Long Mountain & Howell Mountain with Commsar

Harriman State Park
Orange Co.,
New York

Hiking Trails:
Long Path: Blue blaze

Total Time: 2:30 hour
Estimated Distance: 3.5 miles
Level of Difficulty: Slightly difficult
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Points Of Interest: Long Mountain climb and view, Howell Mountain View, Lake Massawippa
Pros: Good climb with good views, lake
Cons: Lots of ticks

Hiking Partners:
Commsar Search and Rescue Members

Google Map of Parking:
Note: The new Google Maps Engine doesn't allow me embed the maps I have created. It only allows me to embed the entire map set! So what I did for the embedded maps was just zoom in as much as possible, and parking areas are in the middle of the screen. I apologize about the missing marker - Google doesn't let you do this anymore (or they did a remarkable job of hiding it!)

Start:


Finish:


On this hike, I led a group of members from Commsar (Community Search & Rescue) on a hiking training mission on various terrain in the park. We did a two car hike. One car was at the trailhead for Long Mountain/Turkey Hill, and the other car by Lake Massawippa. We started the hike at the Long Path, and took this trail up to the summit view of Long Mountain.

Long Mountain has an excellent view, and it also overlooks Turkey Hill Lake. From Long Mountain, we headed back down and continued along the Long Path. This part of the trail is at the northern end of the park boundary and further north is West Point property. It seems to be following a former wide path, which I presume was at one time telephone wires.

We continued along the Long Path up and over Howell Mountain, and at the stream in Brooks Hollow we cut across and bushwacked to wards the dam over Lake Massawippa. From the dam we crossed over the east side of the Lake and took the unmarked path through the old ruins here.

Mapf of the Route.
Harriman/Bear Mountain Northern Map

Me Ascending Long Mountain

View Ascending Long Mountain

COMMSAR Search & Rescue Members on Our Training Hike
Near the Summit of Long Mountain

Popolopen Torne from the Summit of Long Mountain. Facing E/NE.

Turkey Hill Lake from the Summit of Long Mountain. Facing SE.

Long Mountain Summit Facing North

Me at the Long Mountain Summit Facing North

Zoom In to Popolopen Torne and the Adjacent Mountain in West Point Property

Along the Wide Trail Area of the Long Path, Prior to Ascending Howell Mnt.

Atop Howell Mountain

Late Season Foliage Atop Howell Mountain

View From Howell Mountain Facing West

View from Howell Mountain Facing Southwest

Commsar Members at the Brooks Hollow Dam on Lake Massawippa

Lake Massawippa from the Dam

Lake Massawippa with Late Season Foliage

Ruins Along the East Side of Lake Massawippa

Lake Massawippa, Facing West

Pine Meadow Lake Night Hike

Harriman State Park
Rockland County,
New York

Trails:
Sherwood Path: Unblazed
Pine Meadow Trail: Red Blaze

Total Time: 3:00 hr
Estimated Distance: 5 Miles

This was quite an interesting hike, not by choice. It was about 9:30 at night when I received a call from Chaverim, a help organization, that they needed my help for a search and rescue mission. A family with seven members had gotten lost on a hike and it had already gotten dark, and they needed my help locating them.

The lost individuals had provided some details as to his whereabouts, and based on his description, I had determined the location to be at the intersection of the Pine Meadow Trail and The Conklin's Crossing Trail. There was no way to ascertain that for certain, since communication with the people were lost when the one cell phone they had its battery die.

I had already taken a solid hike in the morning, so this was my second hike of the day. The Chaverim members picked me up, and I suggested we park at the end of Wilder Road by Route 202. This was an out of the way parking space, as We wanted to stay as inconspicuous as possible so that we would not be detected and stopped by the Police, who would have blown this into a huge deal.

Our group headed south down Route 202 for a little bit, then bushwacked into the Wood and crossed the Mahwah River to get to the Sherwood Path. It was pitch black, with no moon at all. We all had flashlights and headlamps, and this guided us throughout the way. At one point we took a wrong spur off the Sherwood Path, but then found it again.

While climbing the Sherwood Path up Horse Stable Mountain, we head a bunch of ATV's at the bottom and saw the lights in the distance. Apparently someone had called about us and they were searching for us. We shut off our flashlights and kept quiet until they passed. We continued along the Sherwood Path, which is a pretty good uphill climb, and two Chaverim members couldn't make it any further so they bailed out by the shelter at the Suffern-Bear Mnt Trail intersection.

We continued until the Pine Meadow Trail, and then went south on the Pine Meadow Trail towards the lake. I was hoping and praying that we'd find them there. As we came closer to the lake we started yelling and blowing whistles, and low and behold, we heard a response! We found the missing people! They were grateful to see us, and heartily devoured the food and drink we provided them.

Here is how they got lost: They had started at the Pine Meadow Trailhead at the Horse Stables at 6:00 PM, and planned on heading towards the lake. They didn't realize how long it would take to get to the lake, and when it took them 2 hours and they were at the lake and it got dark, they realized they had a big problem. They didn't have any flashlights and were not very familiar with the route, and they just stayed put until we came to rescue them.

After the exciting moment of meeting up with them, we turned around, designating someone in the front and someone in the back (to make sure everybody was accounted for at all times), and headed back. We picked up our two members at the shelter and continued down along the steep trail, and then went back to the cars. This was a real muggy night and I came home soaking wet through and through. I took a good shower, and went straight to bed.

As it was a night hike and pitch black, there are no pictures. Although I regret not taking pictures with the family with flash right after we met up with them :)

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Map of the Route