On Friday, May 18th, the MTA Mountain Lions combined hiking and history as they climbed Popolopen Torne in Harriman State Park. The Torne is famous for the monuments at its summit, erected in memory of U.S. Army soldiers who trained at West Point, just up the Hudson River. In fact, the cairn at the summit of Popolopen Torne is built of rocks which West Point cadets carried from the bottom of the gorge as part of their training.
The hike began at Fort Montgomery, a Revolutionary War site that guarded the Hudson River to keep British ships from traveling up to Albany and continued across the Route 9W bridge over the Popolopen Gorge, and followed the trail up the gorge along the creek. After crossing a small footbridge built by the Boy Scouts, the group began scaling the Torne. About three quarters of the way up, they found a clearing and settled down for a nice BBQ lunch, including freshly roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.
Re-energized, they scaled the rest of the Torne and reached the summit, enjoying 360 degree vistas of the Hudson River to the east, Bear Mountain to the south, and the West Point Military Preserve to the west and north, then hiked down to the bottom of the Torne and followed the gorge back to Fort Montgomery.
