Forest fires in Harriman

[Dana]

Couple of sizeable forest fires in Harriman State Park over the past few days. 180 acres in the Pine Meadow area and nearly 500 acres on and around Tom Jones Mountain. Looks like the fires started Sunday afternoon or evening and as of Tuesday afternoon are contained and mostly out, thanks in part to heavy rain on Tuesday morning. The group camps on Little Long Pond (Kanawauke) were barely saved. Rt. 106 was closed but is now reopened, but the trails in the area (presumably the R-D, Victory, and Triangle) are closed. As far as I can tell the fire on Tom Jones stayed south of Rt. 106, so most likely the trails to the north are still open.

My guess is campfires got out of control, as Tom Jones has a leanto and lots of tent sites, and Pine Meadow Lake is an equally popular (if illegal) camping area. I thought I smelled burning leaves at one point on Sunday afternoon, I guess I was right.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2016/11/14/harriman-state-park-fires/93790612/

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2016/11/15/brush-fires-rain-rockland/93886382/

 

[coldfeet]

Thanks for telling me this, we usually go out the day after Thanksgiving and camp out near one of the leanto's. I never remember which one, think we stayed at the big metal one 2 years ago. If your around come join us that weekend. I was also lucky to help out with the new AMC camp that opened up this past summer. They really poured a ton of $ into making it nice. Have you seen it?

 

[Dana]

The metal leantos are all supposed to be reserved for organized camp use, not the general public, but the camps use them so rarely that nobody really cares. I don't think any of them were in the fire areas. It'll probably be awhile before the Tom Jones leanto is usable again, though you never know, I don't know the full extent of the fire. The Bald Rocks leanto (that's the one made of huge stone slabs) on the north side of 106 should be fine, though both are too close to the road for my taste (too many people, I've seen 30+ tents around the TJ leanto and almost as many at Bald Rocks).

I visited the AMC camp with some people from other group camps in the spring before it was open, quite impressive, and a good thing for the park... it's been a long time since anybody put any serious money into the camps in the park.

 

[coldfeet]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Dana]

I saw a photo of the Tom Jones leanto taken by my ranger friend today... there's burned brush all around but amazingly, the leanto itself looks untouched. The ranger tells me there are still a lot of hot spots, though the fire is essentially out and rain forecast for this Sunday should take care of what's left smoldering. No word on how long it will be before the trails are open again.

 

[Dana]

Saturday morning update

From the Park's facebook page:

Two fires in Harriman State Park have burned a combined 1,100 acres over the course of this week. The fires are mostly under control although still being monitored and maintained by NYS Park Forest Rangers. Park officials advise visitors to avoid the following areas and affected trails until further notice:
--> From Route 202 or Seven Lakes Drive: Suffern-Bear Mountain (S-BM)/Pine Meadow/Conklin's Crossing trails
--> Tom Jones Mountain and shelter from the area of Kanawauke Road (Route 106): Victory, Triangle, and Ramapo Dunderberg (R-D) trails

 

[iAmKrzys]

I would imagine that the fires would be gone after the snowfall. Here is what we saw from Timp-Torne Trail today:

 

[coldfeet]

Perfect! We are heading to West Mtn and the Timp on Friday. Oh how I how to have some white stuff up there. I think rain is predicted on Thursday, yuk slush