[Journal entry for September 17, 2019; Horse Stable Mountain, Harriman State Park, New York]. I parked at the Ramapo Equestrian Center, off of Route 202 in Wesley Hills New York. It’s a group of barns and fenced-in fields in the flood plain of the Mahwah River. I walked over to a horse, which was standing in the corner of the field, admiring its calm strength. I also watched a man was riding another horse in an adjacent field, who was putting it through some kind of training exercises. I then headed uphill into the Ramapo Mountains.

The Ramapo Mountains are a line of hills created by the Ramapo Fault, which separates tough metamorphic rocks (gneisses) of the Hudson Highlands to the northeast from more easily eroded sedimentary rocks (sandstones, shales) of the Newark Basin to the southwest. Many of the larger hills have names: Nordkop, Cobus, Horse Stable, Panther, Limekiln, Horse Chock, Pound Swamp, from south to north, but the smaller hills between them are unnamed. I took the Pine Meadow Trail (blazed in red). First it hugs the bottom of the hills, following a power line right-of-way. Then it heads steeply uphill, following a woods road that parallels a deep valley just south of Panther Mountain. In places, the northern side of the valley has steep cliffs, and the course of the stream is full of large angular rocks that have fallen off of it. The flow was only a trickle today, for we have had little rain in the last couple of weeks. The trail was dusty and dry.

I transferred to the Suffern – Bear Mountain Trail (SBM, blazed in yellow) at an intersection near the top of the ridge, and took it southwest. I took a detour into a meadow located on a flat terrace just southwest of the trail. I suppose that it is an old burn scar, now mostly grown over. It is full of Blueberry bushes in their rusty red fall colors, now-amber grass. Taller bushes, such as Sweet Fern and Mountain Laurel are still green and provide a nice contrast to the Blueberries. Still-green trees surround the meadow and a few solitary individuals stand within it (survivors of the fire, I guess). The north end of the meadow offers views of the southwestern hills (including Horse Stable), but they are partially obstructed by the trees. I spent a long time slowly walking through the meadow, mostly following informal trails that traverse it, admiring the fall colors.

I continued along the SBM. It crosses several viewpoints that offered terrific views to the south, across the lowlands of the Newark Basin. Looking southeast, I could see the ridge of the Hudson Palisade, with the tops of the towers of the new Mario M Cuomo Bridge just peeking above. Looking south, I could see the spires of the Manhattan skyline. The rounded green knob of Horse Stable Mountain was to the southwest.

Continuing on, I traversed a more recent burn scar. The fire had burned all the bushes but left the trees unscathed. Bushes like Mountain Laurel were now recovering, with new green shoots rising from the roots, beneath the older charred branches.

The next section of trail passes through a wonderful “boulder garden”, in which a half dozen huge boulders, some six to eight feet tall, lie scattered on tan rock pavement, with now-red Blueberry bushes growing on the margins and with some of the surrounding trees showing yellow fall colors. It’s a strikingly beautiful place.

After crossing a couple of steep ravines, I reached Stone Memorial Shelter, a large three-sided lean-to with rock walls and a wooden roof built on the northwestern flank of Horse Stable Mountain. The shelter has been refurbished since my last visit several years ago and sports a new roof. I spent a few minutes exploring the site. The area immediately above the shelter is a wide area of bare rock pavement – a good place to view the stars at night (though if offers no views).

I then headed back, taking the Sherwood Path, a woods road that descends steeply off the mountain, following a stream gulley that is immediately northeast of Horse Stable Mountain (a different valley than the one that the Pine Meadow Trail follows). I transferred to the power line right-of-way when I reach the bottom and took it northeast, back to the Equestrian Center. The late afternoon shadows had slowly lengthened during my hike, and most of the path was now in shade.

I stopped at the Stop&Shop supermarket in Pomona New York and bought a bottle of lemonade to drink, before heading home. About four hours.