I'm so glad the cool weather is knocking down the gnat population- finally! They've really been bothering me this year. Maybe, I'm just getting softer. I actually quit about 5 hikes this year due to this.
Another idea - If you hike about a half-mile up the Washburn trail on Mt. Taurus (Hudson Highlands SP), you come to a nice viewpoint overlooking the town of Cold Spring.
Thank you for reaching out to us about a potential map addition. Our volunteer Chair for the Long Path is familiar with this trail, having explored it this past April, and he has indicated it is an unofficial trail that is not regularly maintained. Thank you for the offer to GPS this trail, but that won't be necessary at this time. The next edition of this map is likely to come out later in 2018, so we will be sure to check the status of this trail then to see whether it should be added to the map in some way.
For the West Hudson Map set, there is a marked trail not shown on the map. Right by Gonzaga Park, maybe 1/2 mile from the parking lot, there is White Trail that meets up with the Long Path. It is not shown on the map. I can get approximate coordinates from my GPS track if it would help so that it might be included in the next edition.
On today's hike I went to the cliffs above Claudius SMith Den for the view and found that someone had pitched a tent and made a fire ring right on the cliff top. They left a pan with aluminum foil over it on the fire ring. I was not sure if this encampment was abandoned or if the "camper" was merely not there at the moment. I thought I should inform the park police as to this illegal encampment but am posting it here.
Last summer I did an overnight backpack of the RD Trail from east to west (to Tuxedo) and the only water soruce then was Lake Toriati, at the midpoint. I got to it in twilight and I used a Steripen on four bottles, and it was fine. There was absolutely no need for bleach. Lake Toriati was the ONLY water source on that trail. Everything else was dry. Yes, this is the driest summer in my memory at Harriman.
Hiked Bear Mountain to Sloatsburg yesterday (Sept 18), 1777 E Trail, Timp Pass Road, Red Cross Trail, Welch Drive, then roadwalk to Sloatsburg. The only water source besides the fountains at Lake Welch was Doodletown Brook, it had some standing water in it that didn't look so bad. Every other stream I saw was dry or had extremely murky standing water.
I don't know when they shut off the water at Lake Welch, I hope they leave it on for a while.
Thank you for reaching out to us about a potential map addition. Our volunteer Chair for the Long Path is familiar with this trail, having explored it this past April, and he has indicated it is an unofficial trail that is not regularly maintained. Thank you for the offer to GPS this trail, but that won't be necessary at this time. The next edition of this map is likely to come out later in 2018, so we will be sure to check the status of this trail then to see whether it should be added to the map in some way.
~Jeremy
TC Cartographer