Discussion: Harriman State Park is growing!

No, its not the result of a menacing lava dome pushing up Surebridge Mountain. Instead, Rockland county and the NYS parks dept. have finalized the purchase of over 500 acres of pristine, scenic land on the southern tip of Harriman State park.
The area known as Wrightman’s Plateau had been in the cross hairs of developers for years. I’ve explored the area and can say that it is a spectacular addition to the park. The terrain is characterized by a series of large plateaus separated by imposing cliffs. Views from the cliff tops are impressive.
It’s not clear to me what percentage belongs to the park and what is part of the county’s preserved land system adjoining the park. Either way, no condo, Mc Mansions or 7-elevens will be built up there!

The best area to O just gets bigger and better! Future WOC map??

Excellent!

Wooo!

All very brave...for a state whose deficit is growing from $1/2 billion to $9 billion this coming fiscal year - per tonight's Lehrer Report.

Awesome!

The main constraint to mapping more of Harriman, isn't the lack of terrain, but parking and physical access. There has always been a huge chunk of intriguing terrain SE of Seven Lakes Drive, and SW of the Jackie Jones map that has gone unmapped, because there is no realistic way to get to it.

My question to Bernie is, does this new land provide a new access opportunity? I hoping that there is a possibility along Torne Valley Road. I see a "Town of Ramapo" recreation area close to, but not adjoining this new terrain.

The torne valley sports complex has all the facilities that would be needed for a meet HQ. Plenty of indoor space, private rooms, showers, … . There are even some town woods behind it for training.
A 1K walk would get you to the woods. But a good place for the start could be some distance in from there. There are some pretty rugged areas near the bottom. Some of it is still owned by the Ramapo Land Co. who sold the plateau to the state.

Chitownclark – the zoning plans for the plateau would have allowed almost 500 high density homes up there. A natural resource would have been lost forever. It was money well spent in my opinion.

Nice. 500 acres is 2 sq km...but as Eric says, there's plenty of adjoining unmapped terrain in Harriman, and it's nice to have facilities nearby. How severely do the cliffs break up the terrain?

Never thought of it as only 2 sq km. Then again, it is attached to another 40,000 acres of Park. There are 2 or 3 semi circular bands of cliffs creating a wedding cake type of terrain. In some places they are dead vertical and over 50 feet tall but in some places are broken down and can be navigated. I envision courses that would have controls at one plateau then -almost like a road crossing - take you through the cliffs in a safe location to the next plateau.

...Chitownclark – the zoning plans for the plateau would have allowed almost 500 high density homes up there. A natural resource would have been lost forever. It was money well spent in my opinion.

...and mine too Bernard. I used the term "brave" as a complement. As an old Berkeley grad from the '60's, I think the role of government in New York state is much more advanced than almost any other. I'd be happy to live there, and pay the coming NY state tax increases, if I could have Harriman to run in.

As a 'fan' of harriman from a distance, this is naturally great news. Is anyone from the area aware of a news release or some sort of announcement of this that I could track down? We are facing the opposite situation here, with a road being proposed through the heart of one of our "O" areas (and an environmentally sensitive area) so it would be nice to have examples of where there is more progressive thinking going on. Thanks.

upnorthguy: I hope it isn't War Eagle. Love that map. Well love most of the areas in Whitehorse. #2 place (after Harriman of course) to O in North America in my books.