View Full Version : Ruins?
Are there any ruins on the trail, like cobblestone towers for instance? I love working my way into abandoned structures, and I've been wondering if there are any things like these on the AT or one of the Florida trails.
Feral Bill
07-26-2012, 11:02
Harriman State Park, NY has some. Not worth a trip from Florida just for that, I would think.
Tom Murphy
07-26-2012, 11:35
There are at least a few spots along the AT in New Egnland where you will go past cellar holes and stone walls. But nothing as elaborate as a tower that I am aware of.
I am always amazed at some of the hilly forested NE terrain that have stone walls running through them. I try to imagine the land cleared and tilled. It is easy to see why all those early New England farmers moved to the Ohio River Valley.
Buffalo Skipper
07-26-2012, 11:40
Are there any ruins on the trail, like cobblestone towers for instance? I love working my way into abandoned structures, and I've been wondering if there are any things like these on the AT or one of the Florida trails.
Do you mean other than the shelters?
The FT begins (or ends, depending upon your perspective) at Gulf Islands National seashore. The first FT sign headed west (south, again depending upon your perspective) is within sight of Fort Pickens, which was built before the Civil War.
FWIW, from Ocala, you are only 15 minutes closer to Ft Pickens than you are to Springer Mountain.
Do you mean other than the shelters?
The FT begins (or ends, depending upon your perspective) at Gulf Islands National seashore. The first FT sign headed west (south, again depending upon your perspective) is within sight of Fort Pickens, which was built before the Civil War.
FWIW, from Ocala, you are only 15 minutes closer to Ft Pickens than you are to Springer Mountain.
Hah! Springer it is, then. One year to go before I get out of this hole.
theinfamousj
07-26-2012, 13:24
In the back of my mind, I recall a few stone hearths (not even with chimneys attached) in PA. Though I cannot remember if it was on the AT or one one of the other trails near Gettysburg.
There are at least a few spots along the AT in New Egnland where you will go past cellar holes and stone walls. But nothing as elaborate as a tower that I am aware of.
I am always amazed at some of the hilly forested NE terrain that have stone walls running through them. I try to imagine the land cleared and tilled. It is easy to see why all those early New England farmers moved to the Ohio River Valley.
Agreed. You can think you are in the middle of nowhere and run into stone walls and a stone foundation. Whenever I try to dig a hole in my yard I also see why farmers moved westward.
Buffalo Skipper
07-26-2012, 13:56
It's not ruins, in fact it has been restored. But I highly recommend that as you pass through the Smokeys that you take the side trail to Mt Cammerer. There is a western style fire tower there built on the exposed rock. The style is really unique for the east, but the 360° views are fantastic. Side trail is only 0.6 miles, but doesn't feel like that far. Definately worth seeing.
16777 16776
In the northern section of the AT in SNP about mid way through the north section(near mathews arm) there is a full chimney and stone floor/harth. If I could figuire out how to post a pic I would post it.
In Pine Grove Furnace State Park PA, you can see the Furnaces, and in the Brown MT creek area in VA you can see some of the Foundations from where the settler's homesites stood. RED-DOG
English Stu
07-26-2012, 17:10
Not sure if the hostel there is still open. I was the lone hiker there and was given a trip around the place which I think was the Furnace owners mansion. Evidently the area was on the route for slaves on the run to get Canada to freedom (first 2000 milers some of them)and the house had windows at each end and candle would be put in as signal it was okay to move.There is also a false basement to hide folks.
In VT, part of the trail follows the old "king's highway" north of Woodstock, it's a pre-revolutionary road with wonderful stonework. As noted, lots of old cellar holes, and the occasional charcoal kiln.
Myakka State Park (Sarasota area) has a whole series of trails and there are a few remnants of old buildings there.
Tom Murphy
07-27-2012, 09:13
Roan Mountain 16793
I have run into a few chimmeys. There is a nice one on Greylock.
