Timp Torne Trail Maintenance, Harriman State Park, NY

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
5/5/2018

Map: NYNJTC Harriman North
Parking: Anthony Wayne Recreation Area
Directions: n/a

I still felt like I needed to recover from my trip to Pennsylvania. I was seriously worried that I had managed to permanently damage my hip more from that trip. It was not a happy week. I started to feel slight improvement, but managed to jolt it again and was back to square one. If I had not already arranged a meeting this Saturday, I would have stayed home and just rested.

Glen and I have been feeling the need to give back to the trail more. I'm not a member of the AMC, but on their website, I found that they were looking for a trail maintainer for 2 trail sections in Harriman. I've been looking to "adopt" a section of trail, but just didn't know how to choose or find a section. I had really been thinking about doing a section in the Catskills, but in reality, maintaining a section that is closer to home is much easier. Glen checked out the 2 trail sections, and immediately chose the Timp Torne trail because it has a lot of good views. It's only around a 2 mile section, but its a good one. Glen is super excited about our opportunity. It's actually not a huge commitment. It requires 1 day in the spring, and 1 day in the fall.

We drove to the park and the parking lot was packed. It turns out this weekend is The North Face trail running race. I wondered if I'd see the personal trainer I used to train with, as she trains people who do ultras. We easily found Bill Hladky, the volunteer who was going to show us the ropes. We did a point to point hike, parking our cars in two different parking lots. We left Trek at home. I figured it would be too difficult, especially in Harriman, to work on the trail and watch him at the same time.

We learned how to blaze, which we had never done before. And we trimmed brush and clipped tree branches, which we have done before. The trail was in really good shape already. We spent around 5 hours on our outing. We won't go out again until the fall unless there is a major storm. I sort of want to sign up for a second trail - one that needs more work. After our trip, Glen went out and got more trail maintenance gear, such as a collapsible saw.

One bonus - part of our section actually overlaps with the AT. So we are actually helping to maintain part of the NY AT. That is pretty awesome!