Harriman State Park, NY via Kakiak County Park, NY

ABOUT THE PARK:
Harriman State Park
Kakiak County Park

TRAIL MAP: NY/NJ Trail Conference Harriman Bear Mountain Trail Map #118

PARKING DIRECTIONS: US 202 north of Suffern, NY

DISTANCE: 13 miles (many shorter options possible)

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
As you pull into Kakiak County park you will notice a gate blocking off the road to the left. This is the road you will walk after parking to access the trail heads.


Walk over the bridge and straight ahead to the orange-blazed Mountain trail:


At .6 miles take a short unmarked trail to the right to a scenic overlook:


Backtrack and continue on the orange-blazed trail.


At 1.5 miles turn left on the white-blazed trail.


At 3.2 miles turn left on the black dot on white-blazed trail.


At 4 miles turn left on the orange-blazed trail. I went to the first overlook, which was disappointing as the scenery is marred by huge buildings and power facilities (I am guessing that is what all of that is...)


Backtrack and turn left on the the black dot on white-blazed trail at 4.7 miles.
View from the black dot trail: (It was a hazy morning so the pictures are not the best.)



At 5.4 miles turn right on the blue-blazed trail. There is a very steep and long rock scramble section on this trail that my dog had some difficulty with but I managed to get her up. After that point, great panoramic views.




At 6.8 miles the orange-blazed trail joins the blue-blazed trail briefly but I only saw orange blazes, which was confusing. Do stay straight anyway and the orange trail will veer off shortly and you will still be on the blue trail.

At 7.4 miles turn right on the white trail.

At 7.7 miles turn left on the black trail.

At 8.2 miles turn left on the yellow trail.

At 8.3 miles turn right on an unmarked woods road.

You will be able to see Pine Meadow Lake


At 8.6 miles keep to the left at the fork in the woods road.

You will start to notice old concrete foundations to the right. Shortly past that there will be a stone wall with a cairn on the top close to the woods road. Turn right on that unmarked trail at 8.8 miles. Initially, the trail will be quite ugly and you have to walk along rusty old pipes:


Eventually you do leave those awful pipes behind and the trail becomes quite pretty with views of the lake.



At 9.4 miles turn right on the white-blazed trail.

At 9.9 miles turn right on the yellow-blazed trail.


Along the yellow-blazed trail you will be able to see the New York City skyline:


At 11.2 miles turn left on the white-blazed trail.

This will take you back through Kakiak County park to the parking lot at 13 miles.

LITTER REPORT: Not too bad except for tons of white tissues scattered all along the trails which I simply will not pick up. (YUK!)

Ramapo Mountain State Forest, NJ

ABOUT THE PARK: NJ Division of Parks and Forestry / Van Slyke Castle

TRAIL MAP:
NY/NJ Trail Conference North Jersey Trails Map 115 / no maps at park
Online brochure from the NY/NY Trail Conference

PARKING DIRECTIONS: I-287 to exit 57; north on Skyline Drive briefly; turn left into parking lot.

DISTANCE: 7.5, 10 or 12 miles

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
I started to hike here several years ago and it was so crowded I left and went elsewhere. Thought I'd give it another shot. I arrived at 7 am and there were already 10 cars in the lot that holds about 30 cars. (When I finished at 1:30, the lot was full and cars were hovering waiting for spots to open up.) The blue trail leads from the parking lot to Ramapo Lake and it was already Grand Central Station at 7 am. But rest assured, once you reach the lake and head out on hiking trails, you do leave all of that behind. Only ran into a handful of mountain bikers on the trails. The busiest part of the park is the lake and the blue trail from the parking lot to the lake.

Trails are well-marked, intersections are not so watch carefully for turns.
Follow the blue-blazed trail from the parking lot.
This trail eventually joins with the yellow-blazed trail.
Stay on the blue/yellow-blazed trail.
At .6 miles turn left on the yellow-blazed trail crossing the dam.

At .8 mile turn left on the yellow/red blazed trail.

At 2.2 miles continue left on the yellow-blazed trail.
Views of Ramapo Lake from the yellow-blazed trail.

At 2.5 miles, turn right on the red-blazed Cannonball trail (white C on red circle)
At 2.75 miles, turn left on the red-blazed Indian Rock trail (white square with red triangle)
At 3 miles keep right at the fork (not marked) stepping over a log, turn right on the orange-blazed Wanaque Ridge trail a short distance ahead.
Along the Wanaque Ridge trail, views of the Wanaque Reservoir.


At 6 miles, turn right on the blue-blazed trail.
At 6.25 miles turn left on the blue-blazed/red-blazed Cannonball trail.
At 6.5 miles: For a 7.5 mile hike, stay on the blue-blazed trail for about a mile back to the parking lot, for 10 or 12 mile hikes, turn left on the red-blazed Cannonball trail briefly then left on the white-blazed Castle Point trail.

