Schunnemunk Mountain
Schunnemunk Mountain is two parallel ridges of conglomerate bedrock. It is located maybe ten miles west of the Hudson River in Orange County, New York. The ridge tops have some large exposures of glacially scoured bedrock with only dwarf pitch pines growing between the cracks. The views from here of the surrounding country are expansive: the Hudson River and Hudson Highlands to the east, the Schawangunk and Catskill Mountains to the North, rolling terrain of Orange County to the west, and the rugged areas of Harriman and Sterling Forest State Parks to the south. The shape of the two parallel ridges is also cool. The inward facing sides have steep ledges and talus slopes above a long, narrow, moist, flat, deep-soiled inner valley. Tulip poplar, yellow birch, sugar maple, and various oaks attain good size down in there. Little streams drain either end of this valley, and there is a swamp at the northern end.
The mountain has a distinctive wedge shape on a map. The northeastern slope is a steep drop-off, almost along a straight line, directly above a lowland around Moodna Creek. On a map, it looks almost as if someone cut diagonally across the ridges and discarded a piece. The gentle stream from the “inner valley” mentioned above suddenly cascades down a steep, hemlock-lined ravine, traversed by one of the trails of Schunnemunk State Park.
Another distinctive feature, visible from the east, is a craggy rounded knob below the ridge line towards the south end of the mountain, also summited by a trail.
The bedrock is beautiful. Called the Schunnemunk Conglomerate it “consists of well-rounded quartz and red sandstone cobbles in a fine-grained red ironstone matrix.“ It’s part of the Green Pond Outlier, a long skinny geologic region that continues southwest into New Jersey, featuring more flat-topped ridges like Bearfort Mountain and Green Pond Mountain. You can read about it here: http://geologycafe.com/nyc/valleyandridge/greenpond.htm
With a maximum elevation of 1664 feet above sea level, Schunnemunk Mountain is not high by national standards, but it rises high enough above its surroundings that the top feels like its own world. It is also the highest thing in the immediate area, taller than the Hudson Highlands or any point to the south. To the north the Schawangunks 20 miles away and Catskills are taller.
With varied environments and challenging terrain, there is much to explore here. I've been able to go here three times, as it is close to NYC and New Jersey, and I hope to get to spend more time here.
The mountain has a distinctive wedge shape on a map. The northeastern slope is a steep drop-off, almost along a straight line, directly above a lowland around Moodna Creek. On a map, it looks almost as if someone cut diagonally across the ridges and discarded a piece. The gentle stream from the “inner valley” mentioned above suddenly cascades down a steep, hemlock-lined ravine, traversed by one of the trails of Schunnemunk State Park.
Another distinctive feature, visible from the east, is a craggy rounded knob below the ridge line towards the south end of the mountain, also summited by a trail.
The bedrock is beautiful. Called the Schunnemunk Conglomerate it “consists of well-rounded quartz and red sandstone cobbles in a fine-grained red ironstone matrix.“ It’s part of the Green Pond Outlier, a long skinny geologic region that continues southwest into New Jersey, featuring more flat-topped ridges like Bearfort Mountain and Green Pond Mountain. You can read about it here: http://geologycafe.com/nyc/valleyandridge/greenpond.htm
With a maximum elevation of 1664 feet above sea level, Schunnemunk Mountain is not high by national standards, but it rises high enough above its surroundings that the top feels like its own world. It is also the highest thing in the immediate area, taller than the Hudson Highlands or any point to the south. To the north the Schawangunks 20 miles away and Catskills are taller.
With varied environments and challenging terrain, there is much to explore here. I've been able to go here three times, as it is close to NYC and New Jersey, and I hope to get to spend more time here.
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