Harriman Hiker: Harriman State Park and Beyond: Howell Mountain

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Long Mounain and Howell Mountain with CommSAR

Harriman State Park
Orange Co.,
New York

Hiking Trails:
Long Path: Green blaze

Total Time: 2:30 Hours
Estimated Distance: 3.8 Miles
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Level of Recommendation: Recommended

Points of Interest: Good Views and Scenic Lake

CommSAR, a local search and rescue organization, arranged a special training hike for members in the northern stretches of Harriman. I was asked to lead a group of about 10 people and give some training for hiking in the area. We parked at the Long Mountain parking area, and hiked up the Long Path the Long Mountain. Part of the ascent here has recently been rerouted and its not as steep and rocky as it was previously as the trail snakes around a bit longer to get to the top.

At the top of Long Mountain there is an excellent view, facing Turkey Hill Lake below, Bear Mountain to the east, and West Point highlands to the north. We took some pictures at the top and proceeded the descent. We then went along the trail to the Howell Mountain ascent, which is quite steep. Before the descent, there is a view here where were treated to an outstanding sunset!

We then headed down the trail, and near the brook in Brooks Hollow proceeded to bushwack towards Lake Massawippa. (Part of the training included bushwacking and using the GPS to get to the location.) All groups met up at the dam, and then we proceeded to bushwack up the steep hill up Brooks Hollow to the Long Path. We took the Long Path until 293, where we met up with other CommSAR members and got a ride back.

Map of the Route.
Harriman Northern Map

Bear Mountain from Long Mountain Summit View

Summit of Long Mountain

Turkey Hill Lake from Long Mountain

Hiking Members on top of Long Members

Me at Long Mountain, Facing Bear Mountain

View from Long Mountain, Facing East

View from Long Mountain, Facing North Towards West Point

Sunset From Howell Mountain

Zoomed Out to Sunset

Sunset View Across the Horizon on Howell Mountain

The Sun Dipping Over the Horizon

Me at Howell Mountain Sunset

Sunset over Lake Massawippa

Me at Lake Massawippa

Lake Massawippa from Dam

Beautiful Colors over Lake Massawippa

Group at the Dam Area

Dusk at Lake Massawippa

Sign along Route 293

Sunday, November 9, 2014

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.