Split Rock Reservoir

If you happen to visit this place, just a warning -- the gravel road that leads to the parking area that I happened to park in is a bit treacherous. And the trails don't seem to be maintained at all. And the GPS coordinates from the NY-NJ TC website don't actually lead you to the parking lot. But the reservoir was pretty and so was the fall foliage.

Ramapo Mountains

Excuse me while I play catch-up. It's been a hectic few months, but if anything has remained the same, it's my love of the outdoors and the solace I can find there. It almost seems unreal that the last time I updated it was 5 months ago. That's like...half a year practically. I've certainly been on a few adventures since then, not all with camera in hand. Some adventures had been solo, or with Tyger, or with some people I had never even been hiking with before. All in all, every time has been beautiful in some way or another and I'm grateful for that.

Enough sappiness. Let's get down to business. A couple of months ago, I felt like I was running out of new places to go. It seemed impossible to find anywhere of quality that I had never been before. And then I decided to invest in a book about hiking in the NY-NJ area. It's been wonderful. I've already dog-eared the hell out of it and can't wait to try every trail in it. Some are quite a bit further away than others, but at least I've got options. For the curious, the book is called "Hike of the Week" by Daniel Chazin. Anyone familiar with the NJ-NY Trail Conference website may recognize the name. He has contributed significantly to the website, writing up info/experiences on various trails in the area. The book is organized by season and has a lot of good info in it like difficulty, length, history, a map, etc.

One of the little ponds I passed

Harriman State Park: Silver Mine Lake

I was really surprised with this one. For a long time I've been meaning to explore Harriman State Park. The thing about Harriman though is that it is huge. The second largest state park in NY to be exact. With over 200 miles of trails, 31 lakes and reservoirs, an array of camping sites, boat launches, scenic lookouts, and more, it's a lot to pick out one spot to check out.

The Lake