Harriman Hikers
A New York – New Jersey Singles Hiking Club
Established 1974
Tag Archives: NY
Pine Meadow Lake
The photo below is a view of Pine Meadow Lake in Harriman State Park, NY from Diamond Mountain.
Pine Meadow Lake, the terminus of the Pine Meadow Trail, is one of the more well-known lakes and a popular hiking destination in Harriman State Park, possibly due to its ease of access a relatively short distance from the Reeves Meadow Visitor Center on Seven Lakes Drive (not that Harriman Hikers would ever do a “baby” hike 
…well, except maybe Thanksgiving?
(Per our “About” Page, “(Harriman Hikers) Hikes are intermediate and although no special equipment or experience is needed, hikers should be in good physical shape and capable of hiking 7-8 miles over hilly and rocky wilderness terrain where some hills can be steep.”)
In any case, Pine Meadow Lake, as you can easily see is one of the many wilderness treasures we are all so fortunate to have an opportunity to enjoy in our great outdoors.
…so don’t stay indoors all weekend! Take a hike!
Photo by Greg Paret
The photo above has been featured on our home page. Chk this page for other photos featured in the Harriman Hikers website home page header.
Island Pond Summer
Harriman Hikers spends a significant amount of time in the Summer hiking to and at Island Pond in Harriman State Park, NY. The photo below is from the south end of the “pond” near Island Pond Road.
The name “Island Pond” sometimes seems both appropriate and inappropriate – the island in the “pond” is descriptive enough, however, it often seems like a mighty big pond, no?
Unlike many of the lakes and reservoirs in Harriman State Park, Island Pond is a naturally made, glacially formed body of water. It’s also one of Harriman State Park’s deepest bodies of water, about 100ft at its deepest point.
Photo by Greg Paret
The photo above has been featured on our home page. Chk this page for other photos featured in the Harriman Hikers website home page header.
Skannatati Twilight
Lake Skanati in Harriman State Park, NY is one of the Seven Lakes for which the main park thoroughfare, Seven Lakes Drive is named.
The boat launch / parking lot located at Lake Skannatati provides convenient, plentiful parking for our group as well as easy access to several trails we hike on frequently, not to mention allowing us an opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the lake itself.
Lake Skannatati is pictured here as the last withering bit of golden daylight falls on the reeds to the far right, while most of the rest of the lake is already bathed in twilight.
A cropped version of the photo above has been featured in the header section of the home page of the Harriman Hikers website. For past photos featured on our website, please check this page.
Green Pond
Green Pond is a pristine mountain pond in the northern part of Harriman State Park, about a 45 minute hike in from the Elk Pens. Note the beaver lodge on the right. The top photo was taken in the Winter and featured on our homepage; the lower photo was taken in the Summer.
Green Pond is just one of the many beautiful natural settings Harriman Hikers encounters during the course of our regular Sunday hiking year. Come join us and enjoy for yourself!
The beavers must have just recently moved in! – no beaver lodge visible in the summer photo from 2007.
For past photos from our home page header chk this page
The Hudson Trail
The Hudson Trail- A working record on building a new, long trail in New York State
“The Hudson Trail is a proposed long trail from Manhattan to Mt. Marcy, linking together existing trails along with new sections and including some walking on roads and streets.”
The View From The Summit, From The Ramapough
…via Hudson Hikers
http://www.hudsonhikers.org/RamapoughWinter2007.pdf
One our fellow hiking clubs, Hudson Hikers, (Ramapo Chapter of The Adirondack Mountain Club) recently published a newsletter to the internet that contains a poem, The View From The Summit, in which text contains some Harriman State Park landmarks we know well and hold dear to our own hearts:
(Quoting the first verse)
“Happy the Harriman hikers who take to the trail
Health in mind and body shall be theirs without fail
Away from Reeves Meadow hubbub up Rockland’s Seven Hills
And Old Red to Ramapo Torne with serpent lair and scramble spills
Pass by a Bear who must be Russian and a Pulpit without a priest
Pine Meadow Lake’s the spot for summer dip with luncheon feast
Peer at Diamond’s Sebago views and careen down Cascade of Slid
Plod Blue Disc to a Den where bad Claudius Smith once hid
Yet ahead greet Tom Jones to Stahahe of High Peak renown
Yonder cross Island Pond in winter if in Boston Mine you don’t drown”
Read the rest here (note: you will need Acrobat Reader (free)
Swimmin’ Holes
Yes, its March and it may be just a little early to actually go swimming, but came across this on the web:
Swimming Holes in New York State
Gorp Articles: Hiking in the Hudson Valley, NY
Go here
Excerpted: “A simple walk in the woods reveals the Hudson’s history as a source of natural riches. Mianus River Gorge and Pawling Nature Preserve trails traverse wooded land never again to be farmed or logged. Trails at both places go through second-growth hardwoods and hemlock”cathedrals.” But the scarred earth on the Bull Hill hike, the result of quarrying, reminds the hiker that rocks don’t grow back. Osborne Preserve offers river views, lush forests and plant life diverse enough to include cactus. The western Hudson Valley is another great epicenter for hiking: hikers throng to Harriman State Park and Surebridge Mountain.”
Who is Raymond H. Torrey?
Raymond H. Torrey is, for all and intents and purposes, the “Father of Harriman State Park”:
“He was a New York newspaperman, was a prolific writer, tireless trailblazer, exuberant hiker, unyielding conservationist, volunteer organizer, political lobbyist and diplomat. It was Torrey’s genius for organization that put the first miles of the Appalachian Trail on the ground, converting Benton MacKaye’s “crackpot” dream into a walker’s reality. Nearly forgotten today except within his home territory of New York and New Jersey, he was the archetypal volunteer organizer and trail builder.”
http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/pugsley/Torrey.htm