Scouting the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail

In preparation for next month's Ramblers hike, I scouted the route of the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail in the Ramapo Preserve with a friend.

To get to the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail, we used a mix of trails from the NY-NJ Trail Conference headquarters. This included bypassing a nice waterfall that, on another occasion, I'd like to see up close.

There was still snow on the ground, about 60%-80% of what we had on Sunday. It was still wet and unstable, though, meaning that even microspikes didn't do much for traction, because the entire layer of snow shifted underfoot. That meant we had to go a little slower, especially uphill, because it was hard to get a firm footing. We noticed it particularly on very gentle slopes, where one wouldn't slow down much, but where we found ourselves suddenly losing speed.

We finally reached the northern end of the trail and continued all the way to the south end (total hike distance of 17 miles). Along the way there are several fine viewpoints.



We found that the first part of the hike felt very slow; I was dubious about our ability to finish the entire thing in daylight. We did pick up speed in the last few miles, where there was less snow, and finished the trail without needing headlamps. Mind you, there was still a mile or two or roadwalking, which did finish in the dark - but on sidewalks with street lamps.