[Journal entry for December 2, 2011] Kakiat County Park is contiguous with Harriman State Park, a parcel of land that extends from the Mahwah River northwestward up the flank of the Ramapo Mountains. The Mahwah drains the southeastern flanks of these mountains, flowing along the trace of the Ramapo Fault, which separates the Hudson Highlands from the Newark Sedimentary Basin. The park’s access to the river is excellent; one of its hiking trails follows the north bank for mile or so. Trails also ascents Cobus Mountain, the name of one of the many knobs of the Ramapos, and connect with the much more extensive trail system in Harriman State Park.

I arrive in the late morning, and use the parking lot just off of Route 202 in Suffern, NY. The county has rebuilt this lot since my last visit; cars now park side by side, instead of end-to-end, which increases its capacity considerably. A bathroom building has also been built – a very welcome addition for a park that attracts many picnickers. The lot is on the south back of the Mahwah River. I walk down to the meandering river. The water is flowing amid several bars, some of gravel and others of sand. I examine an outcrop of red Triassic sandstone that is exposed in the bank. It is full of large pebbles, some of which have weathered out to give the rock a pockmarked appearance. I then walk west along the river, through an area that seems much more open than on my previous visit. I suspect that September’s floods, due to storms Irene and Lee, have washed away a lot of the underbrush. I cross a substantial footbridge over the river. It’s new, too, and longer and higher. Once, five years ago or so, I witnessed the Mahwah overtopping the old bridge on day with heavy rain. This bridge is higher and sturdier than the old. I walk out onto gravel mid-river bar near the bridge and watch the flowing water for a while.

I then walk the Old Mill Trail (blazed in blue), which follows the north bank of the Mahwah through low-lying woods that show signs of recent flooding. Bit of weeds and other vegetation are stuck to the trees, to heights of about eight feet. The trail passes through a small by pretty stand of white pine, crosses a tributary stream via a small foot bridge and then comes to the mill. It is a concrete affair. I I am viewing only the most resistant part, the power-house, I guess; perhaps some larger frame structure is now gone. I peer into a tunnel, with a six-by-six foot rectangular cross section and a hundred foot length, which runs parallel to the river and exits through an archway. I suppose that it was some sort of spillway. Some heavy-duty iron gears still remain, bolted to the concrete. The dam, just upstream of the mill, is composed of a combination of large boulders and concrete. The up-river side of the structure has been breached and the southern third of it is gone. I walk out onto it and gaze upstream, trying to imagine what the now-vanished mill pond was like. I then continue on the trail, which loops back to the footbridge.

I then hike uphill, flowing the Mountain Trail (blazed in orange). I pass a picnic area, complete with a roofed pavilion structure. In addition to human footprints, the trail has those of horses. Equestrians use some of the park’s paths too. The trail crosses a gas pipeline right-of-way and then climbs rather steeply among outcrops of gneiss. I have apparently crossed the Ramapo fault and the bedrock is now metamorphic. The trail follows a ravine behind a rock knob that opens out into a broad overlook. I often take students here, both because it is only a fifteen minute walk from the parking lot and because it affords a very nice view of the rolling hills of the Newark Basin. The rocks of the outcrop are meta-granite; this type of rock is common in the Hudson Highlands and composes many of the higher points, owing to its resistance to weathering.

I then continue up another steep hillside and after a few minutes reached the top of the hill and another overlook, this one looking northeast, across a valley to other knobs of the Ramapo mountain. I pretty sure the high point across the valley from me is Cobus Mountain. Whether my high point is also a part of Cobus or has some other name is unclear to me. The view out into the basis is very nice. I can see High Tor, a high point along the ridge of the Hudson Palisades. Its appearance is more subdued than I remember from previous trips. Perhaps the sun angle is not quite right today to bring out its relief. I cross a power line right-of-way, passing by a huge pylon, and then connected with the Kakiat Trail (blazed in white). It descends into the valley, and follows for a while the little steam that flows at its bottom. It has many picturesque pools and cascades. Most of the rocks are local gneisses, but I spot an occasional glacial erratic boulder, most of red Ordovician quartzite. I cross a small gas right-of-way, spotting two White Tail Deer on an adjacent hillside. One has a particularly dark coloring that seems to be to be unusual. I eventually reach the big gas pipeline right-of-way that I had crossed earlier. Just downhill from it, I notice several big boulders of Triassic sandstone. Although they are float, they indicate that sediments extend at least that high on the flank of the mountain. The gas right-of-way must literally be built on the Ramapo fault, for gneisses outcrop just above its uphill side. The trail crosses the right-of-way, continues downhill, and connects with the Old Mill Trail. The stream that I have been following from the ridge crest is the same one that I crossed earlier on a foot bridge, at the point where it connects with the Mahwah River. Its grade is low for the last few hundred yards, making it much less imposing than at higher elevations. Two equestrians and a girl leading a very small pony pass by as I approach the footbridge. About two and a half hours.