Rockland County,
New York
Hiking Trails:
Pine Meadow trail: Red blaze
Stony Brook Trail: Yellow blaze
Kakiat Trail: White blaze
7 Hills Trail: Black blaze
Hillburn-Torne-Sebago (HTS) Trail: Orange blaze
Total Time: 2:00 hours
Estimated Distance: 3.8 miles
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Level of Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Points Of Interest: Hike through brook, good climb, excellent view, amazing blueberries
Google Maps of Parking:
View 2012 Hiking in a larger map
North Hill is a high point with a great view in the southern portion of Harriman. The hike starts at the Reeves Meadow trailhead on 7 Lakes Drive near Sloatsburg. There are many different trails branching off this area, and the main trail, the Pine Meadow Trail, is usually very busy and is the most visited trail in Harriman State Park. I hiked on this trail along the side of the Pine Meadow Brook on the Pine Meadow Trail, and then along the Stony Brook Trail and Kakiat Trails along the side of the brook, and then veered right at the 7 Hills Trail junction to climb up the mountain. This part is a steady climb up. Near the top there are lots of blueberry bushes, and being mid-June there were lots of blueberries to pick. There was one larger blueberry tree that I found that had a tremendous yield of blueberries, and within about ten minutes I was able to fill a large Gatorade bottle with big juicy blueberries.
At the top is an amazing view to the west and to the north. The view west is very expansive. From this point I tool the HTS Trail down back to the Pine Meadow Trail, and continued along the Pine Meadow Trail back to the trailhead.
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| Map of the Route |
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| Me at the Very Prolific Blueberry Bush, with a Gatorade Bottle Full of Berries |
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| View Atop North Hill. Facing Northwest |
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| View from North Hill Viewpoint. Facing West. |
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| The Same View as Above Zoomed In |
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| View of Halfway Mountain from the North Hill Viewpoint. Facing North. |
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| Shrubs Atop the Mountain. Facing North. |
Thank you so very much for your post about the blueberries :) I am super excited to visit this year to find some. Do you have a facebook page Heshy? I'd love to talk more about where exactly to find them?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I have a favorite berry place in Harriman but sometimes you just keep these things to yourself. But mine is near Lake Welch, at the end near the road to St. John's in the Woods. I know it's been a year since this post but, boy! The blueberries and the huckleberries are having a "mast" year! They are everywhere. I think there's been plenty of rain.
ReplyDeleteI found an old article in the New York Times about the best places to find huckleberries. I'm thinking of trying a few of these places in the next week or two, starting with High Point, in the Catskills (I think Sam's Point was also historically good berry picking).
I posted about huckleberries on my own site (http://www.myharriman.com/wild-new-york-huckleberries/) but this is yet another location to try! Filling a large gatorade bottle in ten minutes is a pretty good rate. :0)
I have several other blueberry places in Harriman, and I find new ones every year. There is another great grove right nearby this hike on the 7 Hills Trail on Diamond Mountain right above the scramble. I enjoyed your article about huckleberries. Most people don't know the difference between huckleberries and blueberries, but they both grow in the park and are both very tasty. The blueberry/huckleberry season just started and will (beginning of June) and will last for the next several weeks through August, so enjoy them now while they are there! And yes, this year's excessive rains have produced a bumper crop!
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