Harriman State Park

[soco7tyx7]

does anyone know anything about Harriman st. park. i'm on long island in college and its probably the closest park that i could get to if i really wanted to. i met a guy in Penn Station in The City that was coming from there and it sparked my interest. if anyone has any links or info on the park or hiking there i would love to hear it.

[jpm8920]

Hey, I'm from northen Jersey, and my friends and I have been going to Harriman for years. We do some hiking, but mostly we go there to fish. You can drive along Seven Lakes Drive, between old Rt 17 and the circle at Rt 6 and the Palisades Parkway, and there are plenty of places to park and take a hike. The terrain is pretty easy. Very rocky, but not too steep, and the places that are are still managable. It isn't exactly the biggest park in the world, but it is a very nice place to spend the day.

[doug]

Hey, I'm from northen Jersey, and my friends and I have been going to Harriman for years. We do some hiking, but mostly we go there to fish. You can drive along Seven Lakes Drive, between old Rt 17 and the circle at Rt 6 and the Palisades Parkway, and there are plenty of places to park and take a hike. The terrain is pretty easy. Very rocky, but not too steep, and the places that are are still managable. It isn't exactly the biggest park in the world, but it is a very nice place to spend the day.

Are there still Lean-tos in Harriman? I remember winter camping there with the Boy Scouts (in the 60's). Friends of mine tell me there are lots of creepy people in the park in the summer, true?

[dog]

Firt at all, I was amazed, how something like this can exist within 1 hour of driving from a megapolice. Harriman is a great illustration for American land using cycle:wilderness - expluatation & privatisation - "parckisation" & deprivatisation.

Harriman is good for spend 1-2 days, to try out an equipment,to show kids, what is outdoor about. A lakes boating demands modest seasonal fee.
Creepy people ( some drunks, trying to express them-self ) are localized around beaches,parking lots & picnic spots. Sometimes-places it's painfull & shame to see what creeps can do with the land. Few car breaking-ins are reported. But all this bad stuff is exeption. I can say it, because I go there for years & pretty often.
Park Police is active & fast ( in the best sense ), but whithout any exessivness.

On the other hand Harriman is big enough to get away from that. Have a map & a bit of curiosity to find your piece of silence in stars frame. There are several shelters to stay overnight legally.

But there is a real danger in the wanderfull place. Dear deers.. Deers = ticks. I got Lyme desease several years ago. It's easy treatable on early stage ( God bless my friend-doc, who just pushed me to make the test ). Patients whis missed at right time med attention look terrible. So, watch around.

[dog]

Sorry, I run out of space. There is a lot of info on web. Just type "Herriman Park NY "in any serch eng.
Last one: NY-NJ Trail Conference care through volonteering about the Park ( beside natural regeneration ).

[dog]

in #4 sorry to RedHawk for "wilderness".
in #5 sorry to NYS- owner of the Park

[doug]

Lyme Disease

Dog, Thanks for the info on Harriman. I'll have to go there again. I had lyme disease also (got it in New London, CT, next town from Old Lyme). As you say, the important thing is to catch it early. I had a dinner-plate size bulls-eye rash and the doctor wasn't convinced it was Lyme but insisted he do the test anyway.

[Dick]

Dog, Thanks for the info on Harriman. I'll have to go there again. I had lyme disease also (got it in New London, CT, next town from Old Lyme). As you say, the important thing is to catch it early. I had a dinner-plate size bulls-eye rash and the doctor wasn't convinced it was Lyme but insisted he do the test anyway.

I had Lyme's disease also, as did my son. Given the timing, we knew we likely caught it in our back yard (upstate NY capital district), not while hiking. We both had classic symptoms, caught it early, were officially diagnosed (the test is sometimes inconclusive and often comes up negative when it's positive!). If you're in a deer-prone Lyme disease area, even (especially?) residential area, it's good to take precautions.

Dick

[soco7tyx7]

arent deer ticks really small?

[Dick]

Yes, but they are different sizes in different stages of their life:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/lyme/images/slide20.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/dtopics/tickborne/ticks.html&h=287&w=432&sz=101&tbnid=oN7OPbO10aoJ:&tbnh=81&tbnw=122&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddeer%2Btick%2Bpicture%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN

Dick

[Moose]

I think Harriman is Great! As stated it's less than an hour from NYC, it has some great history of hores russlers, iron ore mines. I'm only a 20 minute ride and if I can't make it to the Catskills for the day or ADK's for a weekend I'm at Harriman. We use it with my son's scout troop for overnights at Dutch Doctor Lean-to or 5 to 10 mile hikes for advancement. Over the past 2 months I've snow shoed three times and did three 5 mile hikes and plan on paddling my kayak this Sunday. Check out http://nynjctbotany.org/whudson/nyclauds.html

http://www.sundanceoutdoor.org/hiking_harriman.html

[dog]

Sorry again, I forgot. When you go by R17 in the Park, watch speed limit signs - it's loook like budget of Sloatburg ...
And obviously, the best time to be there is not summer & not weekends.
I dont know, how to press all ,what i put in these top in one.

[leafmiles]

I'm headed to Dutch Doctor Lean-to tomorrow night. Supposed to be -20 but it's only an hour or so from my house. I haven't done any winter camping so this will be a trial run for me. I don't exactly know where the lean-to is.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Hiking-Backpacking-Camping-331/2008/8/camping-Harriman-State-Park-1.htm

this word of mouth direction sounds easy. i'm going to buy the conference map though before i leave the city.

i'm hoping to go up dunderberg before or after my camp.

[Lute Hawkins]

I learned all I needed to learn about hiking at Harriman Park. Pick up a set of the trail maps from the NYNJ Trail Conference and you'll see that it'll take a long time to run out of new trails to try, everything from steep to level to swampy to bouldery. You can also get their book which gives an in-depth desription of all the trails, the lakes, and the history of the area. This was all mountain-folk country at one time, so you'll find old ruins of homesteads, graveyards, and various mines.

It's a large enough park that if you want to get lost, you can. Great for all-season hiking, it also has x-country ski trails and horse trails as well. I really can't reccomend this park enough. If you go hiking during the summer weekdays, you shouldn't be surprised to find nudists in the smaller hidden ponds and lakes taking a dip. Since they're way off the beaten path, you can takes pictures and all they can do is yell about it.

[aft paddle]

I recommend the trail that goes through the area with the boulders. A unique spot with large boulders closely intersperced throughout the woods. Climb up on one imagine them being moved about...you'll remember it forever.