Tennessee Viking
07-27-2012, 10:27
There are old foundations and few remains of the old Runion logging camp outside of Hot Springs (not on the AT). Take the Laurel River Trail at the US 25/70 bridge before turning down to Hot Springs.
Then in the Nolichucky Gorge at the base of Flattop Mtn is the old settlement of Lost Cove. Its very hard to access (either by train tracks or bushwhack from the Flattop trails).
If memory serves me well from when I lived in the area, Boiling Springs, PA has a furnace or two near the lake/community pool, right off the trail.
Snowleopard
07-27-2012, 12:56
1700s iron furnaces in CT and NY:
Most of the forest in CT, MA, VT was cut down for charcoal to fuel industry in the 1700s. There are remnants of the 1700s steel industry:
Kent, CT, Kent furnace http://www.ericsloane.com/museum.htm
Salisbury, CT: Mt. Riga blast furnace, http://www.nynjctbotany.org/lgtofc/mtrigablastfurnace.html
Copake, NY (~10 miles or less from AT and on the south Taconic trail) has an 1845 blast furnace, Copake Iron Works,:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itinerant_wanderer/4022058137/in/photostream/
http://nysparks.com/parks/attachments/TaconicCopakeFallsAreaCampingMap,PricesandSchedule .pdf
If you know what to look for there are many small quarries in New England. I've come across these in Brattleboro VT and Worcester, MA. You'd have to talk to local historical societies to find these.
In New England there are many, many former factory buildings/mills from across the ages. The museum version would be the Lowell and Lawrence mills. Most of the towns near the AT in CT, MA, VT and NH would have these and most are abandoned or restored/renovated into something else. You could get in trouble (legal or injury) going into abandoned mills.
There are a lot of little local history museums in the Berkshires that can be interesting.
Rain Man
07-27-2012, 17:45
I've hiked from GA to PA now and have passed lots of ruins. Chimneys, foundations, walls, buildings, spring houses, bridges, old roads, equipment and vehicles, canal locks, abandoned farms and orchards, concrete foundations and pads, etc., etc., etc.
Rain:sunMan
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Gathland State Park in MD. Use google images, "Gathland state park ruins."
Odd Man Out
07-29-2012, 18:15
We took a guided tour of some old homesteads in SNP when staying at Big Meadows Lodge - not hiking but the AT goes right through there. I think the far side of the meadow across the road. Note that all historic structures in SNP are protected and you can't camp near them.
TrailNameLucky
04-16-2013, 21:53
In the northern section of the AT in SNP about mid way through the north section(near mathews arm) there is a full chimney and stone floor/harth. If I could figuire out how to post a pic I would post it.
The chimney is next to this tower.
http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n587/FlatsReaper/at2012138.jpg (http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/FlatsReaper/media/at2012138.jpg.html)
http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n587/FlatsReaper/at2012139.jpg (http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/FlatsReaper/media/at2012139.jpg.html)
http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n587/FlatsReaper/at2012137.jpg (http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/FlatsReaper/media/at2012137.jpg.html)
Another Kevin
04-17-2013, 08:07
Feral Bill is right that Harriman is full of ruins. Between the Elk Pen and Island Pond there's an abandoned 19th-century gravel pit, and the gravel sorter is still there, rusting away. There are lots of iron mine workings all through the park. The reason that the park service formally forbids bushwhacking is that people have drowned in abandoned mineshafts. The park also has the ruined village of Doodletown, The state burned the buildings some years ago because of recurrent problems with squatters, but the foundations and roads are still there, and there are even placards telling you what everything was. It's about a mile and a half east of the A-T. Easiest approach for a northbounder is probably to take the yellow-blazed Suffern-Bear Mountain trail down from West Mountain Shelter to the bridle path, turn right and take that into Doodletown, and then return to the A-T by the 1777W trail. (Or go out and back on the 1777W if you're a purist, but I'd not bother. The mile or so of A-T that you'd bypass isn't all that interesting.)
The 1777W trail is part of the system that commemorates the Revolutionary War campaigns: it follows the route that part of the British army took to Fort Montgomery. (The 1777E trail, which divides from it at Doodletown, is the route the other group took to Fort Clinton.)
