New York
Hiking Trails:
Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail: Yellow blaze
Total Time: 1:30
Estimated Distance: 2.9 miles
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Points Of Interest: Irish Potato Rock Formation, Pound Swamp
Pros: Scenic, quiet hike, features one of the few natural and remote ponds in the park
Cons: Pound Swamp Mountain has no view at the summit
Hiking Partner:
Yehuda Koblick
Google Map of Parking:
View 2013 Hiking Locations in a larger map
This was a quick hike which we did during the week. We parked at the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trailhead on County Route 106, right after the Harriman State Park sign, and took the trail up the Irish Potato. We continued along the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail down Irish Mountain and then up again to Pound Swamp Mountain. There is no view here at the summit - its full of trees and shrubbery all around. We turned around and took a detour to the Pound Swamp, and then cut back to the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail and took the same route back.
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| Map of the Route. Harriman-Bear Mountain Trails Southern Map |
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| Large Toad at the Beginning of the Hike |
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| Yehuda at the Irish Potato, a large Rock Sitting Atop Irish Mountain |
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| Yehuda near the Summit of Pound Swamp Mountain |
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| Looking Down from Near the Summit of Pound Swamp Mountain. Not Much of a View Here! |
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| Upper Pound Swamp. A beautiful, serene, and natural pond. |
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| Upper Pound Swamp |
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| Beaver Chomps on the Tree on the Shore of Upper Pound Swamp |
Was there yesterday. Took different path to Pound Swamp then explored the ruins of Rose Redard chalet estate. The lake needs to be cleaned up. The usual non consideration for anything and anybody folks visited here recently and left behind mucho garbage. So lazy...so easy to just take out what you bring in. My hike was a very quiet relaxing hike. Nothing hard about it at all. I was dropped off on woods road off of Lake Welch and put car at Tower road gate parking. It was late so not enough time to do the loop.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised on just how big the ruins were. I have been to ORAK many times and always though this Redard ruin was just a tiny place. Both of theses estates had amazing views of the Hudson River...both of these place now have lots of trees blocking views but if you look around you can see them. ORAK demolished in 1973...I get it vandals were creating havoc there but the Redard mansion was only vacant a few months in 1961. A shame these places couldn't somehow be added to park as buildings also. Alas...it happened and Harriman SP is a beautiful place. Go see the arch in ORAK soon...it is crumpling...ditto the guard house.