Randalls Island walk

2020 in photos

January: The last time I went to a state that wasn't New York or New Jersey (although it still began with a "new").

February: Working on the Catskills 3500 winter peaks.

March: Last carefree hike.

April: Masking up.

May: Lots of time in Riverside Park.

June: Protests.

July: My only summer trip, to Fahnestock.

August: Following the Bronx River in the Bronx.

September: Exploring Manhattan.

October: Visiting bridges around the city.

November: The election.

December: Return to the Catskills.

New Year's Day hike

My hiking club does an annual New Year's Day city hike (this year, of course, featuring everyone safely masked). We walked from Riverdale back to lower Harlem, and from there I walked home. 

Sterling Forest Fire Tower

On my last day with a car, I met K at Sterling Forest State Park to hike to the fire tower there. The hike is, according to the visitors center, four miles round-trip, but the NY/NJ Trail Conference maps show it as slightly longer.

We followed the recommended route, which forms a lollipop loop. The return loop, on the red trail, is an old road and much easier, and if I had known that, I might have guided us to use that for both ways. But instead we took the more challenging trail up.

Either way, at the beginning we passed by the old ironworks and then Sterling Lake, both interesting and scenic. 

The tower itself was closed - not just the cab, but the stairs too. So no vistas, and I'll have to return to climb it. But it was still a nice hike, and good company!

Jackie Jones fire tower

I've spent lots of time in Harriman since moving to New York, but some corners of it are harder to reach via public transit. This includes the area around Lake Welch on the southeastern side of the park. I have passed through before - at least once, when I did the SBM end-to-end, but I haven't explored much. 

In fact, I even violated my rule of "never pass up a fire tower" when doing the SBM! So I wanted to visit the fire tower. I also wanted to see St. John's-in-the-Wilderness, a small church that my hiking club has visited, but I've never made those trips.

Starting from the parking area at 106, I headed south on the Suffern-Bear Mountain trail. The water was really high, with a lot of ice, and there were a few dicey stream crossings. After passing the Orak ruins, I approached Jackie Jones Mountain. A large radio tower is actually visible before the fire tower.

The tower was open, even the cab, so I enjoyed the views (not so much the graffiti) before continuing on. I passed Big Hill shelter, where a hiking club was setting up lunch, then turned onto the Long Path. There is a memorial to a flight that crashed.

I didn't so much miss the turnoff to the chapel as I missed the turn the main trail took to avoid the turnoff, which worked out just fine. The chapel was cute from the outside.

From there I followed the road (very low traffic) to the paths around Lake Welch. The sandy beach was closed for the season. Then it was back into the woods to catch a short bit of the SBM back to the parking area.