You may want to google up Katahdin Iron Works.
The remains of Rapidan Camp (President Hoover's old mountain retreat) in SNP isn't on the AT but is an interesting place to visit. A semi-loop can be made by using the Laurel Prong and Mill Prong trails although doing so will result in missing part of the AT in that area and some elevation loss and gain. Or out and back on either trail w/o missing any of the AT.
Mizirlou
04-17-2013, 12:34
I love working my way into abandoned structures, and I've been wondering if there are any things like these on the AT or one of the Florida trails.
Some historical structures are headstones, and lots of historical artifacts are in cemeteries near the Florida Trail. Lewis Powell of the Confederate Secret Service was one of four conspirators hanged in D.C. for the Lincoln assassination plot. After death his severed head was stored at the Smithsonian until 1992. Head and body were eventually reunited in the Geneva Cemetery near the FT in Seminole County.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=powell&GSfn=lewis&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=11&GScnty=374&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=62826964&df=all&
Seatbelt
04-17-2013, 12:47
21168
Just 1/2 mile south of Kincora
St Anthony's Wilderness in central PA has a stone tower and some ruins.
http://www.midatlantichikes.com/stonetower.htm has a short description of it and the directions from the AT to the tower.
Almost There
04-17-2013, 19:35
Is the Blair Witch House still there just south of VA42 in Sinking Creek Valley? Kind of neat to see.
hoffhiker
06-26-2013, 12:46
funny u mention RUNION i grew up in asheville nc and spent alot of my child hood going threw the ol town there was a church there when i was a kid when we went there when i was 15 the church was gettin ready to fall so we removen the stained glass window out of the front and restored it into a picture frame with my dad and five uncles highscool pics in it my grand ma still has the origonal glass
da fungo
06-26-2013, 13:59
In New Jersey, from south to north, and off the top of my head (in other words, this isn't a comprehensive list, and you should do more research):
- Just after the crossing of the Delaware River from PA, the AT crosses the end of the Old Mine Road, which originally ran from Kingston, NY down to the Kittatinny Ridge that the AT follows in NJ.
- A bit further along the trail, you intersect the Coppermine Trail, which leads down to the Old Mine Road, and along which some very old copper mines were located.
- In the same general area off the AT, and down near the river, you can find some old experimental bore holes, plus cross-sections of 3 ft wide rock bore samples. These date from before the creation of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, when the Bureau of Reclamation planned to throw a dam across the Delaware Water Gap to create a reservoir and provide drinking water to Northern NJ. The bore holes were intended to determine if the rock underlying the Kittatinny Ridge were strong enough to hold back the pressure of the impounded water. (Fortunately, in my opinion, public pressure prevented the dame from being built).
- Further up the AT, and 1 1/2 to 2 miles east of the trail, there's Millbrook Village, an authentic 18th - 19th century village that is open to wander through 7 days a week and has occasional staffing and displays on weekends. After leaving Mohican Center, passing a fire tower, and passing by Rattlesnake Swamp, at the first paved road you come to, you'd take a left.
- About 5-6 miles further, in the area of Blue Mountain Lakes, you'll pass an area with a lot of cleared roads and pad sites. These were cleared by a developer in preparation for a planned vacation home community. The plans were scrapped and the land acquired by BLM through eminent domain in preparation for the DWG dam that never got built.
- From there north for another 10 miles or so, you're within striking distance of Peters Valley, currently a fine crafts and arts center, but another community that was acquired through eminent domain for the dam. Throughout the area, there used to be a lot of small farms, farm villages, and rural buildings, but the BLM razed most of them as quickly as possible to prevent people from ever moving back in.
- After leaving High Point, and before crossing Pochuck Mountain, the AT follows the outlines of a rectangle in the surface of the ground where there was an old mining/quarrying operation to extract very rich topsoil. The Lehigh New England also passed along one edge of this area, and it's now a part of the Walkill Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
- In Vernon, just after you cross the boardwalk and the suspension bridge, and pass through a short segment of woods, you'll cross the old right of way of the Lehigh New England Railroad. There's a footbridge for the trail that crosses a stream, and it's built on old concrete supports that were used by the railroad.
