Hiking Black Hill Regional Park

As the fall leaves were turning, I trekked through DC to Maryland to hike with a friend at Black Hill Regional Park. It's a county park, but apparently Montgomery County insists on naming all of its parks as regional, local, or neighborhood, so okay. 

We walked about ten miles. This was right after a lot of rain, so the water was high in the creeks.

Some of the best views were the leaves reflecting in the dammed lake.

Overall, it was about ten miles, and then I forgot to turn my tracker off on the bus/Metro until I was practically in DC, so I don't have exact stats.

Visiting Theodore Roosevelt Island

A few weeks back (still catching up on blogging here!) I visited Theodore Roosevelt Island. It's technically part of DC, but accessible only from Arlington. This relatively small island is wooded, with trails. The only other things on the island are restrooms at the south end, and a statue of Teddy Roosevelt near the pedestrian bridge. 

A lot of it is pleasant woods, remarkable more for feeling removed from the city than for the views. The soundscape is a different matter; you can't hear the bustle of the city, but you can hear planes and helicopters. 

My favorite part was a boardwalk on the eastern side, surrounded by wetlands.

Finishing the Adirondack fire towers

This post is massively overdue, so instead of breaking it down into separate posts like I normally one, it'll be one big post for the entire trip.

In September, I headed up to the Adirondacks to finish up the fire tower patch. Although there are more than 18 towers there, you only need 18 to complete it. 

I started with Swede, as it had just opened after restoration, and it was about to close for hunting season. Swede is a very easy hike. It's short, not steep, and not rocky. 

On day two I did Hurricane, which was definitely one of my favorites. It has a bald, open top, so the views would be great even without a tower. I had planned to do a second tower that day, but the weather had other ideas.

On day three I had to squeeze two in. First up was Poke-O-Moonshine, which I had intended as a chaser to Hurricane. I've never seen a fire tower hike with so many steps and even ladders along the way. This made for a hike with a very different feel.

After that I did Black. I wasn't wild about this one. The hike was fine, but the fire tower has had a weird radio tower built over it, and you can't climb it. The view from the near the top are decent, though.

Finally, I finished the challenge on Kane. It wouldn't have been my ideal choice for a finale, as its location in the central southern Adirondacks means the views aren't as fabulous, but the location made it ideal for breaking up the drive home. I managed to time it just right - it started raining just as I got into my car.

So that was the fire tower challenge! I would love the visit the other towers I didn't complete, but - I was about to move out of New York, putting them further out of reach. It's a great challenge, and it's a wonderful way to get terrific views.

The Harriman Hunt

On Sunday, I led a New York Ramblers hike from Sloatsburg, mostly around Harriman State Park. As a change of pace, I made up a series of clues, and they had to figure out where they led. 

We went to a couple of places on we don't usually visit, such as Eleanor Burlingham Memorial Park. 

We also had some ups and downs, visiting scenic points such as Russian Bear and Ramapo Torne. I ended up having us skip a clue in the middle, which shortened it, and we took a short way out, on an old woods road. 

Although it was cooler than it had been, it was still pretty warm, and I for one was feeling the heat. So the hike came in and just under 13 miles, on the short side.

Shawangunk Ridge Trail, Part 1

A hiking buddy suggested getting a crew together to do the Shawangunk Ridge Trail, so I sat down and mapped it out into six one-way, car shuttle sections. We did our first section this weekend.

We began at the southern end, in New Jersey's High Point State Park. The trail actually begins somewhere on another park trail, and two different maps show slightly different starting points. We started even slightly farther south so we could see the view from the observation platform. We never did see a triple blaze that indicated an official beginning point.

The trail in High Point is quite nice. Between the platform, the monument, and a few very short side trails, there are a lot of nice views. (Sadly, the monument was closed beyond the first level due to repairs.)

From there, the trail began to roll gently up and down - although much more down than up. In many places, the foliage needed some trimming back, but there was nothing that significantly blocked the trail.

Along the way, there were two road walks. The first was along Greenville Turnpike, a rather sleepy country road. The second included Old Mountain Road, highway 6, and Hathorn Boulevard. The highway was busy with high-speed traffic, necessitating caution.

The trail eventually popped us out alongside the Metro North Port Jervis line. At Shinhollow Road, a bridge crosses the railroad, and there was a double blaze on the bridge indicating a right turn. However, the embankment was entirely overgrown. Once we scrambled up it, we could see we were on a path with blue blazes ... that also extended behind us. So which was actually the trail?

But we crossed over the bridge to where our cars awaited us.

This first section was close to 11 miles. We ganed 1,370 feet of elevation, but lost 2,250. If you're trying to replicate this, note that there is an entrance fee at High Point. We sensibly took the New Jersey car to the start point, to pay the lower in-state entrance fee.