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I guess this could be considered the first snow hike of the season! While much of northern NJ hasn't gotten any snow (well, nothing that stuck) apparently Harriman
got snow which did stick! It wasn't alot, but enough to make the climbing of two mountains a bit treacherous. Coming down Howell Mountain was so slippery that I
actually took quite a spill, rolling 3 or 4 times before unceremoniously coming to a stop with bumps and bruises over many parts of my body. My camera apparently enjoyed
the ride, snapping a picture during one of the rolls. It was out of focus and the light wasn't metered properly. But still! :)
We originally planned on climbing Long Mountain and then heading down to Turkey Hill Lake like we did back in 2010. As we did back then, we did take the LP from the parking area to the top of Long Mountain with its spectacular views of Popolopen Torne, Bear Mountain and Turkey Hill Lake. But when we got to the woods road west of and below Long Mountain, we decided to cross the stream and continue west along the Long Path, a stretch we never did before. Wow, were we surprised by the climb up Howell Mountain. It basically goes straight up. On snow-covered leaves, on top of wobbly rocks, it was very interesting. And West Point land is north of the LP the entire stretch here. After getting to the highest point on Howell Mountain, we headed back to the creek and woods road, which we took back to the LP and back to the car. Total distance hiked today was just over 3.5 miles (with quite a bit of climbing), in just over 2.5 hours.
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Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |