[Journal entry for May 17, 2013] I left work at about 3:30 PM and drove up to Kakiat County Park in Montebello NY. It adjoins Harriman State Park and so provides good access to the trails in its southwest corner. I crossed the Mahwah River via the footbridge and took the Mountain Trail (blazed in orange) up into the Ramapo Mountains. They form a fairly dramatic wall at the northwestern limit of the New Basin lowlands. I stopped by both overlooks, the lower one where I sometimes take my geology students, for it offers a nice view southward into the lowlands, and the higher one at the top, which has a broadly similar view but somewhat better visibility toward Hook Mountain in the east.

I crossed the power line right of way and took a little detour along an overgrown woods road that looped by some pretty open rock ledges and that eventually rejoined the Mountain Trail. I headed east, across the gas pipeline right of way and then connected with the Kakiat Trail (blazed in white). It heads northward along the base of a scarp and joins the Suffern – Bear Mt. Trail (SBT, blazed in yellow) in a quarter mile of so. I then took the SBT back westward towards the Valley of Dry Bones. This part of the SBT follows the ridge line of the Ramapo Mountains. I would judge that the intersection is on the west flank of Cobus Mt, and that the Valley of Dry Bones is on the east flank of Nordkup Mountain, the peak immediately to the west. However, the ridge line has many up and downs and the boundaries between the individual peaks are indistinct.

The ridge top is surprisingly rocky – full of boulder fields that are remnants of the glaciers that scoured the area during the Ice Age. Most are of the local stone, great angular granite blocks torn off the mountain and scattered about. I pass several south-facing scarps that I suppose were the source of all these stones. The SBT winds among them, passing some blocks that are very tall, including two particularly large ones named Grandpa and Grandma Rocks. I come across several colonies of Lady Slipper growing among the boulders beside the trail. These beautiful purple-pink wildflowers, with a shape vaguely reminiscent of a tulip, are in bloom. I cross the gas pipeline right of way again, this time heading west, and continue through more boulder fields. The boulders eventually give way to areas that are covered with low-bush blueberry with occasional open rock ledges. I am a little surprised that this area was once farmed, to which the numerous stone walls in this area attest. The trail then descends down into the Valley of Dry Bones.

The Valley of Dry Bones, named in honor of the valley seen by the Biblical prophet Ezekiel in a dream, is a particularly rocky valley with a rather desolate aura. Large angular boulders are everywhere; some form notches through which a small stream – a tributary of the Mahwah River - flows. I spend a few minutes picking my way along the valley floor, climbing over or squeezing between angular stones as tall as myself. The SBT continues up the very rock western side of the valley, but I do not take it, for the evening is growing late. Instead, I turn about and head back the way I came.

Just prior to crossing the gas pipeline right of way, I notice a small wetland just north of the SBT. I bushwhack over to it. Very stagnant and dirty water has ponded between angular blocks. Grasses (but no Phragmites) and high bush blueberry are growing in the shallows. I poke around for a few minutes and then continue back. For variety, I take the track (unblazed) that follows the gas pipeline right of way, instead of the Kakiat Trail trail, back to the overlook on Cobus Mountain. The track is quicker, but its gravel provides poor footing in places. The flank of the mountain and the hills of the Newark Basin are dramatically lit by the setting sun. A few minutes later, I am back down at the Mahwah River and my car.

About three and a half hours.