It looks like Kathy and I will be doing an overnighter next weekend, Sunday Jan.1st into the 2nd.
We'll be going to Harriman State Park since it's not too far away, but won't arrive until late in the afternoon, so we'll pick a shelter area that's not too far from parking. Right now I'm thinking Fingerboard Shelter. We'll spend Monday hiking the trails and then head for home. If we can find a restaurant open in Sloatsburg we'll probably stop for diner.

Anybody want to join us? The long range weather forecast shows rain for Sunday but I think it's too far out to know for sure. The temperatures show to be in the 40s and 50s. We'll make a final decision once we get closer to the weekend.

Well the forecast has improved for our overnighter and we shouldn't have to deal with any rain. The only down side is it will be too warm for my winter sleeping bag.

we did our first overnighter of 2023 this past weekend. We arrived at Harriman State Park a bit before 3PM, changed our shoes , and put on our backpacks. From the parking lot at Tiorati Circle we hiked up hill on the blue blazed trail. Then we hiked SOBO on the AT the 1.1 miles to Fingerboard shelter. Upon arrival at the shelter we were surprised to see that we were the only ones there as there were many cars in the parking lot and we passed a lot of day hikers on our way to the shelter.

Even though the shelter was empty, we decided to use our tent and set up camp a bit north of the shelter. As it started to get dark we carried what we'd need to make dinner over to the shelter. After having a hot meal and a bit of chit chat Kathy and I stood outside the shelter admiring the clear night sky and the 3/4 and bright moon. Also the clear, dark sky was a good back drop for the many visible stars, satellites, and airplanes. Then we hung our food from the bear cables and then headed for our tent. It was dark by now so we crawled into our tent, changed clothes, and climbed into our sleeping bags way to early.......more to come later.

We woke up early on Monday but were in no rush to get going. We retrieved our things from the bear cables, set up in the shelter, and boiled water to make hot oatmeal and hot chocolate. We were in no rush and had a leisurely meal. We broke camp and were ready to hike by 10AM. During breakfast we had studied our map of this part of the park and decided on a 8.5 mile loop that would finish at our car and included a mountain top lunch break with a view. Harriman state park has many old iron ore mines, and most all of them are filled with water. But during our walk we'd visit a mine that was cut up hill into a hillside so there was no flooding or water. It was kind of like walking into a cave. We walked on using a combination of different trails including NY's Long Path and the AT. We arrived back at our car as darkness was setting in and changed into clean clothes. Then it was off to a restaurant in nearby Sloatsburg to have dinner before driving home.

If you'd like to see the mine we explored on our recent hike go to YouTube and do a search for PINE SWAMP MINE. There are a number of videos that show it off.

This coming weekend Kathy and I will be doing another overnighter. We won't be able to get away until Sunday and will stay out for Monday too. We don't know where exactly yet but I'm pretty sure it'll be in either NY or NJ.