Spring Equinox

The VPo man and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have had all week. Certainly, today was far superior to last week's miserable conditions. We went from winter to summer in just six days.

Today we operated from the opposite side of Harriman State Park. We started to hike from Iona Island on the west side of the Hudson River just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge. Little did I know the VPo man would have a 7 hour hike planned. I figured we'd be out for a 3-4 hour stroll.

We crossed Big Bad 9W and hiked up the blue trail to the Ramapo-Dunderberg (RD) Trail . Before we got their and not too far up the trail from the road we reached a waterfall that VPo said "in my opinion is the best waterfall in Harriman." I can't disagree since it was only the second waterfall I have seen in Harriman. But, it is pretty sweet. The Blue trail took us up "the headwall" of Dunderberg Mountain. This got us sweating. It may have felt like spring at the car, but during the climb up it felt like summer.

We now were on the RD Trail heading west toward the river. In a way, I guess, we were doing some scouting. We plan on doing the full RD Trail from Ramapo to the Hudson River in a few weeks. It's approximately 24 miles with lots of ups and downs. We met a group of hikers that were meeting another group that were hiking the whole way. The RD had plenty of views of the Hudson and Indian Point. Who says a nuclear power plant can't be beautiful? I took quite a few shots and was surprised their weren't any helicopters flying above. Again, the views from here were amazing. You can see how enormously wide the Hudson gets just south of here. Awesome.

We then left the RD trail for the Timp-Torne Trail. We came upon what we thought was an old iron ore mine. But an elderly couple (although I don't know how elderly, they're probably more active than 90% of the population) informed us it was a tunnel meant for a railroad that never was completed. I guess I should start reading the maps because that's where they got their info. And I should mention that NYNJ Trail maps are the best in the business. They cover most of the parks of the Hudson Valley and Northern New Jersey.

We then continued on with more climbing. We ran into quite a few groups of people. The trails were alive on this day. The snow was gone and it was absolutely beautiful out. We then could here the frogs again from the swamp. The sights and sounds of being out in the wilderness!

We then finally reached the summit of the Timp. From here you could see the New York City skyline. Also, from here you could see a shelter on the summit of the next mountain over. After a nice down climb and the last major climb of the day, we reached that shelter. Amazing. I'll have to plan on a mid week camp out here, because I'm sure it's mobbed during weekends as it was going to be tonight. There are great views of the river right from the front of the shelter. Sweet. We then left and ran into a couple scouts filtering water. I was dry and the kid was offering to sell some freshly pumped water from the stream. I didn't have my wallet (I would have gladly paid) but he filled me up regardless.

We then met up with the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail (SBM). The SBM is another trail that's 20+ miles. And you guessed it, it runs from Suffern to Bear Mountain. 3 years ago we and another friend completed it in one looooong day. We were on that for just a bit and then we hit the A.T. Now the A.T. is a bit longer than 20 miles, it's over 2,000 miles running from GA to ME and some 200 people complete it every year.

The A.T. followed along a ridge where there were quite a few view points. Most of the views were towards the palisades parkway. There was a view toward our cars where I won myself a beer. Sweet. We then hit the lovely 1777 trail. Those dam Brits used this trail to take over Fort Montgomery. This trail also went down the main strip of Doodletown where there were some remains of house foundations. Between the two world wars Doodletown's population increased substantially to about 300. The state eventually grabbed the remaining properties and Doodletown ceased to exist. From here a short walk remained mostly on pavement to our parked cars.

An awesome day to be out. I think the both of us were a bit wiped.