Harriman Day Hike

“Woke up to a beautiful day and decided to go for a dayhike. I have a friend in town from MD who is a closet hiker and after a brief sell on how lovely the turning leaves ould be - we quickly headed out for an easy little hike.

Hiked the Cornell Mine path up to Bald Mountain.

It was an anniversary of sorts as this was the very first "back into wilderness" hike I did just over a year ago - the beginning of the obsession which quickly turned into full on backpacking!

My poor friend had asked that we do something really easy - I'm sure we all remember being really out of shape - and I thought this was the perfect spot. However, in my zeal to finally make it out of the city and into the woods, I had forgotten that there is one particularily nasty steep portion of this hike! Oops!!

Well, I am happy to say that my friend did a great job - only stopping a few times to huff and puff. Meanwhile I'm happily bounding up the mountain.

When did this hike that when I first did it just over a year ago - that had me huffing and puffing and groaning up the mountain - get so easy??!! I think its good to revisit areas - not only to check out what they look like in different seasons - but to see how far your endurance has come!

The leaves were gorgeous - reds, yellows, oranges all in sharp contrast to the dark bark below. We had the company of a lovely series of waterfalls on the first half of the hike that I didn't even know were there because it had been so dry on the last venture this way.

Passed quite a few people on the trail but not as many as I had imagined when I saw the amount of cars in the parking area.

The view was terrific of Bear Mountain bridge and the Hudson Valley. It was cool to see the whole area in rusty colors with a few bright spots of yellow.

Hung out at the top for awhile enjoying the sights before heading down.

My damn knee is still giving me hell on the trail. I really do need to figure out what to do about it so my backpacking days don't end. :(

The only animal we saw (with the exception of my freaking out in the car due to a green spider which dropped down from the roof practically on my lap - should have seen me jump right out of the car before it had even stopped!) was a large White-tail deer we startled on the way down.

Short and sweet - a great day hike!

Pictures to come....”

“Good trip report.By the way have you tryed the diffrent kinds of knee braces?

8)”

“Thanks.

Yeah, I have a knee brace but it doesn't do much.

Both of my knees are hyperextended - with the right one being the worst. When I was dancing it wasn't a big deal because my legs were super strong. But now? Ouch on the downhills!

Last night I had the thought that when I'm coming down the mountain I'm probably slamming too far back into the hyperextension. Just a thought. I also had a bad thought that yoga might be exaberating the situation?

Have to go get it looked at....”

“I am shure that there are lots of meds out there that your doctor can look into for you.


8)”

“Nice little report, Tinkles! I miss Harriman, neat park that's easy to get to.”

“I miss Harriman as well. With the exception of the overused parts that get trashy. Please post some pics, Twinks. Our driver's ed teacher used to take us for practice drives through Harriman in the Fall. The Seven Lakes Parkway has some beautiful scenery when the leaves change.”

“I need to get up to Harriman SP sometime. I've heard loads of people talk good stuff about it.”