Diamond Mountain/Stony Brook Loop, Harriman State Park

March 8, 2015

Distance: 6.7 miles
Time: 3 hours 55 minutes
Elevation gain: 1,605 feet

Year to date miles: 38.7

Map: Harriman - Bear Mountain Trails (south map)
Parking: Reeves Meadow Visitor Center
Restrooms: at visitor center, when open

Directions: Diamond Mountain/Stony Brook Loop

Notes:
The first half of this hike was super crowded. With temperatures in the 40's, everyone must have been eager to go out hiking. We had a short blast of snow at the start of the hike, but the skies cleared up and the sun came out. The first half of this hike was easy, with well packed wide trails - we used microspikes. The climb up Diamond Mountain was a little tough, because the snow was starting to get soft, and we were having problems with traction. Nice view at the top of Diamond Mountain. So nice to have sunny skies. At the top of Diamond Mountain we started postholing, so we switched to snowshoes. When we hit the Tuxedo Mount Ivy trail, their were only someone's postholes - so we pretty much had to break trail. Luckily we were mostly hiking downhill or on level ground at this point, so it wasn't too exhausting. The nice part was that the crowds of people disappeared during the second half of the hike. We were happy to see that the bridge on the Hillburn-Torne-Sebago trail has been replaced. Thanks NYNJTC volunteers!