Harriman State Park Southwest Loop

marc — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 21:00:29 +0000

This is a great day trip from NYC. Believe it or not, but it takes less than an hour to get to the start from Times Square and find yourself in the middle of nature. I did this trip on a crisp, super cold (20F / -7C) day in February. Temperatures had been low for weeks and weeks by that time, there had been fresh snow earlier in the week, meaning that I made my way through a winter wonderland (snow everywhere with fresh animal tracks aplenty, frozen lakes, cold chilly air, glorious sunshine). Due to the cold temperature and the fact that most people would have assumed that snow shoes would be a must, the trails were pretty lonely and I encountered only a handful of people along the way.

How long?
1/2 – 1 day

How many miles?
15 miles / 24km

How?
Trail running (or hiking)
Map required, compass optional
In winter: snow shoes and/or crampons might come in handy

Maps?
New York New Jersey Trail Conference Trail Map 118 (Southern Harriman Bear Mountain Trails)

Itinerary:
Tuxedo -> Claudius Smith’s Den -> Parker Cabin Mountain -> Lake Skenonto -> Lake Sebago -> Almost Perpendicular -> Claudius Smith’s Den -> Tuxedo

You can either take a bus or a train from NYC to get to Tuxedo, from where you set off. When I did this, in winter 2014/15, I took the bus (Short Line service from Port Authority Bus Terminal) as it was a direct journey and arrived before the earliest train arrived in Tuxedo (NJ transit to Port Jervis, but you need to change trains at Secaucus Junction). I find it quite unbelievable, especially after having lived in London in the UK for a few years prior to my move to NYC, but it only takes 50min to get to Tuxedo from Times Square in NYC. The bus stop is close to the rail station, but you still have to walk a short way up the road to get to the picturesque little rail station. After the rail station, continue up the road for another 150 meters, then head right on East Village road and cross the railway tracks. Follow the road and pass under interstate 87. After the underpass, take a left onto Grove Road. 200-250 meters up the road, the trailhead will be on your right.

Whether you arrive by train or bus, this is where you start off from: the Tuxedo rail station.

There are 2 trails departing from the trailhead, one going off to the right / south (Kakiat, white blazes) and another one, Ramapo Dunderberg (red dot on white blazes), going off to the left / north. You want to take the RD trail and follow it to the first crossing. You could continue on the RD trail until you get to Parker Cabin Mountain, but if you do this, you will miss quite a few scenic views. So at the first crossing, take the Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy Trail (red dash on white blazes) and head west.

Very soon you will be in the woods.

Just before the next crossing, where you’ll head north again (right) on the Blue Disc Trail, you’ll come past a rock with a small cave / den below it. This is Claudius’ Smith Den. Smith was an outlaw during the Revolutionary War and he and his men robbed the local folks, attacked / looted arsenal trains of the Continental Army and generally were up to no good and caused mayhem for everyone. They were eventually caught and hanged (January 1779 – quite a while back), but apparently they used this rock as a hideout from the local law enforcement.

Claudius Smith’s Den — some of the history along the route.

Anyway, the trail continues to the side of the rock, then up on top of it. There’s quite stunning view here, and after you took this in, you need to follow the BD trail (blue disc on white blazes). At the next crossing, you continue straight ahead, merging back onto the RD trail and follow it all the way up to Parker Cabin Mountain.

View from atop Claudius Smith’s Den.

There are a couple of viewpoints on Parker Cabin Mountain where you can rest for a bit, then head down along the Triangle Trail (yellow triangle blazes). When I ran this route (February 2015), there was a power or phone line mast that had fallen over and I had to do an awkward limbo dance beneath it. Otherwise, the descent was easy. The snow on the trail was fairly solid, with only the top layer being fresh, so I could run down the hill at a decent pace, but conditions might be very different in another winter or in spring / summer/ autumn. You will cross a forest road, and shortly afterwards there will be access to Lake Skenonto. When I arrived at the lake, it was a big WOW moment: the lake was frozen solid with a brilliant white, virgin snow cover atop it. It is really strange to see such a perfectly flat stretch of the white stuff. I did not have snow shoes, so it took me a bit of courage to step onto the lake and I proceeded with great caution towards a small island in the middle of the southeast part of the lake. It was totally exhilarating to be standing in the middle of a frozen lake — I had never done anything like that before.

Lake Skenonto – frozen solid.

