We went hiking in the Shawangunk Mountains (the 'Gunks) today as it was mostly sunny, cool and breezy -- and we had nothing better to do. Wow. What a great hike it was, too, although my legs and feet are very very tired at the moment (guess I didn't need to go running this morning). We loaded up our packs with cameras, fruits, veggies, water and some delicious deli sandwiches from this little joint down the road (cheap and yummy stuff).
Mohonk Mountain is just on the west side of New Paltz and when we got to the main entrance, it was blocked and closed as they only allow a certain number of people each day. Bummer. Lena and tried to go see the Mountain House last fall and were soundly rejected then, too. But I had done a little research and knew there was another parking lot about a mile down the road on the north side so we went to check it out...

Success. The attendant at the lot didn't have any day passes on him so he said to just go on into the park and get a pass from any park ranger we come across (guess what? we avoided them all day! whoo-hoo!).
The trails up to the Mountain House are long and sometimes steep and sometimes unbelievable. I happened to see this crevice through a gigantic pile of granite (or some other big rock) that was big enough for a person to squeeze through -- I had to check it out! Sure enough, there were little markers showing a path through the towering 30-foot high rocks. It was like entering the Valley of Kings of something out of Indiana Jones. Some places you had to really stretch, some you had to duck and squeeze, some you had to shimmy sideways to get past. It was super amazing awesome cool!! A huge natural rock maze of cracks, tunnels, and chutes.
Anyway, it tooks us forever (like over 3 hours) to get up to the Mountain House -- it was worth it. That place is jaw-dropping huge and crazy and old and ... well, wow. I guess I can see why it cost $400-500/night! The place overlooks Mohonk Lake, a natural lake at the top of the mountain surrounded by high rock cliffs and with a blue-green color to the water. Vistas of the rest of the 'Gunks to the north, the Hudson river valley to the east and trees covering every visible inch of land. Again, it was awesome.
We hiked all the way to the summit where there is a large tower (built in 1921) and it was so crazy windy when we got up there it felt like it could blow you right over the valley. But what a view!!
Since it was getting late we then scammed a ride down to the main gate from the shuttle bus guy which cut about 2.5 miles off our hike back to the car. We still had to walk from the main gate down to our parking area which was another mile or so and it seemed like a pretty long mile by that time. Whew.
We stopped to eat some Mexican food in New Paltz (nothing special) and I was feeling so tired that I couldn't even finish my chicken-bean-rice burrito. ate hers all up.
Now she's baking me a fresh blueberry pie (my birthday 'cake') and we can barely stay awake... but we're trying.