Harriman Hiker: Harriman State Park and Beyond: Long Mountain and Turkey Hill Lake

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Long Mountain and Turkey Hill Lake

Harriman State Park,
Orange Co.,
New York

Hiking Trails:
Long Path: Green blaze
Popolopen Gorge Trail: Red blaze
Historic Fingerboard-Storm King Trail: Brown blaze

Total Time: 2:15 hour
Estimated Distance: 2.7 Miles

Pros: Good climb, excellent view, scenic lake
Cons: Trash at lake
Hike Type: Eight

Google Maps of Parking:
https://goo.gl/maps/AJHqFkmC9VnyBbY78

Hiking Partners:
Joseph Friedman
Elisha Friedman

This was a hot and humid Sunday in the summer. I opted for something in Harriman with a good view but not too long and strenuous, and this was a very good hike for that. We parked at the Long Mountain Parking area off Route 6 in the northern fringes of Harriman, and took the Long Path north to Long Mountain. We found some nice blueberries in the area near the beginning of the hike.

We continue on the Long Path, and where the Trail was recently rerouted snaking up the mountain, we took the old now shortcut trail that now had a brown marker titled "Historic Fingerboard-Storm King Trail." This was the original Long Path trail, and many years ago was a long distance trail that went from Fingerboard Mountain north to Storm King Mountain. However, when West Point acquired and restricted the property north of the area, the area became off-limits and trail closed. This shortcut trail is a memory to that trail. It's only a short distance back to the Long Path, which at the top of the mountain has a large rock area with a great view, overlooking Turkey Hill Lake, Bear Mountain, and Popolopen Torne.

We then continued down the mountain on the northern side, down to the steep valley, and took the old unmarked road in the valley back to the Popolopen Gorge Trail at it's western terminus. We then took the Popolopen Gorge Trail to Turkey Hill Lake, and explored the lake shoreline a bit, and then headed back up on the Popolopen Gorge Trail. We then cut across on the unmarked trail up the hill to the parking area and headed back to our car.