- After leaving the Walkill Valley in Vernon and climbing Stairway to Heaven, you'll enter Wawayanda State Park, which contains a number of old building sites and ruins.
That's all I can recall at present.
Kerosene
06-26-2013, 14:04
There is the foundation and chimney of an old hotel (I think) just off the AT south of McAfee Knob. Some of the Roanoke-based hikers will know what I'm referring to.
Foundation of old summit houses can be found atop Mt. Moosilaukee, Mt. Lafayette, and Mt. Washington. There are a number of AT summits where you can still see the foundations of old firetowers that have been torn down.
+1 on the side trip to Mt. Cammerer. It's worth it on a pretty day.
johnnybgood
06-26-2013, 18:17
+1 on the side trip to Mt. Cammerer. It's worth it on a pretty day.
22252 Here's a photo taken from the wrap around porch of Mt. Cammerer Fire Tower on a party cloudy day.
Hikes in Rain
06-26-2013, 18:49
22253
A panoramic view from (I suspect) the same vantage point.
There are a lot of stonework ruins along the C&O Canal, including the old Salty Dog Saloon just north of the pedestrian bridge on the east side of the river. If walls could speak...
In the same area, between HF and I-70 are ruins of trenches and fortifications from the Battle of South Mountain. The action was at Crampton, Fox, and Turner Gaps, all on the AT. You have to look careful because it's so overgrown, but major battles happened here.
Old, crumbling and probably dangerously collapsing lime kilns next to Lime Kiln Rd in Sheffield, Mass. 0.2 or so trail-north of Shays' Rebellion.
Cosmo
1700s iron furnaces in CT and NY:
Most of the forest in CT, MA, VT was cut down for charcoal to fuel industry in the 1700s. There are remnants of the 1700s steel industry:
Kent, CT, Kent furnace http://www.ericsloane.com/museum.htm
Salisbury, CT: Mt. Riga blast furnace, http://www.nynjctbotany.org/lgtofc/mtrigablastfurnace.html
Copake, NY (~10 miles or less from AT and on the south Taconic trail) has an 1845 blast furnace, Copake Iron Works,:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itinerant_wanderer/4022058137/in/photostream/
http://nysparks.com/parks/attachments/TaconicCopakeFallsAreaCampingMap,PricesandSchedule .pdf
If you know what to look for there are many small quarries in New England. I've come across these in Brattleboro VT and Worcester, MA. You'd have to talk to local historical societies to find these.
In New England there are many, many former factory buildings/mills from across the ages. The museum version would be the Lowell and Lawrence mills. Most of the towns near the AT in CT, MA, VT and NH would have these and most are abandoned or restored/renovated into something else. You could get in trouble (legal or injury) going into abandoned mills.
There are a lot of little local history museums in the Berkshires that can be interesting.
Alligator
06-29-2013, 02:08
There's a whole side wall that was part of an inn or tavern somewhere south (?) of Iron Mansions hostel. You might like the Civil War Correspondent Memorial as well. I'm thinking this particular wall is somewhere between these two but that's a bit of distance.
Dr. Professor
06-29-2013, 11:20
Not on the trail, not exactly safe (so I can't recommend it), and I've never been there -- Centralia would be interesting to see.
rocketsocks
06-29-2013, 22:52
Not on the trail, not exactly safe (so I can't recommend it), and I've never been there -- Centralia would be interesting to see.Been there, and no the signs that are there say you are about to enter an area that is devoid of oxygen...or something like that. The vents that poke through the landscape can be seen spewing noxious gas and vapor....neat place though. Some good reading can be found on the Centralia PA mine fires.
