[Journal entry for November 8, 2013; File Factory Hollow, Harriman State Park NY]. I parked off of Diltz Rd., at the southeast edge of the park in Ladentown NY, and hiked a loop that took me through File Factory Hollow, across the summit of an adjoining hill and to Second Reservoir. I don’t know the origin of the name ‘File Factory’; certainly I saw no substantial ruins anywhere along my hike that might have once been a factory. The parking lot is located near a power line right-of-way, which I took northeast to the woods road that runs up through the Hollow. The stony, highly eroded track follows a little stream set amidst a jumble of stone blocks. I pass the remains of a dam that once impounded the stream at the entrance of the Hollow, made of stone blocks and about three feet high. I suppose that the pond was used for an agricultural purpose, such as watering livestock. I hike up the road for a while, and then cut northeast, following a minor woods road that heads up a hill, unnamed on my hiking map, on the northeast side of the Hollow. However, this road quickly faded away and I was left bushwhacking through open woods and past substantial scree slopes until I reached the grassy summit. It commands a nice view of the lowlands to the southeast and of Limekiln Mountain, on the southwest side of the Hollow. I roamed around the summit area, which has some picturesque rock ledges, fall-red blueberry patches and boulders. I visited another overlook, atop a rocky knob, that looks south towards the other hills of the Hudson Highlands. I then found a woods road and followed it down the back (northwest) side of the hill. I intersected Woodtown Road (a major woods road) near Second Reservoir. A Restricted Area sign and a pick-and-shovel symbol on my hiking map indicated that I was near one of the park’s old iron mines, but I couldn’t spot it. I walked by Second River – its water level is low – crossing its outflow, Horse Chock Brook, just beneath the dam. I visited a little wetland located immediately south of the reservoir. Its borders had some pretty bushes, red in their fall colors, but the central part of the wetland has gone over entirely to Phragmites grass and is rather boring. The sky, which had begun sunny, had now become overcast and a little granular snow was falling. I followed Woodtown Road southwest, until I connected with the wood road that descends through File Factory Hollow, the same road whose lower section I had walked earlier. The upper part of the Hollow is fantastically rocky, with many low cliffs and several interesting amphitheatre-shaped side canyons. I shall investigate them further, some day. The damp area of the Hollow host many stands of wetland bushes, now in their red fall colors. I soon reached the power line right-of-way and took it back to my car. About three hours.