a gal getaway hiking new york's hudson river school art trail - metal plaque

Shot by Karen Rubin.
When people think of "girls on holiday", they usually think of spa weekends or wine and food.
For me and my former college roommate, our girls vacation was three days of hiking and exploring historic sites in the Catskill Mountains in the Hudson Valley, located at her upper State home and
If there is a "maiden" aspect, that is, the focus of our hiking trip is the art inspired by these landscapes, which is considered to be the Hudson River School of the first art movement in the United States, thomas Cole was founded here in 1825.
We're here to go along the Hudson River School Road of Art (HRSAT)-
In the footsteps of the artists, they painted their glorious scenery from there.
Green County area in Central
Hudson Valley (
Known for Mount Hunt and Wyndham
The 17 stops in the Hudson Valley area have 8 attractions and hiking.
But so far, HRSAT consists of 22 sites (and growing)
It extends to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and even abroad.
Today, we can trace the steps of the artist, such as Thomas Cole, founder of Hudson River School, which started painting these landscapes in 1825, and Frederick Edwin Church, who studied under Cole, then return to the area to build his magnificent "Persian" estate, Olana, as a living canvas for the scenery and architecture (how modern! ).
It's like falling into a painting.
You are impressed by the way the scene remains the same, at least those areas that are protected within 300,000 acres of Catskill Reserve, when others were shrouded in the "progress" that Cole and other artists had focused on in the 1800 s, as an industrial revolution, it brought railways and factories, replacing the wilderness that they thought was so brilliant.
Today, we are fighting the same struggle between progress and protection, conservation and devouring of nature.
In eight locations in the middle
Three of the Hudson Valley are hiking.
Look at weather forecasts
It's sunny day, but it will rain next.
We cleverly changed our plans and met at the starting point of the hike (4 and 5)
And will continue hiking at 6, 7 and 8, leaving the internal sights-
National Site of Thomas Cole (1)
Olana, the home of Frederick Edwin Church (2)-
The next day.
To make up for the time, I drove past site 3 on Catskill Creek Art Trail and looked up to capture the classic view of the Creek in the distant mountains.
You can see the view that Thomas Cole drew from the bridge or from the property at the restaurant Tatiana on the north side of the bridge.
Catskill Creek is one of Thomas Cole's favorite painting themes
He drew at least ten times, and his First Creek painting was done in 1827.
I can understand, though, that it is close to his house.
But here you can see how much things have changed.
The stream is still beautiful, but there are developments around it.
Railway, highway bridge, restaurant-
When Cole tries to capture the wilderness, save it on the canvas, create appreciation for nature, and trigger conservation movements, he cares a lot about these things.
Catskill Creek is just a landscape, not a hike, time is tight, I travel on Highway 23 and get to No. 4 on Highway 23, Catskill cloves.
This is also a rate hike at Kaaterskill Falls in the parking lot (5).
You really need to do early logistical planning for this trip
I was surprised by the distance between these sites.
When you see this sign for the first time, the direction says over-tune
It turned out to be a small sign that didn't even announce the trailer head or rest on the highway guardrail and enter the trailer.
I parked in the parking lot, where I met Carol (
Because there is no mobile phone service, no one has received a call from me to update my progress;
Note: There is no bathroom anywhere nearby;
However, the tour guide pointed out which places have bathroom facilities).
We had a picnic lunch on the rocks next to the art trail metal plaque, one of the famous scenes of Hudson River School artists, which allows you to bring Thomas Cole's cloves, A picture in Catskill is compared to the autumn scene from 1827 to today.
Each plaque has a QR code that can scan for more information and a medal with relief (Design of raised)
This way participants can easily capture the scene by putting a piece of paper on the medal and rubbing it with a pencil, crayons or charcoal.
"Passport" also has a place of friction.
Hudson River School Art Trail Guide-
Did a very good job, greatly enhanced the visit and added an integral map of the Hudson River School art trail
Explained, "the rugged terrain of cloves is created by glacial action and erosion of streams that cut into its depths and flow down its sides.
Palonville at the foot of cloves became the first art colony in the United States.
According to the notes, Thomas Cole drew cloves from the top of Haines Falls, Ashel Duran from nearby Santa Cruz falls, and Sandford from near the poet's ledge.
That's why Hudson River school is so important: "Their paintings help Americans form a sense of national identity.
The natural environment here is wild and sublime, which is obviously different from anything in Europe.
Cloves are very important to these painters, and Durand chose it as the background for painting like-minded, who, along with the poet William Karen Bryant, saluted Thomas Cole
He has a manor in Roslyn, Long Island, and now it's a 141-
Kerry reserve and Nassau County Museum of Art.
Today's cloves are largely the same as the 19th-century cloves because they are included in the Catskill Forest Reserve.
