Hike #354; Guymard to High Point

 Hike #354 7/12/8

7/12/8 Lower Shawangunk Ridge; Guymard to High Point with Joe Tag, "DJ Ray" Cordts, Bernie Lieberman, Jean Fletcher, Craig Nunn, Art Sisco, Kyle Zalinsky, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, and "Major Tom" Conroy

This is the first picture I ever took of Kyle. We stumbled upon this newly reopened section of the Shawangunk Ridge Trail not mentioned in my guide book.

This hike marked the beginning of another important series of hikes. I had long wanted to cover the Shawangunk Ridge, which was the continueation of the Kittatinny Ridge into NY state beyond High Point NJ, and ended in Rosendale NY.

Bridge along Shawangunk Ridge Trail along Shin Hollow Road

Former Erie Railroad where it's followed by Shawangunk Ridge Trail

Shawangunk Ridge Trail along former Erie Railroad

View from Shawangunk Ridge Trail north of

Abandoned trailer along Shawangunk Ridge Trail near Hawthorne Lake

Hawthorne Lake along Shawangunk Ridge Trail

Hawthorne Lake along Shawangunk Ridge Trail

View from Shawangunk Ridge Trail north of High Point on the NY side

View from Shawangunk Ridge Trail

View from Shawangunk Ridge Trail, NY

Deer blind along Shawangunk Ridge Trail

A state line monument where we entered High Point State Park in NJ

Shawangunk Ridge Trail, High Point State Park NJ

I cut my leg

Shawangunk Ridge Trail in High Point SP

View from Shawangunk Ridge Trail along the Delaware River north

Major Tom on Shawangunk Ridge Trail

A trail on this route connects with the Long Path, another serious trail of considerable interest to me.

This hike was also the second time the group was exposed to Kyle Zalinsky, who would go on to become my best friend in the coming year. He was rather quiet and subdued on these early trips, but soon came out of that shell.

After parking cars at High Point, we shuttled to the north to Guymard Turnpike on the Shawangunk Ridge's west side.

I really enjoyed the backwoods nature of the trail. It was narrow and traversed some tougher terrain. It was also strange in that it would go to all of these weird places you don't normaly see a trail go, such as along an active railroad track. After a short while it descended to the former Erie Railroad and followed it for some time before turning back up the ridge. Just before that it followed a dirt road called Shin Hollow Road.

Once we ascended back up to the ridge I gave Kyle a non alchaholic beer. He did'nt notice until I told him.

I'd gotten these really regular looking non alchaholic beers from a from a friend from work and passed them out to the group periodically for the reaction.

The Shawangunk Ridge Trail soon reached some developed areas and we came across a whole lot of junk set out around it. We came out on a road along a small developement at Hawthorne Lake, a pretty little lake on the ridge. The roads took us out to Rt 6, Slate Hill Road, and we turned left. My Long Path guide book described this trail, but it had been rerouted since it was published. What was going to be a long road walk was now much better. We turned right onto Old Mountain Road and found a nice new trail section cutting up hill to the ridge top above us. It was incredibly steep and looked very freshly mowed (see picture of Kyle). Kyle and I got to the top before anyone else and had to wait up. We went ahead a little bit and sure enough found two trail maintainers with weed whackers working on the trail. This section leveled off a bit, and then took us to the west facing ridge where we were treated to a view from a power line of Rt 84 below. We continued on and the trail descended to Greenville Turnpike. A short road walk here took us to the next section in the woods to High Point. There was a marker denoting the state line right at the border.

By this time it was getting a bit tough. We were'nt in danger of being in the dark too badly, but we were tired. We made our way back out to Lake Marcia at High Point.

Along Shawangunk Ridge Trail near High Point

Steps along Shawangunk Ridge Trail built by the CCCs.