The Palisades

On the west side of the lower Hudson River lies a line of steep cliffs called the Palisades. They form the scenic backdrop for every trip taken across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey. I’ve thought about walking their trails for a long time. This Saturday I finally did. I hope you enjoy this photoessay of my walk through the Palisades Interstate Park.

This is a cup of iced coffee at the start of the trip. My instructions were simple: “Put whatever you want in it, as long as it looks like the clouds of Jupiter.”

The trail began in Fort Lee, New Jersey. There’s a lot of nature in Fort Lee, as you can see by the location of the trailblazes.

On the pedestrian overpass, toward the more scenic part of the trail.

The first full view of the George Washington Bridge.

Things got more rustic at this point. You better get used to pictures of leaves, ‘cause I got a whole boat-load of ‘em.

Not far from the start of the trail, we stopped at the home of Bilbo Baggins.

You want leaf pics? I got em right here.

And mushroom pics.

And a picture of this pole that someone named Nancy.

Here’s a gate. If anyone knows its name let me know.

What’s that, you say? More leaf pictures? All you had to do was ask.

The nicest part of the whole experience was how far removed we felt from the rest of civilization.

Did somebody say leaves? I got your leaf pics right here!

This was a broken window pane from a park bathroom. A bit of beauty in urban decay.*

This was a feminine hygiene dispenser in the same bathroom. It was last used by Martha Washington.*

A view of the bridge on the return trail.

Graffiti on a park bench.

The bridge near a pylon.

As we got ready to leave, we wished the bridge good luck on its upcoming audition for the role of Dinobot in the next Transformers movie. *

In case you missed them the first time around - leaves.

I hope you enjoyed the scenery.

*Photo courtesy of @pathologicalartist.