Stevens & Goshen Mountains

Stevens & Goshen Mountains, Harriman State Park (11/29/2010)

This is a lollipop hike of my own invention which covers a Harriman area we have never previously hiked, Stevens and Goshen Mountains, using mostly the AT and the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail. We parked at the Lake Tiorati parking lot on Arden Valley Road (just west of the Tiorati Circle), in the parking spot right next to the trailhead of the blue-blazed Lake Tiorati trail. This we took to its intersection with the AT (which also happens to co-align with the R-D at this point). We made a right and headed north, continuing on the AT to Stevens Mountain (with a very nice viewpoint), eventually descending to cross over 7 Lakes Drive before making a right onto the R-D to climb Goshen Mountain. At the top we were able to see Arden House in the distance. The top of Goshen is a beautiful peaceful place with limited seasonal views, loads of blueberry bushes and some interesting glacial errata. It's quite unlike any other place in Harriman. We continued on the R-D heading west, descending the mountain, and crossing over 7 Lakes Drive, before returning to the mile-long lollipop stick which we took back to the car where we ate lunch overlooking the northern section of the humongous Lake Tiorati.

Total distance hiked today was 6.6 miles, lots of it climbing, in about 4.5 hours.

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