I don't know what the usual MLK group is doing this weekend. Kathy and I are putting our packs together for our very own MLK, 2 night trip to Harriman State Park. We don't have a plan for which trails or places to camp we'll use, that'll be decided on the fly.

The forecast is for night time temps in the low 30s and low 40s as a daytime high. Tomorrow, Saturday, is forecast to rain but Sunday and Monday should be precipitation free.

No wonder I didn't know, I don't do Facebook. We'll be leaving for Harriman soon.

Thanks !

Greetings from Stone Memorial shelter area in Harriman State Park. All is going good and we're enjoying ourselves. A trip report will follow when we're at home.

Kathy and I have been working on the Long Path between New York city and Harriman state park in day hikes.
So on Saturday we drove north and at about 12:30 parked the car on the side of a road right where the Long Path goes into Harriman. From there we hiked south, away from the park, until we got to the point where we had left off last weekend. We took a quick snack break and then hiked back to the car. There we donned our packs and hiked the Long Path into the park. We followed it to the Big Hill shelter area and set up our tent out back of the shelter just as it was getting dark. There were any number of other people in the area and a large group of young folks partying in the shelter. We were far enough away that their music and noise weren't a problem. From the edge of the hill the shelter is built on we got a great view of New York city all lit up at night. The next day we leisurely got up, and got ready to hike as this trip was about relaxing and getting away from the daily routine and grind, not making miles. Once we started walking we took a series of trail that got us to the Stone Memorial shelter area. All of the streams were running well and ponds and lakes had plenty of water. We should have taken a longer route as we arrived about 3 in the afternoon. Once camp was set up we went for a walk. We had a good chat with another guy who was setting up near the shelter and then went back to our tent. With nothing else to do we cooked up and ate dinner at around 4PM. We sat around until almost 6 and then climbed into the tent. That sure made for a long night but hey, at least now we were well rested. We did get a little snow over night, but not much. On Monday we broke camp and headed back toward our car on the Suffern Bear Mountain trail. It's a trail with a lot of ups and downs that goes over very rocky terrain. About half way through Monday our dog, a 12 year old Shiloh Shepherd was having trouble making it up the bigger rocks so we had to help her. Once we got to the 3rd Reservoir we switched to a woods road that eventually took us back to where we parked the car. For about 45 minutes on Monday we did have a heavy snow shower with howling winds blowing the snow horizontally. I believe the night time lows were around 30 and day time highs around 40. All in all we had a good trip and came home well rested and relaxed. Our dog, Tora, is still recovering and taking it easier than normal.

We can now say that we've been on the Long Path between New York city and Harriman State Park. That was a goal of mine as that trail would be the initial leg if I ever get to hike to our son's house in Ohio. There's no camping allowed so either other plans would have to be made or I'd have to do some actual stealth camping. Who knows.

Definitely more crowded than in years past. Of course that might be because the weather was much more mild than in years past.

In 2022 MLK was postponed to Ground Hog Day weekend. The proposed itinerary was to spend the first night at Silver Hill Campsite, in Connecticut, on the AT, and then hike north to the next shelter the next day. It turns out that my wife Kathy and I were the only ones to show up at Silver Hill. It was a nice day to hike in and I had to be careful not to work up a sweet. The ground was frozen and we bent most of our tent stakes hammering them into the ground with a rock. The night had a clear sky just filled with stars and it went down to +11 degrees. I was toasty in my Western MountIneering Puma, rated at -25, and Kathy did your trick of using one bag inside another. The next day, after a hot breakfast, we packed up and hiked back to our car. As we were getting ready to leave, Hiker Boy and Laz pulled in. I believe they hiked to the shelter I mentioned earlier. We didn't join them as we had already changed into clean clothes. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it