Shawangunk Ridge Trail, Long Path and Highlands Trail

[1azarus]

looks like there are several shorter and longer loop hikes using the AT, Long Path, Shawangunk Ridge Trail back to the AT, or perhaps the AT, Highlands Trail, Long Path and Shawangunk Ridge trail back to the AT... anybody have advice on loop mileage, and trail preference? Also, is there one map or guide that covers all these trails in the general area of the longer loop? ...finished the Mohawk loop trail and the South Taconic loop trail. time for another loop.

[Another Kevin]

The Long Path between Schunemunk and the Shawangunk Ridge junction is kind of nasty. In the current routing:

Section 9 (11.4 miles) is an asphalt rail-trail, where you will be dodging bicycles, and not find any place to camp. 11+ miles, with a couple of miles of out-and-out roadwalking.

Section 10 (14.4 miles) is all roadwalk.

So that's 26 miles on asphalt, with more than half of it straight roadwalk, no good places to stealth camp, and the best option for overnighting being a hotel room in Goshen or Middletown. No, thank you. The Orange County problem is why NYNJTC considers bypassing the LP on the AT from Harriman to High Point, and then heading north on the Shawangunk Ridge, to be an acceptable alternative 'thru hike' of the LP.

[tdoczi]

ive walked a few miles of the SRT near high point and its the absolute pits.

[1azarus]

The Long Path between Schunemunk and the Shawangunk Ridge junction is kind of nasty. In the current routing:

Section 9 (11.4 miles) is an asphalt rail-trail, where you will be dodging bicycles, and not find any place to camp. 11+ miles, with a couple of miles of out-and-out roadwalking.

Section 10 (14.4 miles) is all roadwalk.

So that's 26 miles on asphalt, with more than half of it straight roadwalk, no good places to stealth camp, and the best option for overnighting being a hotel room in Goshen or Middletown. No, thank you. The Orange County problem is why NYNJTC considers bypassing the LP on the AT from Harriman to High Point, and then heading north on the Shawangunk Ridge, to be an acceptable alternative 'thru hike' of the LP.

ummm. ok. you know me well enough to know i just want you to tell me where to walk in a big circle. or lots of circles. the circles should be from a minimum of 20 miles to a maximum of 150 miles. That would be circumference, not diameter... all help gratefully accepted!

[tiptoe]

For maps, see http://www.nynjtc.org/catalog/15/maps. I don't know much about long loop hikes, but there are some excellent walking loops in the Gunks between Sam's Point Preserve and Mohonk.

[tdoczi]

ummm. ok. you know me well enough to know i just want you to tell me where to walk in a big circle. or lots of circles. the circles should be from a minimum of 20 miles to a maximum of 150 miles. That would be circumference, not diameter... all help gratefully accepted!

theres probably no limit to the number of 20+ mile loops one could construct in the state parks along both sides of the hudson river, plus a few more along the kittatinny ridge in NJ, though ones nearer to 150 will be more difficult. i'd look at the SBT, TT and RD trails in harriman.

[Another Kevin]

Yeah. Harriman. Here is a long loop that assembles pieces of various hikes I've done in Harriman. It hits a lot of the high points of the park. I've never tried a loop that ambitious there in a single trip, but I know that you make a lot more miles than I do.

Start at Bear Mountain parking area. (But see below: it occurs to me that there are better choices.)

Head south on Suffern-Bear Mountain to the Doodletown bridle path, and take that into Doodletown. Explore there, it's got some interesting history.

Go south on the old road across the bridge over Doodletown Brook, and immediately turn left (east, and downstream). In about 500 feet, the blue-blazed Cornell Mine trail turns sharp right. Follow it to its end at the junction with the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail (red circle on white). (Note the circular pit near the junction, part of the old mine workings.) Turn left on the R-D and take it across the summit of Dunderberg Mountain and down the other side, following grades of the never-completed Dunderberg Spiral Railway, which, had it been finished, would still be the world's largest roller coaster. Near the bottom lies the junction with the blue-blazed Timp-Torne trail; shortly below is an interesting uncompleted overpass for the coaster, with some elaborate stonemasonry. Take the Timp-Torne trail back up the hill, passing an uncompleted tunnel for the railroad, flooded in all but dry summers.

Take the Timp-Torne trail all the way to the summit of The Timp, passing many superb views of the Hudson River and the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Continue on the combined Timp-Torne and Red Cross trails to the West Mountain lean-to, which offers a view of the Manhattan skyline. From West Mountain you can return to the yellow-blazed Suffern-Bear Mountain trail, which runs south down the entire length of the park along its east side. There's no easy way to complete a loop from Suffern. The last good loop connection at the south end is the white-blazed Kakiat trail. Take it north and west down Pine Meadow Brook, and across Johnsontown Road, to the intersection of the Blue Disc trail. This trail offers much better walking than the Kakiat, which is usually rather wet.

The Blue Disc trail scales the scramble called Almost Perpendicular to an overlook on Dater's Mountain, and heads north across Pound Mountain to Claudius Smith's Den - a very short way left of the Blue Disc on the Tuxedo-Mount Ivy trail (red horizontal dash on white). From there, take either the Blue Disc north or Tuxedo-Mount Ivy (left) west to join the Ramapo-Dunderberg yet again. Take the RD north (trail east) toward Arden Valley. There are any number of good connections from here. To make a loop with some pieces of trail that you haven't done before, take the Arden-Surebridge (red triangle on white) down to Island Pond Road, take that north to the A-T, take the A-T up through the Lemon Squeezer - that's a must for Harriman visitors, after all - and get on the Long Path (aqua) after that. Right after the US 6 crossing, turn right - I forget the trail name, my Harriman maps are upstairs and I'm too lazy to get up and fetch them. (Look it up yourself... the trail skirts the south shore of Turkey Hill Pond and the north shore of Queensboro Lake.) If I'm up that way on the Long Path, I make it a point to pay my respects at the Raymond Torrey memorial on Long Mountain; it marks the place where the ashes of a tremendous benefactor of the A-T were strewn.

Just after Queensboro Lake, turn right on Queensboro Road, cross the parkway on the Seven Lakes overpass, and look for the 1777 trail heading to the right. Take that down to the A-T.

Finish the loop by climbing Bear Mountain on the A-T and descending on the Major Welch trail (red ring on white). Unless you really want to walk down the stairs, then just stay on the A-T. The Major Welch descends much more steeply on top of some long whalebacks, and has a pretty overlook of the Bear Mountain Bridge. I prefer it to the A-T, to which it connects at both ends.

This is a huge loop that, in large measure, goes just inside the borders of the park. It visits the park's largest ghost town, the Dunderberg Spiral Railway, a half-dozen shelters (and a couple of caves that also make good shelters), lovely overlooks over the Hudson and Ramapo valleys, several abandoned mines, the hideout of a Revolutionary War outlaw, the Lemon Squeezer, several pretty ponds, and the sites of two Washington Irving stories - a sampling of practically everything the park has to offer. It's surely a way to get lost for several days.

Take all this with a grain of salt. I'm describing this from memory, as I said, I don't have my maps and guidebooks right to hand. On various hikes I've walked virtually everything I've described; maybe missed one or two little connections.

Also, I've described this as starting and ending at Bear Mountain, but the logistics might work better to park at another point along the loop - not to mention that Bear Mountain charges for parking but a lot of the little trailheads don't. The turnaround on Johnsontown Road near the Kakiat and Blue Disc trails might be a good spot, as might the Elk Pen.

Harriman offers a ton of other options. Get the NYNJTC 2-map set and maybe a copy of the New York Walk Book and check them out.