Black Rock Mountain-Harriman State Park

For this hike, consult the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Trail Map 118. At long last, my hiking partner, Northeast Hiking, decided to put down the school books and take a hike with me. We parked our vehicle on a roadside turnoff on Route 106, approximately 1/2 mile from Lake Stahahe. After getting our bearings, we headed up the White Bar Trail until in intersects with the Nurian Trail. The Nurian Trail is blazed in white. The trail was blazed by a man named Kerson Nurian. Now, Nurian was an interesting man: he was a brilliant trail blazer, however, he did a great job at irritating both Harriman Park and the NY-NJ Trail Conference by never asking permission to blaze his trails. The trail is beautiful, full of pine trees and hemlock groves. After about 2.00 miles, we turned right onto the Yellow blazed Dunning Trail. The Dunning Trail leads you right to the Boston Mine. The Boston Mine is an incredible sight. Imagine a huge cave leading into the mountainside. The Boston Mine is a large opening in the side of a low hill, leading into a water filled shaft. The mine was last worked in 1880. We explored the Boston Mine for a bit and then continued on the Dunning Trail. The Dunning Trail is very pretty, as you hike you are surrounded by mountain laurel and evergreens. The last time I hiked this area of Harriman, I was unable to find the Bald Rocks Shelter, happily we found it today and enjoyed a pleasant lunch outside of the stone shelter. The Bald Rocks Shelter is a stone shelter with a fireplace inside, it was built in 1933. We next connected with the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail, a favorite of mine. The Ramapo-Dunderberg trail is a white blaze with a red circle. The "RD" is a challenging trail: it rapidly ascends and descends and most of the trail is along huge glacier boulders. We followed the "RD" up to the top of Black Rock Mountain. Black Rock Mountain is the highest point in Harriman State Park, elevation 1,280 feet. The view from the top was fantastic. We next left the "RD" and rejoined the Nurian Trail. The Nurian Trail descended Black Rock Mountain steadily and we were soon back on Route 106 where we had parked the car.