1700s iron furnaces in CT and NY:
Copake, NY (~10 miles or less from AT and on the south Taconic trail) has an 1845 blast furnace, Copake Iron Works,:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itinerant_wanderer/4022058137/in/photostream/
http://nysparks.com/parks/attachments/TaconicCopakeFallsAreaCampingMap,PricesandSchedule .pdf
And if you are on the AT and don't mind a "side trip" hike you could actually hike to this one via several other trails that connect the AT to the South Taconic trail.
Wise Old Owl
06-30-2013, 20:23
If memory serves me well from when I lived in the area, Boiling Springs, PA has a furnace or two near the lake/community pool, right off the trail.
Thanks Pumba - that was the first one I thought of.
virginiagunny
04-29-2015, 11:59
I found some nice spots south of Rock Fish Gap before you get to the Paul Wolfe Shelter, There is an old homestead with a graveyard. Also the Straver Hollow has an old homestead near by.
full conditions
04-29-2015, 12:51
Not exactly on the AT, but on the Benton MacKaye Trail, the trail runs through the ruins of the town of Proctor (in the Smokies) which, before 1945, had its own high school, movie theater, business district, sawmills, etc.... plenty to see and fairly well marked ruins.
rikkitikkitavi
04-29-2015, 14:29
In the Smokey Mountain National Forest there is an abandoned town! It has ruins of houses, hotels, gas stations, etc. It is not directly on the AT though. It was/is called Elkmont, TN. See this story:
http://pix11.com/2014/10/05/smoky-mountains-hiker-discovers-100-year-old-abandoned-town/
I just finished the Caminho De Compostela in Portugal/Spain, and had the chance to see Roman ruins that had pristine titled floor mosaics, Templar castles, and a variety of other tumbling down buildings. If you like old ruins, my advice is go hike the Caminho Santiago.
rikkitikkitavi
04-29-2015, 14:42
They tore down an abandoned house that was right on the AT near Blacksburg VA.
Maryland had many historical areas!
At Sam Moore shelter in the Roller Coaster, when sitting in the shelter facing out, at about 2 o'clock and maybe 75 yards away is a very old crumbling stone structure and chimney.
The AT experience can include so many historical ruins and historical sites. If you're willing to explore off the tread perhaps 5 miles or less you'll have so many more historical options. Hiking the AT is rife with historical opportunities to add to the hike. Try wandering around Harpers Ferry or past the AT/C&O Canal road junction or go into the towns of N. Adams Massachusetts or Bennington Vermont(Bennington Battle Monument, four historical Thomas Kinked like covered bridges).
https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/top-10-ruins.htm
bennington vt tower (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=bennington+vt+tower&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)
Tons of state parks with ruins and historical sites, and, as said, both the NPs have ruins and historical sites.
Absolutely the AT can be a hike through history.
SWODaddy
12-11-2016, 20:26
They tore down an abandoned house that was right on the AT near Blacksburg VA.
Are you talking about the place just South of Rt 42? I'd seen it years ago and thought it was really neat. Then passed it last year and saw it was just a pile of boards. Too bad.
rocketsocks
12-11-2016, 20:45
One can't talk about ruins around the trail without talking about historically ruining land the trail is on and how it and to be in the first place...eminent domain was the name of the game.
Did you know?
http://www.landrights.org/ocs/SocioCultural/AppalachianTrailInholders_1.htm
There's lots of good stuff for the ruin hunter.
In addition to the ruins at Gathland are actual Civil War trenches dating back to the Battle of South Mountain. And don't miss the "old Salty Dog" saloon (if only walls could talk), the white stone building on the C&O Canal just north of the walking bridge to HF. There are also historic fortifications dating back to the Civil War on the hills facing HF on the MD side. Both sides put big guns up there at various times...
Shenandoah was heavily populated prior to being taken over as a Park. Some families were forcibly evicted. Old maps show homestead locations.
New England was highly deforested throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries. People tried to make it as farmers on these mountains. They piled rocks from the fields into extensive stone walls. I've seen these in VA as well, memorably south of Waynesboro.
