Orak Ruins-Harriman State Park, New York

For this hike, consult the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Map #118, Harriman Park-Southern

Nick and I parked the vehicle on a turnoff located on Route 106/Gate Hill Road. We hiked up the Yellow Blazed Trail. It ascends steadily uphill, but the day we hiked the trail was snow covered and our surroundings quite beautiful. After about 1/4 of a mile, we were quickly rewarded with the ruins of ORAK. Orak you say? Well, I hope most of you reading this blog remember KARO Corn Syrup. I remember my mother putting it on my pancakes as a child. Orak was a mansion built by the vice president of Karo Corn Syrup and a very wealthy man. He built ORAK as his summer home. The living room was modeled after a ships cabin. The floors moved as a boat would on the ocean. The windows were portholes. The ruins are pretty extensive as ORAK was a pretty huge mansion. We had funny playing around in the ruins, but be careful as there are many places to fall. If you are feeling adventurous, you can follow the Yellow path past ORAK and continue on to the Jackie Jones Mountain Fire Tower.