ABOUT THE PARK:
Harriman State Park - New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.11839, -74.15711
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| 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
HIKE DISTANCE: 7.5 miles (3.75 miles each way)
THE HIKE:
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| From the D Lot cross Orange Avenue and turn left. |
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| A short distance ahead ... |
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| ... the trail sign and ... |
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| ... the trail head. You can see the parking lot off to the right, that is how close it is. |
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| 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. |
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| Up, up, up ... |
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| Nearing the top, the beginning of views... |
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| ... that open up the higher you climb. |
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| After the views the trail levels out. |
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| 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. |
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| Gas Pipeline |
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| Crossing a power cut. |
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| Kitchen Stairs |
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| This was well off the trail and I would have never seen it with leaves on the trees. Zoomed in to get a look. |
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| 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. |
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| Another gas pipeline. |
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| And another power cut. |
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| Going into ... |
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| Valley of Dry Bones |
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| Climbing up out of the Valley of Dry Bones. |
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| 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. |
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| Heading back through the Valley of Dry Bones. |
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| Back through the power cut. |
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| Power cut view. |
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| There were a couple of spots where I had to sit and slide down on the leaves. |
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| Coming back up on the views. |
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| The trail goes up and over the boulder - it didn't look that way on the way up! |
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| Going down - no pictures here, it was too hard to keep from sliding and falling. |
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| All the way down and heading back to the car. |
