Park Reviews
The visitors center mentioned appears to be the one at Sterling Forest State Park. A number of private parcels continue as in-holdings in and around Sterling Forest State Park. These pre-date creation of the park and are not part of the park.
17 buildings near Sterling Lake and the adjacent visitors center were part of the Sterling Forest Corporation and became park property when Sterling Forest State Park was established. These houses and the land around them continue to be leased and are marked “private, please keep out.”
Questions about where fishing, with a valid NY fishing license, is permitted in any park should be addressed to park managers:
Sterling Forest State Park: 845-351-5907
Harriman State Park: 845-786-2701
A long-awaited relocation of an Appalachian Trail section on West Mountain in Harriman State Park has been completed. The new route follows a more gradual climb up (or down) West Mountain, replacing a steep section that was subject to severe erosion and was often muddy. It also incorporates a short section of the 1777W and truncates a section Fawn Trail--in the area just south of the AT’s crossing of Seven Lakes Drive, between West and Bear Mountains, and 0.85-mile of newly built and blazed trail.
Find details about the trail changes at /news/appalachian-trail-rerouted-west-mountain-harriman-state-park
I did some checking at both the Trailways and Short Line sites and could not find any direct route, but you might explore these sites yourself to find an alternative.
Link: http://www.nynjtc.org/news/deer-hunting-dates-new-york-and-new-jersey-2010
Crews are at work this summer building a new stretch of the Appalachian Trail on the south side of the mountain, which will incorporate the views of the closed section of the Major Welch Trail. The focus is on relocating the Appalachian Trail off of Perkins Memorial Drive and into the woods, providing a more "backcountry style" of trail. Trail workers aim to complete this project in early September and open it to the public soon after.
Source: Official TC newsrelease
Date: 2010, January 6
Source: John Mack, West Hudson South Trail Chair
Though Route 106 in Harrimian State Park is reopened (see news item), we remind trail users that several roads in the Harriman/Bear Mountain Parks regularly are closed in winter. These include Tiorati Brook Road, Lake Welch Drive, and Perkins Memorial Drive. (Winter road closures are identified by bold, black astericks on our trail maps.) These roads were closed on December 1. They are scheduled to be reopened April 1, though inclement weather and road conditions at that time could prompt a delay.Also currently closed is the south parking lot at the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area. Official dates for this closure are not available. Note that many trails remain accessible from the north parking area.
The ramps leading from the Palisades Interstate Parkway to the Recreation Area and back to the Parkway in both directions remain open.
Hunting in Sterling Forest and Harriman State Parks have been expanded to include essentially all park areas west of NY Route 17. The regular (firearms) hunting season began on November 21 and ends on December 13, 2009. Bow season will resume December 14 to December 22 (as was published in the November-December Trail Walker).
From the October 2009 Trail Walker newsletter:
Victory Trail
Several
hikers have reported that a section of the Victory Trail, which is a utility
road, was barely noticeable until recent work. Construction of a road accessible
to large utility trucks was begun by the park after the utilities advised that
without the road development, the lines to park facilities would not be
serviced. As of the September 2009 deadline
for this newsletter, clearing and construction of a widened dirt road over the
trail, extending from a short distance north of
The Trail Conference has requested
that low spots be filled in and the road and adjoining surfaces be made as neat
as reasonable before departing the project. During an early September field
trip to the site, the Victory Trail remained blazed adequately to follow. Maintainers Seth Schwartz, Janet Waegel, and
Wayne Miller planned to attend to the trail by the end of September.
We thank the several hikers who
reported and questioned this major trail disruption. Trail users are often the
first to be aware of trail issues and we encourage your eyewitness reports. To
report a trail issue or problem go to our website, click on the Community tab
and choose Report a Trail Problem; or call 201-512-9348.
Blue Disc Trail
A large number
of the blue disc-on-white trail blazes were removed this past summer by persons
unknown, who not only damaged and removed blaze tags, but hacked off painted
blazes from the trees. Re-blazing has
been accomplished for the eastern two-thirds of the trail and, as of September,
is adequate to follow the entire trail length.
Nurian Trail
As of late
September, the bridge over the
Also on the Nurian Trial, of the two
low bridges across Stahahe Brook, the more eastern one had collapsed and Trail
Conference volunteers have removed it; at this time the park is unable to
provide materials to replace it. The
almost adjacent western bridge has sagged but is currently crossable though
slippery. Both stream crossings are
quite easily achieved without use of the bridges.
Parking Note: Parking is not allowed at the defunct Red
Apple Rest or on surrounding private property.
Parking is available about 0.8-mile northwest of Route 17 on
Route 106
remains closed between
hike to a campsite
On July 26th, 2009 miharbio asked:
Hello, I am looking to bring a few inexperienced friends on a hiking/camping trip. Basically I'd like to have the group hike for most of the day and camp at our final destination. I'm looking for at least two to three miles and it would be great if the hike back to the car the next day was a different trail. There seems to be a great number of trails to chose from, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to set up camp on all of them, can anyone provide some information as to how that works? Thank you