Hike #673; Lower Harriman/Ladentown Loop

 Hike #673; Lower Harriman/Ladentown Loop

12/29/12 Lower Harriman/Ladentown Loop with Brandan Jermyn, Jaque Melo, Howie ?, Kseniia Sukach, Nancy ?, Bilal ?, and Derek ?

The group at Pine Meadow Lake

Our next hike would be another in the series for Harriman State Park, this time a loop at Diltz Road where we'd finished one the previous year. I had posted it through Metrotrails, with only Brad and Jason, very seriously strong hikers who I'd joined in Harriman on the last outing in the area, signing up. I also posted through NJ/NY/PA Hiking Group on Meetup, which organizer Dennis Lee has allowed me to post through, which has proved successful.

With only three of us signed up on Metrotrails, but over twenty on NJ/NY/PA, I was ecstatic about this hike. Near last minute however, a snow storm was predicted for Saturday. Four inches of snow in the forecast caused a lot of people to back out. Brad and Jason, to my great surprise opted to stay in, however Brad offered the alternative of doing an easier hike closer to his place by Tuxedo. I considered this option until I arrived at the trail head with Brandon. Jaque showed up, as well as six more newcomers to the hikes. Moving all of the cars would prove difficult, and it wasn't snowing at all yet, so we decided to go through with the trip. Brad offered to bail us out in case there was a "mutiny"! LOL!

One of them Susan (Banjo Lady as she had been known on line; we'd exchanged e mails in the past and have many mutual friends) showed up, but didn't hike with us long, which she knew, because we were going to move along much faster. Still, it was nice to finally meet.

I decided we would go about the hike in much the same way I was planning, but we'd take woods roads later because it would be easier than the rocky trails. I wanted to get at least a few views in, so we'd take the foot paths first.

We followed a short stretch of Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy Trail up to the power line from the parking lot, then turned left on the access road to the north of it. We followed this with the idea that we'd take an unmarked trail up Panther Mountain, but we missed it, probably due to snow. We ended up following the power line to Pine Meadow Trail, and used it to get up the Ramapo Ridge, then turned left on Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail along Catamount Mountain. Heading west, we passed good seasonal views, and then one really nice one. We could see the Hudson River at one point, as well as the back of High Tor and Hook Mountain area. The entire back of the palisades blocked the Hudson view for most of the stretch.

We continued along the trail across Sherwood Path, then up to Stone Memorial Shelter, another 1930s shelter on the ridge. We took a short break here before continuing on the trail. Further on, we passed a big rock known as "The Egg", and then descended to Conklin Crossing Trail. We turned left here and descended through Mountain Laurels gradually.

We reached Pine Meadow Lake, then turned left on Pine Meadow Trail along the shore. This was quite beautiful. It will be great for swimming in the Summer. We actually saw other hikers at the lake, which I guess is easy to get to from Seven Lakes Drive. There was a young couple followed by a huge group of Asian folks. Once we reached Pine Meadow Road, we turned right on it. We followed woods roads for the entire remainder of the hike, zig zagging around and out to Second Reservoir. We bushwhacked a little bit near here, and then followed more woods roads to familiar ground onto Iron Mountain where we'd been before, then headed down another woods road into File Factory Hollow.

File Factory Hollow had some nice cascades in it. I'd wanted to try to cover that a previous time but we didn't get the chance. As we headed down, a group of people on ATVs were heading up. Howie started bellowing out "YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT!", clearly in approval of this activity although it's not legal. The people stopped and got off to talk to each other beyond us, I figured to chat about our reaction, or more Howie's. It was obvious that they were not expecting to see anyone out there, especially in the snow.The snow had begun coming down quite hard. I was the only one in the group that didn't have a hat on. It was getting stuck in my eye lashes making it sometimes tough to see. Howie commented that this was one for the record books, how Ksenniia had sneakers, many of us had no stabilizers, and then said one of us had a banjo. He had thought the plush hamburger on the back of my pack was a banjo!!! I told him it was a hamburger, to his great amusement.

We continued down hill through File Factory Hollow, and had to cross a stream that had overtaken the road a couple of times, but we got down. We then followed the woods road at the bottom. Looking up the hollow we could see the remnants of an old dam and a small waterfall. I wonder if there was ever a file factory in this area...

We followed the woods road on or parallel to the power line all the way back to the parking lot on Diltz Road to complete the hike.

I felt very lucky to have made four good new friends, and maybe another if he comes back to join us again (and of course Susan who couldn't join us for long, but who I've talked to in the past anyway). Everyone was in very high spirits, and they were there despite the weather.

I thought of how far the hikes had come since the days when I would be waiting at the Port Colden Mall in Washington for friends to arrive, and have all of them blow me off. I felt like I no longer had to worry about such things, and days like this completely proved it.

Brandan and I began to head right back home. The snow was terrible up there, and I could barely see to drive at times. We were moving along very slowly, and it took forever; over three hours. We stopped in a Taco Bell along the way for some food in Ramsey NJ before taking the long and treacherous drive home. My somewhat new car fared very well in the slippery conditions, though the breaks are not as good as the anti-lock ones I had on my Toyota.

The day as a whole was a great adventure, even the driving. Having so many great memories of past hikes, and so many ahead to look forward to is like having warm, welcoming feelings on both sides. I have a feeling 2013 will be a great year.