Hiking for animals in Harriman

On Sunday, I led a hike in Harriman State Park - the fauna hike. A friend and I had come up with a list of silly theme hikes in Harriman, of which this was one. The idea was to explore as many features with animal names as possible.

It turns out that the majority of animal names are in the southern part of the park, and we visited most of them. We started at the Pomona Heights entrance on the eastern side, and made our way over to Sloatsburg on the western side, hiking 15 miles in the process.



Despite the theme, I couldn't guarantee any actual animal sightings, aside from perhaps chipmunks and squirrels. Nevertheless, the trail provided. While at the head of the group on Conklins Crossing Trail, I nearly tripped across a rattling rattlesnake - thankfully, another hiker warned me. Eventually, the very fat snake slithered off. We came across a very long garter snake not much later, but much more safely.



We were blessed with cool weather - although some sun would have been nice, I can't complain. I'm ready for the summer heat to be behind us.

The hike had surprisingly varied terrain and views given that it was planned based on names, not sights.