FrogLevel
03-16-2017, 17:52
There's a ghost town just outside of Erwin called Lost Cove. There are 2 old houses and schoolhouse still standing, foundations, farm machinery, a graveyard and a few fields as well as all the little pathways between them. There's an orange/yellow blazed trail at Devils Fork Gap and its about 2-3 miles. You can hike down to the Nolichucky river from Lost cove and follow the tracks right to uncle johnnies.
devoidapop
03-16-2017, 18:18
There's a ghost town just outside of Erwin called Lost Cove. There are 2 old houses and schoolhouse still standing, foundations, farm machinery, a graveyard and a few fields as well as all the little pathways between them. There's an orange/yellow blazed trail at Devils Fork Gap and its about 2-3 miles. You can hike down to the Nolichucky river from Lost cove and follow the tracks right to uncle johnnies.
An old moonshining ghost town in the mountains? I gotta check this out.
I used to live on a Frog Level Rd in VA, btw. Haven't thought about that in years.
Mother Natures Son
03-16-2017, 19:05
The best set of ruins in PA is the ghost village of Yellow Springs near Gold Mine Road in central PA. This was a part of a large coal mining area along the trail. The village itself is gone except for stone foundations and a bizarre chimney that rises out of the underground mining pit just off the trail. As legend has it, this was ventilation for underground steam engines that pulled the coal cars up the incline in the shaft. For more information, go online and look for Saint Anthony's Wilderness. There you will find the chimney, as it is called, plus several other fascinating ruins just several feet off the trail.
old silo in liners farm west of the trail
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t-S1teqy-Vg/T9X6SOwADxI/AAAAAAAAG6s/JIcamHouIqQ/s1600/IMG_4905+remnants+of+liner+farm+stone+silo.jpg
devoidapop
03-17-2017, 12:20
There is supposed to be ruins of an old plantation in the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness near Asheboro, NC. I have gone off trail several times looking for them but have not been succesful.
rikkitikkitavi
04-13-2017, 23:16
ThT shelter near the Ice Cream man in New Hampshire has ruins right next to the shelter.
Tennessee Viking
04-14-2017, 00:09
For TN/NC, there is the Roan High Knob shelter, firetowers, barns, graves...
There are two ghost towns just off of the AT in this area.
1. near Hot Springs along the Laurel River Trail and French Broad River is Runion
2. Over Flattop Mtn along the Nolichucky River is Lost Cove
The Mountains to Sea Trail has a lot of Folk history along it.
The chimney of Nick Grindstaff's place, just south of Damascus.
That tinker town just south of Buena Vista (just N. of Punch Bowl shelter.)
Gaithland State Park. The C & O Canal. Pine Grove Furnace.
Yellow Springs in PA. And another ghost/abandoned town in VT, near Little Rock Pond.
That Superfund site (miles of ruined nature) above Palmerton PA.
Foundations of abandoned buildings atop Moosilauke and Lafayette.
Some old structures re-purposed just for the AT, eg. the James River Bridge and the iron bridge near Port Clinton.
Is the Blair Witch House still there just south of VA42 in Sinking Creek Valley? Kind of neat to see.
Torn down, I'm told. It was there in 2007. I approached but not too closely. Creepy!
windlion
06-11-2018, 18:54
Nothing left but the foundation of Jim's Pop Corn Stand, which sold sandwiches and ice cream where the AT crosses the Mason Dixon Line at the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180611/3c1de241d5b7730df7b5dcd1113be87a.jpg
Virginia is Not Flat
Pyramids built with help from aliens.
Traveler
06-12-2018, 06:55
Pyramids built with help from aliens.
I wonder if they got day work hanging around the local Pharaoh Depot. Those folks seem really good a building things from whatever is laying around.
stephanD
06-12-2018, 09:41
Doodletown is an abandoned mining town in Bear mountain state park in New York. It was finally abandoned in the mid 1960s. it has a very old (and creepy) cemetery. It is a couple of miles from the trail when you pass by the Bear Mountain inn.
