No snow fell during the past week, and the temperatures this morning were well below freezing making the trail conditions perfect for a Microspike hike. Today
we hiked completely around Lake Tiorati from the parking area west of the Tiorati circle. The lot was nearly filled when we arrived at 8:30 AM due to the many
ice fisherman on the lake. There was a green flag indicating ice of at least 6".
We circled the lake counter-clockwise. We first took the Lake Tiorati trail west to the AT/Ramapo-Dunderberg. We made a left on the AT taking that south, hiking along the beautiful ridge of Fingerboard Mountain with partial views both east (to the lake) and west. We took the AT to the Hurst trail (at the Fingerboard shelter) and at the southern end of Hurst we continued on an unmarked woods road running parallel to 7 Lakes Drive. This segment was completely unhiked since the first snows but we were able to stay on top of the couple of feet of snow because it was totally frozen. Next we crossed over 7 Lakes Drive and took the entrance road into Camp Thendara. But instead of continuing north into that camp, we headed east along the telephone line cut before finding another camp road nearer the lake. This was one of the more exciting parts of the hike, and would have been totally impossible without Microspikes, because we headed steeply down along the line cut on slippery frozen snow. When we found the camp road (unplowed) we took it NE. As an aside, for fans of Google Maps Street View (like me), you can actually see the street view of this very narrow, one-lane road. Go to maps.google.com, type in "Lake Tiorati, NY" and hit Return. Zoom into the southern tip of the lake and find the road labeled "Harriman State Park". Switch to Street View (by dragging that little orange guy to the road). Google hasn't yet photographed nearly any of the roads in my densely populated town, but for some reason felt compelled to do this road, closed half of the year, and open only to camp residents during the other half! We took this camp road all the way NE to Tiorati Brook Road which was closed to traffic for the season (in fact the part east of the camp road was totally unplowed and unpassable). Removing our Microspikes we walked along the desolate road north back to the circle. Total distance hiked today was about 4 miles in 2.75 hours.
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Trailhead at Tiorati Circle |
Ascending Lake Tiorati trail |
Blazes nearly under snow |
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Curious deer |
End of Lake Tiorati trail [photo by Laura] |
Tank on AT/R-D |
They're multiplying |
They're multiplying too! |
Lovely morning sky |
Lake Tiorati from AT |
Heading south on AT |
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Deep frozen snow |
View west |
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View east from Fingerboard |
View west from Fingerboard |
View south (see Laura?) |
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View east to Lake Tiorati |
Distant view of the Hudson River |
Near Hurst trail head |
AT intersection at Hurst |
Rear of Fingerboard shelter |
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Ceiling of shelter |
View from shelter |
Fingerboard shelter |
Ascending on frozen snow |
Stubborn stream |
Mountain laurel thicket on Hurst |
Hurst trail head at 7 Lakes Drive |
Continuing on woods road |
Friendly bicyclists |
Steep descent to 7 Lakes Drive |
Camp Thendara entrance gate |
Tiny critter tracks |
Igloo at Thendara |
On Camp Thendara road heading east |
In telephone line cut |
Steep icy descent looking east |
[Photo by Laura] |
Crossing outlet stream from Tiorati |
Building at Day Camp in the Park |
View from side of camp building |
Hiking along unplowed camp road |
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Camp buildings |
Remains of bird fight |
Entrance to camp from Tiorati Brook Road |
Tiorati Brook Road closed |
Ice fisherman on Lake Tiorati |
Tiorati Brook Road heading north |
Shrine and pump |
Lake Tiorati from eastern bank |
Ice fishermen |
View of road looking south |
Hungry deer |
Buildings near Tiorati Workshop |
Tired deer |
Completely frozen Lake Tiorati |
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Closed, but plowed, Tiorati Brook Road |
Various ... |
... views ... |
... of ice ... |
... fishing ... |
... on ... |
... Lake Tiorati |
Laura at the circle |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |