Harriman State Park had been on my list to check out for quite some time. As someone who has primarily hiked the Hudson Highlands via Metro North on the east side of the Hudson, I was looking to try something new. After doing a bit of research, I found a way to get to Harriman State Park using NJ Transit.
I centered in on the “Tuxedo” station via the Port Jervis line as this stop is only about 1.5 hours away from New York Penn Station. The route includes a brief transfer in Secaucus but is still a reasonable commute for a day hike.
One of the best parts about this hike is that the trailhead is within a 15-minute walk of the station. There’s even a paved road with a shoulder/sidewalk to make it pedestrian friendly. It is a bit annoying that the expressway is so close to the trailhead but East Village Road cuts directly under it.
The trail itself is the “Ramapo Dunderberg and Triangle Trail Loop” as found on AllTrails. To make it easy to get to the trailhead you can also look for the “Triangle Trail” as seen on Apple Maps.
The trail starts with an immediate climb up a mixture of rocks and inclined terrain. I always enjoy trails that start with some incline as I feel this is a good warmup and makes it easier to handle while your energy is the highest.
To stay consistent with my incline approach, I hiked the trail clockwise. By looking at the map, this looked to be the best way to hit the peaks early and then enjoy the lakes and low terrain on the back half of the loop.
Taking a left turn, I made my way towards Black Ash and Parker Cabin mountains. Unfortunately, with the expressway being close to the trail you will have to deal with some car noise for about the first hour of the experience.
However, once you make your way further in this trail gets very peaceful. I did hike this during a weekday so that could have contributed to lower traffic, but I still imagine this as being one of the less frequented hikes in the NYC area.
The trail up to the peaks had multiple stream crossings so I’d be sure to wear proper footwear with good grip for slippery rocks. These will also come in handy as you will have to scramble up some boulders to get to the top.
Honestly climbing up the rocks was one of my favorite parts of the entire hike. There were lots of interesting formations and these sections were maintained well enough to make it not too challenging to get up.
The view from the top was great and I felt very thankful to have hiked this after the trees had bloomed. I think the color really adds well to the hills and surrounding mountains that the trail overlooks.
After descending the peaks, the trail continues towards two lakes. I will say that this part of the trail gets a little creepy. I went a couple hours without seeing a single other person on the trail and saw warnings for Black Bears. I did also notice some scat that looked to be possibly bear but am far from an expert and don’t want to count out it being from someone’s dog.
This was absolutely the most “wilderness” type of vibe that I had experienced on a NYC hiking trail and would recommend this for those that are looking for something authentic. The lakes themselves were very scenic and easy to get to with the trail becoming flatter.
After completing these sections, all that is left is about the last third of the trail. This part confirmed my decision to hike the trail clockwise as there really isn’t too much to see on this part. There were some slight inclines and a final overlook towards the end of the trail, but I’d say the Black Ash and Parker Cabin sceneries were more impressive.
Continuing the path will lead you right back to where the trail forked at the start of the day. I’d say the descent is reasonable to get back to the trailhead and isn’t too rough after hiking about 8 miles.
Who I’d recommend this hike to
- Those that want a transit accessible trail with less foot traffic than others such as Bear Mountain or Bull Hill
- Those that enjoy rock formations and scrambling
- Those that want a moderately difficult day hike with a decent amount of length
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