Head back to the trail, and follow the Triangle Trail past Lake Sebago (also frozen solid) and past the Dutch Doctor shelter. Now, a 100 or 200 meters past the shelter, you want to head left / east up on the Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy Trail (same one you were on earlier on). The trail blaze was hidden behind a few trees and very few people had gone up there yet since the last snow, so initially I ran right past the trail junction. Luckily there is a marsh on your right that is well indicated on the map, so soon enough I figured that I was wrong and headed back (but you can still spot this on the GPS track at the top and in the GPS file if you download it). The trail goes uphill for a bit, so you will have to work a bit harder here after a long stretch of downhill or flat terrain.

Now follow the trail past the southern end of Lake Sebago and then you have to do a bit of an awkward road crossing. When the trail hits the roads, you need to head left onto the road, run along the road until you have crossed a river, then head right back into the woods. Continue following the Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy Trail: it will take you uphill and finally you will reach a junction with the Seven Hills Trail (blue squares on white blazes). Take a right here and follow the SH trail for the next mile and a bit. You will run across the ridge of Diamond Mountain with a couple of good viewpoints along the way. Finally the trail will plunge down until it merges with the Kakiat Trail (white blazes). This is good fun running downhill here — very fast and a bit technical in places, but even with the fresh snow the conditions were quite safe to run.

Another great way along the trail.

Continue west on the Kakiat Trail until you cross Pine Meadow Brook over a wooden bridge. After this you need to keep a sharp eye out to your left. A hundred yards or so after the bridge, you need to cross what is now Stony Brook. The map actually says that the bridge is out here. In fact there was no bridge at all. The brook was mostly frozen and I managed to cross it fairly easily. However no one had yet been at all on this part of the Kakiat trail. That is why I struggled here a bit to find the trail at first: there was no trail in the snow, but eventually I managed to see the white blazes on the trees.

Another problem with this section was that the snow was all fresh, with no previous foot traffic to have compacted it. I went down knee deep and running was impossible. This was an incredibly tough and slow section. All in all it was just 3/4 of a mile, but it took me a long time. It got a bit easier after I had reached the top of the hill: on the other side there were deer tracks that made my way down a bit easier. Still: I would definitely have needed snow shoes for this section.

Nobody – absolutely nobody – had yet been on the Kakiat trail since the last snowfall — snow shoes would have been in order.

My relief was great when I reached the road at the bottom of the hill (Seven Lakes Drive — the same road that I crossed earlier while still on the Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy Trail). On the other side of the road, the Kakiat Trail was luckily more popular with hikers and the snow was mostly compacted by previous hikers. I made better progress. If you are in a hurry or tired, you can just follow the Kakiat Trail until the end: it will bring you right back to the trailhead in Tuxedo. However if you do so you will miss what is one of the best views of the route as well as a fun bit called the Elbow Brush.

So if you are up for this, then take a right (northwest) at the junction of the Kakiat and Blue Disc trails. Now a super tough climb up to Almost Perpendicular awaits you. It is an impressive rock and truly deserves its name. The view from the top is stupendous (see the cover image of this post) and you will gladly rest there to recover from the ascent. From here you will be glad to know that it is mainly downhill to the end, with only a few short inclines left.

Pure winter wonderland on the Blue Disc Trail.

From Almost Perpendicular, follow the BD trail for 800 or 900 meters and then the trail will fork into two. It does not matter which fork you pick, they merge again after a while, but I highly suggest you take the left / western fork. This will take you through a narrow slot in the rocks known as the Elbow Brush (it deserves its name indeed).

This they call the Elbow Brush.

After this, continue on the BD trail until you get back to Claudius’ Smith Den. From here take a left and follow the Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy and the Ramapo Dunderberg trails back to the trailhead in Tuxedo.

With a bit of luck you get to see some of the local wildlife.

So this is a great, but fairly tough 15 mile trail run / day hike with plenty of endless views over Harriman State Park. I can guarantee you that in winter it is absolutely stunning and beautiful. Not sure how much of the viewpoints will be obstructed by leaves in spring and summer, but my guess is that it is still a wonderful route to do.

Notes

All pictures in this post were shot with small point-and-shoot camera, hence their much less than professional appearance.

Data files (click on the links, then download whatever format you prefer from the gpsies site):

Complete route: http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=eycsotccdkcsbegk

Almost Perpendicular – Trails

Harriman State Park Southwest Loop