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My favorite place: my big back yard (by tomder55)
Harriman State Park was established in New York State in 1910. It's 46,613 acres of woods, trails, lakes, and mountains and is the second largest park in the State. It is my big back yard. I have spent many hours on the trails with my wife, and my dogs.
One of my favorite trails is the Seven Hills Trail that climbs the Ramapo Torne Mountain. We often leave in the morning after packing a picnic lunch, and climb to the summit. On a clear day the silhouette of the New York City skyline is visible at a distance.
Another one of our favorite hikes is to scramble up “Almost Perpendicular.” It is a bit of a scramble, and workout to get to the top. But we are rewarded with a wonderful panoramic view of the area from the summit.
From there we proceed on the trial to Claudius Smith's den. Claudius Smith was a ruffian horse thief during the Revolutionary War. He used the caves in the area to hide out. Eventually he was captured and hanged for his crimes.
There are many historical narratives related to the Revolution in this area where I live. My town is one of the few that can really make the boast, “Washington slept here.”
New York State was of strategic importance to both the Colonials and the British. If the British could control the Hudson river from Albany to New York City, they could effective split the colonies in two.
Washington ordered that a series of heavy chains be forged to stretch across the Hudson to prevent the British fleet from using the river.
To travel by land from Albany to New York City meant that the British needed to control the Ramapo Pass, through the Ramapo Mountains (one of the world's oldest mountain ranges).The Torne Mountain, along with its view of the New York skyline, also overlooks the pass, and many other points between the pass and the Hudson River.
Washington climbed the Torne with a telescope in hand to watch the movement of British ships as far South and East as Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Children who climb the Torne today are told that Washington lost his watch on the mountain, so they should look for it on the trail. The legend is that it is still ticking. There was never a time throughout the war, that Colonial troops were not stationed in our town.
For a history buff and a hiker like me, there couldn't be a better place to live. That all of this is but a short walk from my home makes it even better!