Great views of the New York City skyline, Ramapo Lake and Wanaque Reservoir just before Van Slyke Castle.



The castle ruins are very interesting and there are little side trails for wandering around and exploring but if you have a dog with you be careful - lots of broken glass on the ground.




At 7.7 miles turn right on the paved access road which is the red-blazed Cannonball trail.
The red-blazed trail leaves and rejoins the access road a few times along the way before turning right off of the road for the last time and continuing on switchbacks.
At 8.75 miles keep straight on the gravel road (not marked).
At 9 miles: For the 10 mile hike turn left on blue to arrive at parking lot in 1 mile or to continue for the 12 mile hike, turn right on the red-blazed Cannonball trail (white C on red circle) to Ramapo Lake staying on the trail (gravel road) around the lake.


At 10 miles leave the red-blazed trail turning left on an unmarked woods road. Follow this road to continue around the other side of the lake back to the dam.
At 11.2 miles, after crossing the dam, turn right on the blue/yellow blazed trail, staying on the blue-blazed trail back to the parking lot.

LITTER REPORT:
In addition to the random can here, water bottle there, a large amount of litter was on the grounds of the Van Slyke castle. I had a large bag with me and even though I did not want to ruin the rest of my hike lugging that much garbage around, I could not in all good conscience leave it there so it was packed out.
Before:

After:

The total haul before being divvied up between trash and recycling:

Black Rock Forest, NY

ABOUT THE PARK:
Black Rock Forest - Black Rock Forest Consortium

TRAIL MAP:
NY/NJ Trail Conference West Hudson Trails Map #113
Online Map (not recommended - NY/NJ Trail Conference map is much better)
No maps at the park - ran into two different hikers who were lost because they had no map!

PARKING DIRECTIONS:
New York Thruway (I-87) to exit 16; Route 17 West; Route 32 North; right on Smith Clove Road; right on Mine Hill Road to parking on right


HIKE DIRECTIONS:
This hike is 10.5 miles long and is longer version of the NY/NJ Trail Conference 6.5 mile Sutherland Pond/Scenic Trail/Eagle Cliff Loop which also incorporates Rattlesnake Hill, Hill of Pines and Black Rock.

Parking lot only has space for 3 cars so I suggest getting there early:

Trailhead is across the street from the parking area:


(Several trails are blazed yellow but are distinguished by the shape.)
Head uphill on the yellow diamond-blazed Mine Hill trail.

View from the yellow diamond-blazed trail:


At the intersection, turn right on the yellow circle-blazed Sackett trail.
At .6 miles turn left on the yellow square-blazed Stillman trail.
At 1 mile turn continue on the yellow square/blue blazed trail.
At 1.2 miles turn right on the blue/teal blazed trail.
At 1.3 miles turn left on the white-blazed trail.

View of Sutherland Pond from Split Rock on the white-blazed trail:


At 1.8 miles turn right on an unmarked woods road with Sutherland Pond on your left.
At 2.2 miles turn left on the blue/teal-blazed trail briefly before turning left on the yellow square-blazed Arthur trail and crossing a boardwalk.


At 2.5 miles keep left on the white-blazed Scenic trail.
At 3 miles turn right on the blue-blazed trail a short distance to the end marked on a large rock. Go around to the right of this rock for panoramic views at Eagle Rock:


New York City skyline in the distance from Eagle Rock:


Leaving Eagle Rock turn right on the red-blazed trail briefly then left on the yellow square-blazed trail.
At 3.5 miles turn right on the white-blazed Scenic trail.
At 3.7 miles turn left on the blue-blazed trail for a short distance to Spy Rock. The views aren't great but worth the short trip for historic value as this was a lookout post during the Revolutionary War.

View from Spy Rock:


Retrace your steps and continue left on the white-blazed trail, which you will be on for the next 3 miles.

View from Rattlesnake Hill:


View from Hill of Pines:


At 7 miles turn left on the yellow square/teal blazed Stillman Trail.

Arrive at Black Rock with views of the Hudson at around 8 miles:


At 8.5 miles turn right on the yellow circle-blazed Sackett Trail.
At 10 miles turn right on the yellow diamond-blazed Mine Hill Trail back to the parking area.

LITTER REPORT:
The only place we found litter was at Eagle Rock. This litter was particularly awful. There were two Capri Sun containers and a soda can. This leads me to believe two children were brought up to Eagle Rock to see the beautiful views, given their snacks and were taught that part of this wonderful outdoor experience is to leave your garbage behind. So sad.