Another Kevin
06-12-2018, 10:54
Doodletown is an abandoned mining town in Bear mountain state park in New York. It was finally abandoned in the mid 1960s. it has a very old (and creepy) cemetery. It is a couple of miles from the trail when you pass by the Bear Mountain inn.
Yeah, I think I mentioned that (https://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/86662-Ruins?p=1460617&viewfull=1#post1460617) upthread. The Twin Forts (Fort Clinton, Fort Montgomery) are also right off the trail, with some Revolutionary War stuff.
If you're willing to wander on the secondary trails, Bear Mountain/Harriman/Sterling Forest has all sorts of interesting ruins - from the burnt-out hulks of robber barons' mansions, to abandoned (and still open) mine shafts with various pieces of heavy machinery crumbling into rust, to a failed 1890's project to build the world's largest roller coaster on the east side of Dunderberg Mountain. It has multiple ghost towns - not just Doodletown, but Johnsontown, Surebridge, Pine Meadow, Orangeburg (actually, that's on the West Point side of the line, off limits nowadays) and others whose names escape me at the moment. One of the village churches is still in service, even though the village isn't there any more.
I didn't mention much of this because I was trying to concentrate on what someone might want to do as a short side trip from a thru-hike.
The place was pretty much an industrial wasteland when Mary Harriman gave it to the state - and it's never really been cleaned up. That's why it's not lawful to bushwhack there - too many cellar holes, mine shafts, unstable slopes, and so on.. (I've never been denied permission if I've stopped at Bear Mountain or Tiorati and asked, but I do know people who've gotten tickets for not asking. I think they might be inclined to tell me 'yes' because I know where I'm going and how to get there, and I'm happy to discuss plans.)
Feral Bill
06-12-2018, 13:16
Duplicate post
Feral Bill
06-12-2018, 13:17
That's why it's not lawful to bushwhack there - too many cellar holes, mine shafts, unstable slopes, and so on.. (I've never been denied permission if I've stopped at Bear Mountain or Tiorati and asked, but I do know people who've gotten tickets for not asking. I think they might be inclined to tell me 'yes' because I know where I'm going and how to get there, and I'm happy to discuss plans.) Really? OF all the crazy rules they have had at Harriman, I've never heard of this one before. (I've also never seen any enforcement more than a few feet from a road.) Do tell more.
Another Kevin
06-14-2018, 20:29
Really? OF all the crazy rules they have had at Harriman, I've never heard of this one before. (I've also never seen any enforcement more than a few feet from a road.) Do tell more.
It was a pretty confused situation, and now my Google-fu is failing me with finding the postings that discussed it.
The enforcement was on a road, sort of, there were a couple of park police riding an off-road vehicle of some sort up one of the old mine roads that people were hiking on. (Not all of them are on the official maps, of course.) It surprised the hikers, and it surprised the Trail Conference people, too - the hikers were following a route that was described in one of the guidebooks.
I don't recall what the outcome was. It could have been that it was a temporary regulation, or overzealous enforcement of the regulation that's intended to prohibit technical rock climbing outside The Powerlinezz, or the cop thought that they were looking to camp off trail (surely illegal in Harriman), or just got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. But since hearing about that, I always ask permission in Harriman before going off trail. I've never been told, "no," but I've also not been told, "you don't need to ask," so they seem to like to leave it ambiguous.
The park police do tell the occasional white lie. Two Martin Luther King weekends ago, I was heading in to night-hike from the Tiorati ranger station to meet up with the guys at Fingerboard, and at the parking lot there was a guy in uniform explaining to a couple, "The park is closed!"
I hung back and after they left, said to the officer, "Closed? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?"
He glanced at me, with my usual deep-winter pack (minus snowshoes, crampons, ice axe, no need for them where I was going in the forecast weather, but with Microspikes jingling on one of the outside pack straps), and said, "Oh, you go in!"
"Huh?"
"When I tell people that they don't have adequate gear to spend a night in there, they argue. When I tell them we're closed, they go home. We do at least one rescue a week from there, and I didn't want it to be them. I can see you know what you're doing, and have what you need!"