News: Harriman Trails Available As eBook
The Trail Conference has been working to convert many of its popular guidebooks to electronic formats and one of the first that has made the transition is Harriman Trails. This popular book provides descriptions and history for the many trails in Harriman and Bear Mountain State Parks in southeastern New York. These trails include the very first section of Appalachian Trail built and opened over Bear Mountain!The book is more than a guide and while marked and unmarked trails are covered, so are lakes, roads and mines are all covered, all in an in depth manner. Harriman Trails is a complete reference with many historical photos for anyone who is looking to start hiking in Harriman and Bear Mountain State Parks or for long time hikers who want to know more of the history behind where they have already spent so many great trips.
For more information on hiking in Bear Mountain State Park and environs
Within New York, the Trail Conference publishes the Harriman Bear Mountain Trails Map Set along with maps for the adjacent, Sterling Forest State Park, along with maps for Northern New Jersey Trails that are in the vicinity. We have a number of books and maps for more information hiking in this area available in the Hudson Highlands section of our Adventures in the Outdoors Bookstore.
I really like this book, and the nice thing about it is that you can pick it up anywhere and just dive in, and learn something new. There's a wealth of history here, and also some "I didn't know that" stuff (like, that sometimes convicts from the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility are brought in to work in the park, and use the camp dining hall at the north end of Summit Lake)
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I don't like about it is there are no maps whatsoever to the trails, no illustrations to go with the description of the trails, which would really help. You might be disappointed if you took "Harriman Trails" to be a complete guide with maps. So it really is a companion book to the trail maps, and you should get the maps if you intend to make full use of the trails and the book.