People think that since we live only 40 minutes north of New York City, we are surrounded by concrete and suburban sprawl. Hook Mountain has great views of the Tappan Zee bridge, and on a clear day, you can see the city.
My daughter Zoe and I went on a hike this morning that’s five minutes from our house and 10 minutes north of the bridge.
It tops out on a 300-foot cliff. The cliff is on state land, but the rock is of poor quality, so climbing is a big no-no. Still, it’s a great hike that gets extra points for being so close to home.
Pretty cool to have a steep hike and nice view so close to home. How much vert on that hike? Also, I always wondered why they built the Tappan Zee across the widest point in the river. That bridge must be 4 miles long. I’m sure there must be an engineering reason.
No engineering reason at all. Just a political one. When it was created, the Port Authority was given monopoly rights to operate all fixed crossings of the Hudson within 25 miles of the Statue of Liberty. When the Thruway Authority was created, they wanted to put the bridge closer to Manhattan, but the Port Authority refused to allow it in their territory for fears it would reduce toll revenues elsewhere. So the bridge was built at Tappan Zee because that is just outside the control of the Port Authority.