For the next couple weeks, I’ll publish a day trip suggestion on the weekend, and I am counting on readers to send ideas. I figure we have a few more weeks still of outdoor adventures.

THE DESTINATION
Anthony’s Nose, Cortlandt, NY

THE JOURNEY
1 hour by car, give or take (51 miles)

There are two trailheads for this hike: once you come over the Bear Mountain Bridge from the west (assuming you come up the Palisades Parkway) you can go left and park almost immediately on the side of the road (that’s what we did); or you can go right and drive about a mile till you see a small parking lot on the left in the outer edge of a sharp turn (google directions for that here) for the Camp Smith Trail.

PIT STOP
Peekskill is 10 minutes down river from the hike. There may be more to the town, but we headed straight to the Peekskill Brewery which is part of a little waterfront commercial hub that has a scrappy industrial vibe. The restaurant itself was closed for the day for repairs, but they had the expansive patio open with a bier box (= food truck) that sold their brews on tap and in cans plus other cocktails and three kids of wurst. The mini potato pancakes were worth the trip.

There’s also a cute taco place called the Taco Dive Bar and The Hudson Creamery for ice cream, but we grabbed coffees at the Coffee Sideshow and strolled with them down to Riverfront Park.

PRO TIP
Go early. This hike is very, very popular and somewhat easy, so everybody’s doing it. We left here at 8:45a, were on the trail by 10; beers poured by 1p. As we left the brewery, there was a line down the block.

THE BACKGROUND
We were looking to meet up with CT friends we hadn’t seen since February, and wanted something that was under 1:30 for both of us, so if you happen to hang with people from Fairfield, this is a good pick.

The trail is in the woods the whole time and ends with fabulous view of the Hudson, the Bear Mountain Bridge and beyond. The first half mile is steep and rocky — a stone staircase. But for the last mile the trail is wide, easy and leafy — more for catching up with friends than a huge workout. These pictures are from yesterday, so I figure there will be good color up there for another week or two.

The peak has been known as Anthony’s Nose since at least 1697, when the name appears on a grant patent. There are a few theories on the identity of Anthony, but one holds that Pierre Van Cortlandt, who owned the mountain, said it was named for a pre-Revolutionary War sea captain, Anthony Hogan, who had a Cyrano de Bergerac-type nose.