 |
Harriman State Park Recognized - 19 March, 2006
By LAURA INCALCATERRA
lincalca@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
SLOATSBURG
The rest of the nation now knows one of this region's favorite secrets: When it comes to hiking, few places beat Harriman State Park. Drew McGrath, an avid Harriman hiker, has a pretty good idea why.
"Harriman's awesome," McGrath said. "It's amazing."
Others share the Mahwah, N.J., man's opinion.
Harriman State Park placed No. 4 on a list of the top 100 trails in the nation, according to the trails.com Web site.
The company works with publishers to post their guidebooks online and allows users to peruse more than 30,000 trail descriptions, trails.com spokesman Rob Holmes said.
Rather than buying an entire book, the Web site's users can opt to search for a trail according to their own specifications, he said. Places are organized by state; type of activity, such as hiking, mountain biking and snowboarding; and by categories, such as the best places for waterfalls, sea kayaking and scenic drives.
The top trails list was determined by the number of trail page visits, trail review submissions, and the number of downloads of destination descriptions and maps, Holmes said.
Results were based on 2005 data, he said.
With 14 trails, New York had more destinations on the top 100 list than any other state. It was followed by California, with 13 trails; then Georgia and Virginia, with seven each.
The list has been compiled for the past four years, and Breakneck Ridge Trail in Beacon has finished in the No. 1 spot each time, Holmes said.
But this was the first year that Harriman State Park made the list, he said.
The park opened in 1913, just a few years after the state announced plans to open a prison in the area.
The location was changed and Sing Sing prison opened in Ossining, in Westchester County, after Mary Averell Harriman agreed to donate land and money to create a park.
Her donation came with strings that required the state to kick in more property and money toward the effort, and to extend the authority of the Palisades Interstate Park from New Jersey into the Ramapo Mountains and the Hudson Highlands in New York.
Property within the park's boundaries includes former iron mines and Indian shelters called rock houses.
There also are scores of trails, including two of the most famous: the Appalachian Trial, which runs between Maine and Georgia, and The Long Path, which runs between Fort Lee Historic Park in New Jersey and John Boyd Thacher State Park in Voorheesville, just southwest of Albany.
Some who know the park said they were not surprised that Harriman made the list, including Carson Tang, a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club.
The AMC's book, "Nature Walks In and Around New York City" by Sheila Buff, is on the trails.com Web site. Visits to it contributed to Harriman's No. 4 placement on the the top 100 list.
Tang said it made sense that Harriman placed high because so many hikers from New York City frequented the park. Both Harriman and the adjacent Bear Mountain State Park are easily accessible by public transportation from the Port Authority and Grand Central Terminal, he said.
Tang, who lives in Brooklyn, said Harriman also appealed to New York City residents because it offered hundreds of trails that helped make it nearly impossible to get lost in the park.
With mountains, lakes, streams and forest, the park has something to offer everyone, he said. Former iron mines and other places of historical interest also lure hikers, he said.
For city residents whose daily lives are filled with concrete, tar and steel buildings, the parks offer a perfect retreat.
"Their escape, their connection with life, is nature," Tang said.
Dennis Schvejda, a spokesman for the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, said he found it gratifying that so many trails in the area had made the list.
The trail conference works to build and maintain trails and preserve open space. Its founders built the first section of the Appalachian Trail, at Bear Mountain, and the group now cares for more than 1,500 miles of trails.
Regarding Harriman, Schvejda said, it was easy to understand why it was a favorite destination.
"When you're entering the park, you're entering another world," Schvejda said. "We're truly fortunate to have a park like this in the metro area."
But location alone does not account for Harriman or any other trail making the top 100 list, Holmes said. Only half a dozen places have well-known names, and only a few are in metropolitan areas.
So being near a big city wasn't necessarily a deciding factor, Holmes said.
"It's mainly the destination, the place people are traveling," he added.
McGrath spent a few hours in Harriman State Park one recent day, making his way from the Reeve's Meadow visitor center to Pine Meadow Lake.
McGrath's boots carried him over the last few yards of trail to the parking lot that marked the end of his 3-mile round-trip hike.
On his back was a small pack and in his hand a leash to Amber, his golden retriever.
He was enthusiastic about why he thought Harriman had made the list.
Put simply, McGrath said, Harriman had something to offer everyone.
"It's got short trails, so if you just want to go for a day hike, you can do that," McGrath said. "The park is huge. If you want to go camping, you can do that."
But to really sample all that Harriman has to offer, a hiker should hit the trails throughout the year, he said.
"The nice thing about these trails is that every time the season changes, the trail is different," McGrath said.
Kings of the hills
Harriman State Park placed No. 4 on a list of the top 100 trails in the nation, according to the trails.com Web site. With 14 trails, New York had more destinations on the list than any other state. Here are the trails and their list placement
X1 Breakneck Ridge Trail, Beacon (hiking).
X4 Harriman State Park (walking).
21 Bear Mountain State Park, Highland Falls (walking).
26 Bear Mountain Loop, Highland Falls (hiking).
29 Mount Marcy-New York Highpoint, Lake Placid (hiking).
31 Appalachian Trail, Newburgh (hiking).
34 Anthony's Nose, Bear Mountain Bridge (hiking).
36 Slide Mountain Loop, Woodstock (hiking).
48 Appalachian Trail: Bear Mountain/Harriman (hiking).
52 Indian Head Mountain Loop, Saugerties (hiking).
53 Nassau-Suffolk Greenbelt, Woodbury (mountain biking).
86 The Hudson Highlands, Cold Spring, (hiking).
92Black Mountain Loop, Lake George (hiking).
94 Appalachian Trail: Bear Mountain/Harriman state parks, east, Arden (hiking).
Nearby
47Ringwood State Park, Ringwood, N.J. (mountain biking).
84Palisades Interstate Park and The Long Path, Englewood, N.J. (hiking).
See the entire list at www.trails.com.
Take a hike
Get more information about hiking, including trail locations, map information and tips for beginners at
• Appalachian Mountain Club, New York-North Jersey Chapter: www.amc-ny.org
• New York-New Jersey Trail Conference: www.nynjtc.org.
BACK
BACK TO TOP
|
|
|
|
A View for Generations
Palisades Interstate
Park System
MAP
Bear Mountain
Attractions
MAP
Bear Mountain
Suggested Hikes
MAP
|
|
