Had some free time Saturday so decided to do an overnight in Harriman since:
a. I only live 20 mins away
b. I had never been there
GEAR LIST
I'll start with the gear:
- Hammock: 126"x60" Tableclothfactory Polyester Crinkle Taffeta
- Suspension: Amsteel whoopie slings plus 1" polyyester webbing straps + 2 of the mini wiregate carabiners
- Top Insulation: Sierra Designs 38F Backcountry Down Quilt
- Bottom Insulation: 3/4 length home made synthetic quilt made from Eddie Bauer throw (details here). I also had a 1/4 inch 3/4 length blue foam pad as a backup
- Tarp: Kelty Noah 9ft x 9ft
- Undercover: Frogg Toggs poncho converted into an undercover based on the Ultimate Hang instructions.
- Stove: Skurka style Fancy Feast
- Pot: Aluminum pot from my dad's old boy scout camping kit
- Pack: ULA Ohm 2.0
Total non-consumable weight was probably aroud 18 lbs
WHAT DID/DIDN"T WORK GEAR WISE
Good
- Underquilt was perfect for the temp
- Hammock was greta and better than the next ize up tablecoth which i ut too big and floppy
- Carried in 5 liters of water. It was still hot in the afternoon going in (was moving pretty fast) and all of the streams were basically mud with no flowing water.
Change or next time
- TQ was too warm. I have a Poncho Liner and a converted Eddie Bauer down throw banket n either one would probably have been better
- Should have brought a bugnet. I thought there woudn't be any mosquitoes with high 50s at night but I was wrong. Was tough to vent heat from the TQ given that any exposed skin was getting bitten
- Didn't need the tarp. Rain wasn't forecast but I brought a tarp anyway thinking that it would be a wind block. Wasn't that windy and the under cover would have been enough
WEATHER
Daily highs in the mid to high 70s
Nightly lows in the high 50s
OVERVIEW
- Bring water
- Have a map
- TONS of places to hang
- Not every shelter has views
- There were bugs even at night in the 50s
- Harriman feels HUGE with lots of good stuff to see
DETAILS
So I parked at the Tuxedo train station and used the excellent post on the My Harriman website to figure out how to actually get to the trailhead. One thing I didn't notice until I came back on Sunday is that only the South Lot (which I parked in) has overnight parking. The North Lot does not. Wanted to mention that for both my and other's future reference
Once I found the trail it was pretty easy to follow the blazes for the Mt Ivy - Tuxedo trail. Since I started around 3pm there were a lot of day hikers coming down the mountain and didn't see any backpackers. It was relatively steep for the first mile or so but the reward is that you get a scenic overlook pretty early on followed by abother one at the Claudius Smith Den which is even nicer. Saw lots of family groups taking selfies up there.
As I was walking up to the Den, a lady asked me if I was going to do Yoga? I was confused for a second till I realized I had my blue camping pad up on the outside of my pack. I answered with "That would be pretty intense: chug a beer, hike up a mountain and then do the downward facing dog."
Several trails come together right around the Den which is a little tough because there is a rocky outcropping with some big open glades around it. I wasn't sure where the trail continued so I did a circle around the outcroup until I hit the red (Mt Ivy) trail. As I started walking I came to a trail junction that made it look like the White Cross trail started on the right and the red trail went left so I took the left branch. The trail quickly petered out into brush so I backtracked and ran into a guy with a GIANT St Bernard dog. He pointed out that the three symbols togethers meant the start of the trail and he pointed me to the next blaze and I was off again.
I had read somewhere that's it good to have a paper map of Harriman since there are so many old carriage roads etc that it can be easy to take a wrong turn. This happened to me between the Den and the Dutch Doctor shelter. I didn't realize that the blazes are supposed to be every 100ft and ended up on a logging road and went pretty far out of my way. I ended up hitting the White Bar trail down where it meets Lakes Drive.
Once I figured out where I was I headed north back up towards Dutch Doctor. Lo and behold I ran into the same guy with the St Bernard. He mentioned that he realized I went the wrong way and had shouted out hoping I would hear it. I did hear it but figured it was kids messing aroud. He was the one that pointed out that if you don't see a blaze every 100 ft you are not on the trail and that it's a good trick to look backwards to check as well. Great tip!
Made it to Dutch Doctor not long after and was a little disappointed that it had no view. It's on the back sde of one of the mountain tops plus it's in a bowl. I was going to stay close to the shelter but it seemed like it might get noisy (lots of tents) and there seemed to be a lot of bugs. I ended up bushwacking up one of the nearby hills to a really cool spot all by myself. I could still hear cars and people though so I think I may have been close to a road (probably Lakes drive).
On the way in, I didn't really notice any mosquitoes except for when I stopped for a drink. I did figure it would get bad at sunset but was hoping once it cooled off, the bugs would disappear. Apparently, mosquitoes don't mind the high 50s and for most of the night I heard them buzzing around. In the past, I've been a little cold as I've tried to push my insulation (e.g. using Poncho Liners in the low 50s) so I went the other direction and brought the SD quilt. It worked too well in that I was pretty warm. I tried to cool off a couple times by venting it or sticking an arm or leg out but then I would start getting bit. I was wearing merino wool long johns and I could feel bites through that as well! I would have been better off with either a bugnet, a lighter TQ or both.
I also brought a tarp even though there was no rain because given that Hurricane Hermine was headed north, I thought it might get windy and it would be handy to have a wind block. Turned out to not really be windy at all so that was some extra weight.
Next morning woke up pretty early and the weather was great. Low 60s with a little bit of a breeze. Made breakfast and was on the trail by 7:15. The cool weather held which made it easy to go fast so I made it from Dutch Doctor to Tuxedo train station in about 1 hr 30 minutes (~2.25 miles).
Overall, great trip! I really like Harriman and felt like I got a good idea of what the conditions/terrain is like. I would like to go back and do a multinight with either hitting the scenic views more or maybe trying to do a longer hike.
Submitting as got to the train station so will add more tonight
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Originally Posted by georgecarr
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