[Journal entry for August 9, 2014;
Route 106 west of Kanawauke Circle, Harriman State
Park, New York]. Dallas dropped me off at Kanawauke Circle, where Seven Lakes Drive intersects Route
106, on a beautiful late afternoon. I
walked Route 106 west, aiming primarily for Lake Stahahe,
but spending time viewing the other beautiful lakes along the road, too.
I walked by the south arm of Lake Kanawauke, south of the road. It was backlit by the late
afternoon sun and had a metallic gleam. A potpourri of boats, including canoes,
kayaks, paddleboards, were out on the water.
The north arm of the lake, north of the road, was brightly-illuminated.
I could see the delta of alluvial fan on the far side of the lake, yellow
gravel still only lightly vegetated. I
remember examining it shortly after it formed, when flood waters from Hurricane
Lee overtopped the Lake Skanatati Dam and tore a six
foot deep gulley through the isthmus separating the two lakes. Water lily and Pickerelweed were blooming
along the lakeshore. Queen Anne’s lace,
Common Mullein and other wildflowers were blooming along its shore.
I continued along Route 106, across the bridge spanning
the channel that connects Little Long Pond from Lake Kanawauke. I took a narrow and disused woods road up the
steep side of Black Rock Mountain, up to a broad rock ledge up on its southern
flank. This overlook offers a great view
of Little Long Pond, and especially the little island at its eastern end, which
sports just a single tree. I explored
the rock ledge of the overlook as I worked myself west and downhill, back to
Route 106 and the lakeshore. The swim
area at Camp K-20, across Little Long Pond from me, was packed with kids having
fun. I admired the blueberry marsh at
the extreme western end of the pond, below Tom Jones Mountain.
Route 106 winds through the hills, mostly heading
downhill. After a mile or so I came to a
beaver pond in a wetland on the north side of the road. I admired the dam, a curving arc of sticks
that raised the water level a foot or two.
The eastern end of the marsh is very beautiful, especially since its
still waters were reflecting clouds that floated above. The eastern end of the wetland is a phragmites marsh and is much less interesting.
After another mile or so, again mostly downhill, I
came to the steeply walled valley, north of the road, which hosts Lake Stahahe. The lake is
a hundred yards of so from the road. I
made four short trips to its shore as I walked past it.
Site 1. I bushwhacked down to the southeast corner of
the lakeshore at a point just past the an access road
that leads to camps along the east side of the lake. This corner is a cove, overgrown with water
lilies and hosting with several small rocky and sparsely vegetated islands. The nearest, like the island in Little Long Pond, sported only one
solitary tree. I encountered a
disused woods road on the way back that climbed back to the road. It may have been a loop of an earlier version
of Route 106, for it seemed wider than the usual Harriman Park woods road.
Site 2. I bushwhacked down to a little peninsula that
jutted out from the south shore if the lake. I tried to stay on rock ledges,
for they are easy to traverse, but had to scramble though a tangle of Mountain
Laurel, too. I encountered a beaver lodge along the lake shore. The view across the lake, and especially to
the hill called Stahahe High Peak, was very
beautiful. I also had a nice view of the
island with the solitary tree.
Site 3. When I encountered a “Swimming Note
Permitted” sign along Route 106, I suspected that I was near a particularly
nice section of lakeshore. A foot trail
led me down over a succession of pretty rock ledges to a little beach in front
of a small island – this one with several trees. I could see down the long axis of the lake from
this vantage, past the swim dock of a camp, to stands of tall evergreens at the
far end of the lake. Stahahe
is an anthropogenic impoundment, created by a dam at its north end, but I was
too far away so see the straight edge of that end of the lake.
Site 4. I tried bushwhacking to the end of another
small peninsula, but it was too overgrown with thorn bushes. Instead, I climbed
down a scree slope next to it. This site provided a
nice view of the long axis of the lake, too.
I then continued west on Route 106, under the New
York State Thruway, across the bridge over Ramapo River, towards Route 17 in
Tuxedo NY. I stopped at Ramapo River
Boat Access, a small park with a few benches and a couple of gravel ramps down
to the river. The Ramapo was flowing
only sluggishly and its surface was glassy.
Trees on the far side of the river were reflected in it perfectly. After viewing the river for a few minutes, I
walked up to the Route 17 overpass, where Dallas picked me up.
About three and a half hours.