"The scene obviously depends on the time of day, the weather, the atmosphere (
That's why it's so accidental every time we meet).
Today, this scene is closest to 1866 Kaaterskill cloves from Asher B Durand
The trees are higher, so you can't see a clear crack, a unique feature of Catskills that attracts artists from Hudson River School, and the lighting today is dull. But still.
We walked back along the highway to Kaaterskill Falls site 5 (
No sidewalk even)
Climbing through the guardrail of the highway, along the way, we saw the fortress waterfall, which was very spectacular.
A few more steps forward is the starting point of catataris falls.
Kaaterskill is one of the most beautiful waterfalls you can find anywhere
Together, the waterfall reaches 260 feet, the highest waterfall in New York state. It's a half-
A mile above sea level of about 300 feet (one-mile roundtrip)
At the beginning, it was the steepest competition (
The trail is designated as "D" or medium difficulty and takes about 60 minutes)
The hiking stick was really helpful and someone left one I picked up.
Starting from the first step, hiking is spectacular.
It's like those years between us.
Hiking, backpacking and boarding in England, Scotland and Wales, and returning to college has never been, even though we all have children now.
It's like going back to that comfortable conversation where she interrupted her as a biologist's expertise and she led the student naturalist to gosca and (I guess)
My harvest in sociology has been in recent years.
She stopped and picked me a red berry.
It tastes starchy and tasteless.
This is partridgeberry (
Popella repens)
It is edible but not particularly delicious.
A little further, Carol picked a green plant (zesty! )-wood sorrel (
Corniculata)-
She told me that it contained a kind of grass salt that made it taste sour.
"The salad is delicious but should not be eaten in large quantities," she suggested . ".
I was very happy hiking.
The cool, fresh and sound of the forest and rush water, excited by the tiredness.
It is amazing and beautiful layered waterfall, even before 200, when the Grand Hotel was just established in the era of Catskill, it attracted people.
When Thomas Cole came here in 1825, the waterfalls were well known and popular (imagine that! ).
Walking distance to catataris falls (site 5)
It is one of the most magnificent buildings in the world.
It's easy to see that Thomas Cole, an artist who immigrated from the UK, was so fascinated that he moved here from Pittsburgh.
I would like to know how many times artists will visit the light and scenes in their way.
Later, I learned more about Thomas Cole's house: before photography, even before the subway paint, Cole would hike from a few miles away from home, sketch with a sketchbook with rich notes describing color, light and atmosphere.
A few months later, in the winter of his New York City studio, when he had time to "process" the scene in his mind, he would recreate the scene with charcoal, and finally, oil paintings depicting idealized scenes remove any distracting elements.
In fact, we saw "double falls-
Kaaterskill, 1826 "is used to show his artistic process
Show evidence of humanity (
There used to be a pavilion at the top of the waterfall, distracting him from what he wanted to say
Instead, put an Indian figure on the ledge. It's a half-
A mile from the end of the "official Trail", there is also a warning sign: "Climbing the ledge next to the kaaterfalls falls is extremely dangerous and has caused countless casualties.
Admire the waterfalls from the base.
"But some young people sit on the ledge under the highest waterfall and make us feel like they can be cleaned up.
We told ourselves we had three more ways to go before dark this afternoon, so we didn't have to be persuaded not to go higher. (
I promise myself that I will do it next time. )
Sunset Rock we went back to our car and drove another 15 to 20 minutes to the town of Haines Falls, stopping at the visitor center in 23A to learn more about maps and brochures, and a little confirmation of where we are going, and then a little West on 23A, to the north --
South Lake Camp is a popular place for camping and hiking.
Three in art
Trail site in camp.
Here you will realize that there is a little disconnect between the existing trail and the art trail (
This gives you enough information to get to where the path starts, not the actual path).
We paid $8 for the entrance and got the trail map of the park.
I am trying to schedule our hike at the best of the day in order to be able to capture what these artists have created on canvas with my camera.
But I have to pay attention to making sure we get back before dark.
Fortunately, this is the middle.
We had a long day in June.
But given the time of the day, we went straight to location 7, hiking to Sunset Rock, bypassing location 6 in the NorthSouth lake.
Interestingly, when Thomas Cole began painting these scenes, photography was just beginning --
For most people, the only way to see where they have not visited in person is through these paintings, which is why they have received such attention at this point, I am in awe of artists and realize what they must have experienced in the early and mid-term
1800 to go to these places.
They told me at Thomas Cole's house that he was hiking here.
That means he must leave for a few days at a time with camping gear and sketch pads.
You can't hike to Sunset Rock (
Where we are going now)
, A 2-1/2-hour hike back and forth at sunset, returning in the dark, so he must have camped there.
Sunset Rock is the longest 1/2-hour hike (2. 4 miles).
I gave up any idea of reaching Sunset Rock at sunset (
How do we fall in the dark? )
But I want to make sure we have the most spectacular views.
