Harriman traverse

On Sunday I hiked with the Ramblers across Harriman State Park, west to east. We started in Arden and ended in Mt. Ivy for a total of 16 miles.

The hike itself was pretty but nothing spectacular. The views typically available at Big Hill shelter was obscured by the grey weather, and otherwise we were mostly hiking through forest, with the occasional interesting rock formation.

The final leg of the hike left Harriman and entered Cheesecote Park, then left that park and followed the Palisades Interstate Parkway. At the scale of the NY-NJ Trail Conference maps, it looks as if the road is the trail, hardly a good idea on the PIP. In fact, the route goes through the woods next to the parkway, but it's quite miserable. Someone slapped up some blazes and called it a trail, rather than doing the hard work of grading, smoothing, and otherwise making the ground treadworthy. It's essentially bushwhacking with signs.

While not the most spectacular hike I've done, the weather held off and we didn't get rained on, and the company was good.