Loop Trail Around Island Pond

Loop Trail Around Island Pond

On the first Saturday in a long time on which I wasn’t assigned a 4:00 p.m. vigil Mass (Aug. 9), I went hiking in Harriman State Park (having thought about 2 other possibilities but finally choosing something relatively “tame”).

I left New Rochelle at 6:45 a.m. and parked at the Elk Pen in Arden, off Rte 17 just before 8:00.  There were 4 other cars there already.  The Appalachian Trail passes thru there, and I parked almost in front of the path that starts thru a meadow toward Green Pond Mt.  In a few minutes I’d made that .25-mile crossing 

and came to the trailhead of the Arden-Surebridge Trail.  I followed that south .35 mile to the trailhead of the Stahahe Brook Trail.  That no longer crosses the brook, the old bridge having washed out. 

I’d been on this trail once before, but only as far as the bridge; the rest was new to me.  After just .75 mile, that trail ends when it comes to the Nurian Trail.

Stahahe Brook-Nurian trail junction

This part of the Nurian Trail also was new to me.  It climbed Green Pond Mt. with several switchbacks and came into the Valley of Boulders (at 9:15 a.m.), which follows a brook running southwest out of Island Pond. 

It was dried up, as it was the last time I descended into the valley looking for water (while camped above Green Pond).  The trail climbs up steeply for .65 mile 

and meets the Dunning Trail above Green Pond.  I stopped for a breather and a snack at 9:49.

I hopped onto the Dunning Trail at 10:05, eastward for .95 mile, descending, then ascending

till it reached the White Bar Trail (10:42 a.m.).  The two trails run together for .25 mile along a ridge.  Where the Dunning breaks off to the east and the White Bar continues north, at 10:55 I met the first people I’d seen all day--a family of 4, also hiking from the Elk Pen but clockwise.

The White Bar ran level for a while, then had ups and downs.  I was getting hungry, and when I found a spot on the trail where I could sit somewhat comfortably, I stopped for lunch, Midday Prayer, and a bit of reading while lunch (sandwich, dried apricots, trail mix, fruit juice) settled.  Almost all of the hike had been in the woods, well shaded, to this point, and as I sat the mosquitoes came around to pester me.  (As long as I was moving, they weren’t a problem.)

I resumed my hike at 11:52, and in 13 minutes came to the end of the White Bar Trail where it comes to the Arden-Surebridge and the Long Path (together very briefly here).  I’d been on the White Bar .9 mile since the Dunning broke off.  15 minutes going west (.25 mile) on the ASB brought me to its junction with the AT just south of the Lemon Squeezer, a narrow cut thru massive rocks.

AT cuts left from ASB thru the gap

Lemon Squeezer

I took a peek and a photo but didn’t squeeze thru.  I’d been there 24 years ago and don’t remember whether I did go thru it then or found a way around it.

I picked up the AT westward there (while the ASB turned south).  In about 10 minutes (.15 mile) Island Pond came into view (12:30) to the left and down.  I followed several footpaths toward the pond 

and saw various spots where many people were lunching, sunning, fishing, or swimming; I couldn’t tell (didn’t try) whether any of them were camping, but there were some obviously fine spots to camp and several fire rings. 

In the center, people fishing

At the boat ramp where Island Pond Road (about .35 mile from the first view) comes down from Arden Valley Rd., I met more than a dozen people in several groups, and there I took a refreshing dip (and one gent took my photo).

I was on my way west again on the AT at 1:45.  I met a good many folks hiking down Green Pond Mt. (or up, depending on which side of the peak).  One couple told me they were planning to camp at the pond.  Another chap, just starting his way up the mountain about 2:50, was an AT thru hiker who told me he’d started in Georgia.  I didn’t try to hold him up with conversation; he looked a bit worn out and had a 4-mile trek ahead of him to the Fingerboard shelter.

Thank you, NY-NJ Trail Conference, for
installing steps on parts of Green Pond Mt.

I hadn’t checked altitude anywhere all day, but when I reached the peak, it was 1,189 feet, compared to the pond’s 970 feet (per the map) and 573 feet at the Elk Pen lot.  From the boat ramp, it’s about 1.1 mile back to the lot, with that 200-foot gain in elevation and then 616-feet descent.  I was back to the lot at 3:00 p.m.  It was packed with vehicles.

Parking lot jammed with cars,
viewed from halfway across the meadow

The total hike was 7 miles, and it took 7 hours including an hour at the pond and the other breaks, which was about what I’d figured (basically, a mile an hour).

29 photos in sequence: Photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/bGA8Gq54IVb