Black Rock Mountain

Harriman State Park
Orange County,
New York

Trails:
Ramapo-Dunderberg (R-D) Trail: Red blaze
Dunning Trail: Yellow blaze
Hogencamp Road (unmarked)

Total Time: 2:30 min
Estimated Distance: 3.2 Miles

Hiking Partners:
Yehuda Koblick
Sruli Rosenberg

Black Rock Mountain is one of my favorite areas in Harriman. The terrain is much different than the rest of the area with the sparse shrubbery and large rocks on the upper areas. This area is especially beautiful in the snow. We had just gotten a fresh new snowfall of several inches a day earlier, and we were the first to make the snow trail up the mountain. The parking area had not yet been plowed so I backed up the car and jammed it in the side snowbank off the road, which is a mistake I would later regret. This was a bone-chilling day with a brutal wind, especially on the upper exposed summits where the wind blew strong and made the fresh snow whip up and fly around.

We started on the trailhead on County Route 106 right after the Little Long Pond. We went up the R-D Trail to the Black Rock viewpoint, took some excellent pictures, and continued along the R-D Trail all the way to the shelter by the bald rocks. At the shelter we met a large group of Japanese having a cookout. We continued from there on the Dunning Trail, heading east, and at the viewpoint facing south towards the Little Long Pond we decided to bushwack instead of going around the trail. This was a big mistake since the bottom part of the viewpoint is a steep ledge which is very difficult to navigate, and I had slipped on my way going down on a patch of ice under the snow and started rolling down out of control. Thank God I only injured my knee and nothing more. Was very dazed after the fall but was able continue ahead. Went ahead from that point onto the old Hogencamp Road Trail back to Route 210, and then walked along the side of the road at that point back to the car. Because the car was entirely wedged into the deep snow, it was totally stuck in there despite the 4 wheel drive. We all tried digging out and shaking the car and finally succeeded after half-hour in extracting the car.

Map of the Route

Summit of Black Rock Mountain.
Facing southwest.

Summit of Black Rock Mountain.
Facing West.

Me and Yehuda at the Black Rock summit.
Facing east.

Me and Yehuda at the Black Rock summit.
Facing south.

Me at the summit of Black Rock.
Facing south with Tom Jones Mnt in the background.

Sruli "warming up" at Black Rock summit.

Continuing Along the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail.
Facing West.

Yehuda and Sruli walking along the R-D Trail.

Japanese Cookout in the Shelter!

Viewpoint off the Dunning Trail.
Facing south towards the Frozen Little Long Pond.