West Mountain Loop, Harriman

November 11, 2012

Distance: 5.1 miles
Time: 3 hours 46 minutes
Map: Harriman - Bear Mountain Trails (north map)
Parking: Parking lot off of Seven Lakes Drive. Room for around 10 cars.
Restrooms: none
Post hike dinner: Sue & Hai, Yorktown Heights
Directions: West Mountain Loop from Seven Lakes Drive

Notes:
This hike has no street crossings, though near the end it does parallel Seven Lakes Drive. This hike has a lot of views - it goes along a ridgeline. We saw a lot of backpackers today. A portion of the hike goes steeply downhill, and might be difficult if it was wet/snowy/icy. It was difficult for us due to the thick layer of leaves. The hike crosses a stream a couple of times.

Year to date miles: 353.8

A sign on the 1777 trail in the parking lot (this is not the correct direction to go on the trail).

Instead, start up the hill on the opposite side of the parking lot.

View of Bear Mountain

On West Mountain. View of the Hudson River & Iona Island.

Intersection of the AT and the Timp Torne trail.

The hike continues along a ridgeline with many views.

60 degrees today and the dogs were hot.

We stopped for a snack at the West Mountain shelter.

This photo would have turned out better without leashes - but we had a large group in front of us at the time
so we leashed them for a while.

This is where the descent starts getting hard. There were lots of leaves, which made it more challenging, as you didn't know what was under your step.

Blow downs

Yeah! A stream at the bottom!

Walking on a wide woods road. No more rocks.

An interesting area of blow downs. Pine trees looked like they were hacked in half on this part of the trail.