South Mountain

South Mountain County Park,
Mt. Ivy,
Rockland County,
New York

Hiking Trails:
Long Path: Green blaze

Total Time: 1:45 hours
Estimated Distance: 4.5 miles
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Points Of Interest: Good and mostly easy walk along ridge

Google Maps of Parking:

View 2012 Hiking in a larger map

This hike starts near the very end of the Palisades Sill, as it dips into the group and goes underground. The Palisades is a narrow diabase ridge along the western side of the Hudson River, and ridge bends west at Haverstraw going to Mt. Ivy where it abruptly ends. I parked in the small parking area off Route 45, right near the Palisades Parkway intersection, and took the Long Path up. Shortly after the small climb, a nice view north opens up above the sheer cliff of the quarry wall below.

I continued east along the Long Path, over the South Mountain summit, and then hit the next view which faces south in about a mile. Continued along the Long Path all the way to South Central Highway, which is a road that climbs the mountain as a busy and windy road. From here turned around and took the unmarked woods road, which runs parallel to the Long Path, all the way to the communications tower, and then back to the Long Path and the same way I came.

Map of the Route

Sheer Cliff Wall on the Quarry.
This is near the beginning of the hike.

View Above the Quarry Wall.
Facing North/Northeast Towards West Mountain and The Timp

View above the Quarry Wall facing Garnerville
and Cheescoate Mountain in the Distance. Facing North.

Another View Above the Quarry Wall.
Facing West Towards the Palisades and
File Factory Hollow in Harriman.

Another View of the Above, More Zoomed.

View Past the Summit, Facing South.

Another View, Facing Southeast.

Another View Facing South.

Sign at the Trailhead of Central Highway.

Shawangunk Mountains at Ellenville

Ulster County, NY
Total Time: 2:30 min
Estimated Distance: 3.5 Miles

Hiking Partner:
Eli Shulman


I was staying in the Catskills area when I took this hike. Our plan was to go through the old Ellenville Quarry and then head to the lower Ice Caves (Ellenville Ice Caves). Unlike the other Ice Caves near Sam's Point, the Ellenville Ice Caves are by permit only and lack and official trail.

We had parked at Berme Road Park in Ellenville, and first started exploring the old quarry. We found a few good quartz crystal points and some small pieces of Pyrite. We had climbed to the top of the quarry and bushwacked around to find many small exploratory pits which yielded some more small quartz crystal points. We had then headed back down, and looked for the road path listed on the NY/NJ Trail Conference map of the Gunks that goes behind the Route 52 to the mouth of the North Gully. Now the map is very incorrect here and this road doesnt exist, and when we tried bushwacking were barked at by some nasty sounding hounds, so we bushwacked up the steep hill until we encountered another path not on the map.

We first took this path north, which veered off onto private property, so then we turned around and headed south towards the North Gulley, where this path ended. North Gully starts with a beautiful waterfall with a nice size drop, and there is a path going up the first part of it. We took this path up past the top of the waterfall and continued along past some very interesting potholes, and then the path slowly got more and more overgrown until it has just simply disappeared, at which point we just turned around, and took a side route off to another unmarked path which took us back near the top of the mines near Ellenville. At this point it was already getting late and we gave up on the Ice Caves for another day. Continued back on this path eventually hitting the Smiley Carriageway, and then took this back to the car.

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The Confusing Map of the Route

Vug and Vein in the Quarry

Quarry Wall which we climbed in the center

Another Quarry Wall

North Gully Falls from the side.
Its hard to see from this angle, also water level was
very low due to lack of rain over the summer.

A really cool pothole in the North Gully

The gully stream running through the pothole

Water flowing through the solid rock bed in North Gully.
Looking straight down.

West Mountain - AT Approach

Hudson Highlands
Orange County, New York

Hike up West Mountain on the Appalachian Trail on a nice, but cold, winter day. Started on hiker's trailhead off 7 Lakes Drive near Perkins Drive, and went west on 1777 W Trail to the Appalachian Trail. Took the Appalachian up West Mountain, to the junction of the Timp Torne trail, with some awesome views along the steep ridge. Then took Timp Torne trail north down the mountain, and towards the bottom bushwacked towards a strange quarry. I have seen this "quarry" from afar previously, but didn't know exactly know what it is so I decided to explore. After visual following towards the quarry, I climbed up a steep, almost perpendicular cliff of dumped rock tailings at the quarry edge. I explored the area and still have no idea what this area is. There are huge, freshly crushed boulders in middle of nowhere, and the area is quite large. I snooped around and found a few rough Chondrodite crystals. Then headed on the service road that leads to the quarry back to the trailhead.

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The Appalachian Trail before the ascent

At first lookout on West Mnt. looking north towards Military Lands

On top of West Mountain looking east.

Dunderberg Mountain, Hudson River, and Peekskill

Looking Northeast at Anthony's Nose

Looking north towards the great Bear Mountain

Fresh Tailings at "The Quarry"