Hudson Highlands: a personal note
The Highlands region of New Jersey and New York becomes sharply defined along its northwestern boundary, where slopes descend to the the sedimentary basin that supports the cities of Newburgh and Beacon, apple orchards, and sprawl. Glacially scoured, bare bedrocks hilltops along the Highlands' northwestern edge have great views of the Hudson Valley, the Shawangunk Mountains and the Catskills beyond. Public hiking access to such spots includes the Appalachian Trail through Dutchess County, Hudson Highlands State Park, Storm King State Park and Black Rock Forest. This view as I've seen it at different points in my life has had many meanings for me. Starting to explore the Highlands region as a kid with my dad, from our home well to the south in the Piedmont of NJ, it was a look beyond the limits of the world we could reach -- the radius of an hour or two of driving. For many years in my 20s as I've tried to set out on my own, these mountains were the objects of my desire for