As the trails start to head into the woods, the elvation rises, but the trails still manage to remain pretty low-impact.You are treated to some fantastic views.Here is two of Ramapo lake again, but from halfway up the mountain, and then from the top.
Our ultimate goal this time was to head up to the ruins of Van Slyke Castle (history and details are in the link.)We chose the least direct route to get there, and the trials then started to provide quite the workout.At the very top, you have to climb a low wall and the castle comes into view.
First of all, before we go into the castle, the view from up here is incredible.You can see the NYC skyline from here.I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out well.(This is not that picture.)
Also from here, you can see a tower off in the distance.
We made it there as well, but that picture is coming up later.
The inside of the castle is pretty much wrecked out.
Of course, we had to pose in there.
Those ledges we are standing on were not easy to climb onto, as the floors of this place have long since waved bye-bye.Speaking of which, we left Van Slyke castle and spied some pillars and one last view before we headed to our next target.
A little bit further along there is an old tower, which served as a water tower when the castle was still standing.
It's probably about 20-30 feet high and there is nothing inside of it anymore.With that, we headed out of the woods and onto a long, winding, uphill road to the other tower, which is actually on someone's property.It has also been sold out to various cell phone companies and such.It's a shame.It's a pretty nice building otherwise.
At this point, we had hiked about 7 or 8 miles and were pretty tired, so we headed back down and around the other side of the lake.To my surprise, there was a waterfall there.It went back pretty far, but wasn't that active.I imagine it flows a lot heavier after things melt.I still got a couple of nice pictures out of it though.
All in all, it was a very worthwhile hike.The castle ruins alone were worth the trip.This hiking thing is getting very infectious.I'm already anxious for the next trip.
2 comments:
Such a shame when the Vandals burned it down. I would have loved to have seen the inside during my lifetime, but I was too late...Guess that's a downfall being a VanSlyke born in the 80's.
It is a shame.I can only find one photo online, a black and white one of the outside.It looked fairly impressive.The link is here:
http://users.nac.net/axtell/History.htm
One more thing, if you happen to come back and read this comment, your comment made it seem like you are a relative/descendant o the family the castle was named for.Is that so or just a coincidence?
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