This was meant to be a waterfall hike but as determined as I was – I tried 3 different times – I failed to find the waterfall.

Graham Mountain State Forest is located in the Port Jervis area where hiking trails abound because it is in a section of the Shawangunk Ridge, a ridge of bedrock that spans three counties in New York State (Ulster, Sullivan, and my Orange county), which is itself in a section of the much longer and much larger Appalachian Mountains that spans thirteen states and that form a barrier to western travel for east coasters in the United States.

I’ve been in nearby Huckleberry Ridge which I consider my most difficult hike. The hike wasn’t long but reaching the waterfall required a 600-foot descent (which meant a 600-foot climb on the way back) in just 0.7 mile. (Or about a 180-meter climb in 1 km.) I had to stop several times on the way back less to catch my breath than to give my heart rest.

So when I learned there was a waterfall in nearby Graham Mountain State Forest, I delayed going there until I knew more. But information online was scant. So, devising a strategy to make the hike more manageable (while keeping in mind my Huckleberry Ridge experience), I went.

The region’s, um, notoriety, in my mind anyway, delivered. The challenge this time was not the steep-descent-in-short-distance like it was at Huckleberry Ridge, but rather the rocky ravine that poised as a danger every step of the way. One misstep and I could hurt myself in a trail that is not exactly teeming with fellow hikers to come to my aid.

So, apologies if you see no waterfall in my video. I am hoping instead it will at least give a more balanced and more accurate picture of what hiking might involve. Things will not always go according to plan. Some say, the more you do something, the better you become at it. I would like to now add, the more you do something, too, the more you open yourself up to the potential pitfalls that go along with the activity. Minimizing them, which I think I was successful at in my, um, failure at Graham Mountain State Forest, is key.