Saturday, November 25, 2017

Harriman State Park, NY - Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail South


ABOUT THE PARK:
Harriman State Park -  New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.11839, -74.15711
D Lot Commuter Parking.  Although no parking is indicated on the trail map for the southern end of the S-B Trail, the D Lot is steps away and according to the Village of Suffern parking web site (www.suffernparking.com click on "Parking Policy" in top menu):  "No permits are required after 4:00 p.m. for all Village of Suffern Parking Lots as well as all day on weekends and Federal Holidays."
TRAIL MAP:
Southern Harriman Bear Mountain Trails Map 118 - New York New Jersey Trail Conference
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HIKE DISTANCE:  7.5 miles (3.75 miles each way)

THE HIKE:
From the D Lot cross Orange Avenue and turn left.
A short distance ahead ...
... the trail sign and ...
... the trail head.  You can see the parking lot off to the right, that is how close it is.
The trail starts off steep and continues that way for about half a mile.  It's downright treacherous with thick leaf drop, like stepping on ice.  Going up wasn't as bad as going back down at the end of the hike.
Up, up, up ...
Nearing the top, the beginning of views...
... that open up the higher you climb.
After the views the trail levels out.
Harriman State Park is a popular place where it is hard to find solitude but this would definitely be the trail for that - it's too far from the other trails and nobody seems to know about being able to park in the commuter lot on weekends.  The only other hiker I came across had come from the train station.
Gas Pipeline
Crossing a power cut.
Kitchen Stairs
This was well off the trail and I would have never seen it with leaves on the trees.  Zoomed in to get a look.
Although the trail is pretty level, it does go up and down over rises with a scramble here and there but nothing like the beginning of the hike.
Another gas pipeline.
And another power cut.
Going into ...
Valley of Dry Bones
Climbing up out of the Valley of Dry Bones.
We continued to the top of the next rise to the boulder up ahead where the trail turns right, took a break and headed back.
Heading back through the Valley of Dry Bones.
Back through the power cut.
Power cut view.
There were a couple of spots where I had to sit and slide down on the leaves. 
Coming back up on the views.
The trail goes up and over the boulder - it didn't look that way on the way up!
Going down - no pictures here, it was too hard to keep from sliding and falling.
All the way down and heading back to the car.