rondout Yacht Basin fuel dock at 2:42 pm. We sat there for close to an hour while the Kristin Says gulped diesel fuel before
tying up in our slip.
Later,
we called a cab to drive us to the Mariner’s Harbor restaurant and ate outside,
overlooking Rondout Creek. I thought
about all the famous places we had seen in the past couple of days that until
then were only names, such as Sing Sing, West Point and Poughkeepsie. Now I could visualize them; put a “face” with
a “name” so to speak. What an amazing
trip!
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