Go to Sunset Rock, you park in the parking lot (
You can stop in the bathroom here)
And then go north (left)
On a mile of cliff trail, look for the yellow one --
There is a shining path on the right, and usually a sign of the Sunset Rock is posted.
You take this road 0
2 miles from the edge of the Sunset Rock, all the terrain in Cole's paintings --minus the long-
Mount Catskill house (
Burned in 1960 seconds)—come into view.
The trails at Sunset Rock are not particularly tough, but you should wear strong shoes.
There was a steep part in the beginning that needed some confusion.
Sunset Rock hiking is great
Every step is the pleasure of the senses, whether it is the scenery, the vegetation that changes so quickly, the fresh air, the sweetness of the forest, the sound of various birds.
You follow the dazzling heights of the cliff trail, surrounded by the Hudson River and (on a clear day)three states.
The best view on the east side is rock in the right name artist (
It is very important to remember that the cliff trail continues in the next few miles
Because when you return to the path from the artist rock, there is no sign of direction and may be tempted to continue north on the cliff path.
Luckily, Carol remembered this because I lost my way. )
Carol pointed out that witch hazel, Pine cypress, tripe (
A brown moss that can be eaten at a critical moment, she says)
There's also a magic set of rock displays
As the mother of all the pebbles and stones, huge boulders hit me --
Start to name the bird we hear (but not seeing)
From their phone: Oven Bird (
Sounds like "teacher, teacher "), peewee bird -
A bird I have never heard of before.
Finally, we looked down on the Sunset Rock --spectacular -
We can easily re-
Create a view of Thomas Cole's "twin lakes and mountain houses in the Catskill Mountains, morning, 1844 "-
Negative Mountain House (
No longer exists).
The scenery in summer is beautiful, but I can only imagine how spectacular the scenery in autumn is (
In fact, the painting shows it, and the video we saw the next day at the Thomas Cole House and Fredrick Church's Olana confirmed this, even if there was no artist's decoration).
Therefore, whether it is covered with snow or winter or a new bud in spring.
This is New York!
The house at Mount Catskill went down the hill and we reached the point where we entered the blue trail, but by continuing our hiking in this direction, we reached the entrance to the carriage road leading to the Pine Orchard, there is the House of Mount Catskill, starting in 1824 --1963.
"Your previous views are the most famous in the United States.
"As an avid tourist enthusiast, it's like peeping at the beginning --
Catskill Hill Villas must be one of the first resorts in the United States, demonstrating the sociological changes in the industrial revolution, the rise of the middle class, urbanization, and traffic improvement.
Today is the clearing house (
The hotel was burned)
In another spectacular view of the valley below 1,600 feet metres, it extends east to the tacnik and Berkeley ranges in Massachusetts, within 60 miles, you can see the silver of the Hudson River from north to south, small communities with farmland and road networks.
It was even more spectacular in the golden light later in the afternoon.
James Fenimore Cooper accurately describes this panorama in his 1823 novel, The Pioneer, a year after the publication of the novel, 1824, Catskill Hill Inn
But even though artists at Hudson River school sometimes stay here (
Occasionally, the painting will be sold to the guests)
It seems that the houses in the mountains are depicted as their scenes (
Like the painting provided here, the Catskill Hill House by Thomas Cole: four elements. 1843-
44, depicting hotels in the distance)
Few of them drew the view from the grounds of the hotel.
The only exception was Frederick Edwin Church, who drew 1848.
We look for pale rocks along the ledge and read the names and dates carved by hotel guests in Early 1800.
We continued down and now walked down the path to the other side of the lake, basically stumbling on what we thought was the 6 spots on the art trail-the North-
South Lake, where Thomas Cole painted "dead tree Lake, 1825.
This part looks exactly the same.
There was even a dead tree, like a white skeleton that stretched out for my benefit, which reminded me of the damage that had been done to the area during Hurricane Irene.
So far, the sun is lower in the sky, the color is warmer, and the scenery is amazing.
After the hike we were on the road and headed to Wyndham via hunt
So popular in the winter, but also in the summer, there is a major zipline Adventure Park (www. ziplinenewyork. com/)
And music festival
When we were traveling north at Rte.
296, a black bear crossed the road in front of Carol's car.
We are on our way to Thompson House, a classic traditional hotel/resort dating back to 1880 at Wyndham. (
Thompson House, Wyndham NY 296, 12496,518 19 th Road-734-
Gmail psonhouse @ gmail 4510com, 518-734-4510, www. thompsonhouse. com).
Get maps, directions and photos of all sites on Hudson River School Art Trail at www.
Hudsonriverschool. org.
There is a map showing the entire trail site and the direction of each site on www.
Hudsonriverschool.
For more information on the Catskills package and activities, see www.
Great northernerscom.