[Journal entry for October 17, 2014; Lake Skannatati, Harriman State Park, New York]. I drove up to Lake Skannatati in the early morning, while the sun was just rising. My route crossed the eastern part of the park via Route 106 and passed by Lake Welch and Spring Pond. I stop briefly at each to view the fall foliage. The reds and oranges are accentuated, owing to the reddish hue of the rising sun’s rays. I parked at the Lake Skannatati lot that’s just off Seven Lakes Drive, on the northeastern shore of the lake. The fall foliage on the western shore was brightly lit by the sun and was breathtaking. I walked south along Seven Lakes Drive and then took a woods road that crosses the Lake Skannatati dam and leads to a wooded peninsula on the southern shore of the lake. Blueberry bushes along the water were deep red. Maple trees were orange and yellow. I saw signs of beaver, such as gnawed and felled trees, but the damage all seemed fairly old. The forest floor is only sparsely vegetated, so I had no problem walking to the north end of the peninsula, which commands a nice view of the lake. Pine Swamp Mountain, a prominent hill beyond the northern lakeshore, stands out.

I crossed a rocky channel beneath the spillway of another dam, this one located on the west side of the peninsula. The channel was severely eroded during heavy rains a few years back, though the spillway itself seems pretty much intact. I then poked my way through a tangle of Mountain Laurel until I can stand at the lakeshore. The view northward view is very dramatic.

I start to head back, crossing the grove of Mountain Laurel once again. But here I make a mistake, for the lake shore that I encountered is not that of Lake Skanatati, but rather that of adjacent Lake Kanawauke. I had a pleasant time viewing the fall foliage, but I soon realized that I was walking much too far south to be heading back to the spillway. In a few minutes I came out onto Route 106, near the bridge over the channel between Lake Kanawauke and Little Long Pond. I was more than a mile out of my way, and needed to hustle back along the highway, for I had a morning appointment. However, I did get beautiful views of these two bodies of water. Little Long Pond has perhaps the richer of the two views, for the pond has an picturesque island and is adjacent to two prominent hills, Black Rock Mountain and Tom Jones Mountain. However, Kanawauke has its charms too; the red blueberry bushed are particularly dense along its shore.

About an hour and a half.