Sundays Hudson Trip

Sundays trip started off in Old Forge, Raining and cold. I drove up to the Hudson River and the closer I got the nicer the weather became. As my coffee burned my tongue and mouth I was thinking to myself with the water up we may as well go to OK Slip Falls. I met up with my old friend Jon Jost and we were set to R2 the River. We ran good clean lines throughout the day and drank beers and smoked cheap cigars. We pulled out at the beach where OK slip brook comes into the River. We started walking into the forest along the stream. It became pretty steep and difficult. I had heard there is a trail to the falls so we bushwhacked until we found the trail. Finally after hiking out of the gully to the top of the ridge line we found some marked trees and a seldom used overgrown footpath leading uphill. After about 20 minutes we came to a fork in the trail and guessed that the left would bring us to the falls. We crossed a bridge hiked to another ridge line and seemingly away from the falls. Shortly thereafter we found a clearing at the top of a rock face cliff where the falls could be viewed from top to bottom in all the glory that they deserve. I give credit to the rainy summer we have had the falls were cranking out water. We sat for some time ate some cheddar cheese and drank bush light.

That's when the thunder started off in the distance. we decided to make a mile before the storm hit. We reached our boat and the River to find our paddles gone! Some A$$ stole our gear. After a brief panic I found the paddles under the raft. I figured someone was just breaking chops. We ate some lunch then put in the River to finish up the trip. after sitting on the tube it was apparent that a significant amount of air was let out and beers were stolen from the cooler. I wasn't mad though, there was a lot of thunder and lightning by this time. We cautiously paddled the rest of the river trying to be near shore to avoid being struck in the openness of the center of the river. we got lucky and made the takeout just as the weather started to turn back into a nice day!

It is hard to reflect on this sort of trip. The falls are unseen from the River and i have only ever imagined what they might look like. This sort of place makes one forget about the rest of the world and become more in tune with a different sort of reality. i don't recommend going for this hike as it is private property and we were trespassing. but enjoy the picture!