A Little Local Hospitality

After another long trip up the east coast (about a month and a half), it’s been really revitalizing being in a brand-new-to-us section of the country with all new places to explore! However, almost immediately upon our arrival to the Hudson River Valley, the New York State Canal System sent out a notification that the canals would be 4-5 weeks delayed in opening. Which meant we had 4-5 weeks before we could continue on. At first, we were very disappointed because this really threw off our plans for getting home by the start of summer, but there was nothing we could do about it, so we decided to make the best of it. We briefly considered having my parents watch Bella for a couple of weeks so that we could transit the Canadian route (Bella is not allowed in Canada since she cannot have vaccinations due to being allergic) but after verifying some conflicting information online about some of the locks in Canada, learned we would not fit through 1 of the locks due to our wide beam. Which meant we had no other option but to wait it out.

We figured since we had some extra time, we might as well rent a car to explore the area and also hoped to do a little hiking! The Nyack Boat Club offers 6 transient mooring balls and we had planned on renting one that weekend so that the boat would be secure while we were away, but the weather unfortunately did not cooperate, so we decided to postpone this whole idea for at least a week until the weather improved.

There was a park close to where we anchored in Nyack that has a boat launch so we could get to shore, but there wasn’t anywhere to tie up the dinghy where it would be out of the way of the boats going in and out from the launch. There also wasn’t anywhere else to get to shore in the area, unless we paid for a mooring ball, so we decided to head out after a couple of nights in search of somewhere with a better set up for shore access, and intended on heading back to Nyack the following week.

We went across the river to Croton-on-Hudson and anchored for the night. We remembered seeing a marina on the map nearby that had been advertising on the Great Loop site all season, claiming to have cheap slips and great fuel prices, so we called them to inquire about getting a slip for a few nights. Well, great prices to them were not even close to great prices to us and actually, they were kind of ridiculous! Call us cheap if you will, but we simply cannot justify paying hundreds of dollars a night for essentially what is just a parking space! We bring our own home, and the slip is just a place to park it. Most marinas charge separately for electricity nowadays so that is in addition to the nightly slip rate, and the pool wasn’t even open yet, so there really wasn’t a reason to pay for a slip when we could anchor out for free. In fact, the amount of money we would’ve spent there entirely paid for us to rent a mooring ball for 5 nights, rent a car from Enterprise for 5 days, and go out for a nice dinner, which we felt was a much better use of our money! The man Dustin talked to at the marina was very nice and in his mind, was offering us a good deal, and I’m sure it was for the area. We declined a slip and asked if we could at least pay them to use the dinghy dock for a couple of nights so we could get groceries delivered to us, and were kind of surprised when they said no, since we were offering to pay. A little fed up with this area and no easy way to get to shore, we left and went back across the river to a town called Haverstraw.

Haverstraw, NY has a beautiful Elks Club in a large Victorian building that is on a waterfront property on the Hudson River. They have their own marina and dinghy dock, tiki bar and large deck, and since we are Elks members, we called ahead and were able to use this dock for free!  

A monument to 9/11 dedicated to members of the Haverstraw Elks Club who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in NYC. Many of the members there are police, firefighters, etc.

Our boat was a bit too wide to fit in their slips, so we anchored out in front of the Elks club and then dinghied into shore. We signed in at the club and then received a nice welcome tour of the facilities and met some of the local members.  It’s always so nice visiting another Elks Club because we instantly feel welcomed and like we belong. People are always so friendly and they even gave us a free welcome drink! The Haverstraw Elks club has a really nice event space that they rent out with a great lawn that overlooks the water. This was one of the nicer Elks Clubs that we have ever been to!  The kitchen was closed when we visited, however, we were ecstatic to learn that they had a pizza oven where you can make your own pizzas. I don’t remember what brand they were, but I know they came from Brooklyn and they were fantastic!

I started asking some of the members where they recommend to go hiking and one guy was like, “Hold on, you have to meet Tom if you want to go hiking!” and then ran a grabbed one of the other members to come talk to us, named Tom Sayre. Tom is a local hiking enthusiast who knew all of the best places to visit. You could tell he was passionate about hiking and being outdoors because he really lit up as we all talked about where to go.  Before we left that night, Tom offered to pick us up the next morning and drive us 45 minutes to a great hiking spot nearby. We had been wanting to do some hiking, and he seemed like a well-known and well liked guy at the Elks, so we made plans to go with him!

A pop up thunderstorm the next morning postponed our plans by a day, but Sunday morning, Tom came and picked us up around 730am and we headed north to Beacon Mountain, which has the tallest peaks in the Hudson Valley.

He even brought us Gatorade and bananas – such a nice guy! We hiked a 2 mile trail up to the southern summit where the old fire tower stands at the top of the mountain. Along the way, we saw some really cool old ruins from an incline railway that used to be in use there.

Tom asked if we wanted to climb to the top of the fire tower, and of course I did to get a better vantage point. This fire tower was built in 1931, and was a little rickety so Dustin decided to hang back and film us going up instead, which was probably the smarter decision, considering some of the railings were held on by zip ties!  There were fantastic views from the top that made the risky climb worth it to me - well, that is from the short glimpses I got through the whirlwind of hair swirling around my head from the wind!

Dustin and I both found Tom very easy to conversate with. He is a really nice, and easy going guy who grew up in the area and we had a lot of fun hiking with him that day!  He was even so kind as to offer to take us to Aldi on the way back so we could stock up on some groceries before he dropped us back off at the Elks Club. Going to the Elks Club that night ended up being such a serendipitous stop and we highly recommend a visit to this club if you are a member in the area!!