Beautifully wide vistas make the top of Long Mountain, in Harriman State Park New York, the perfect place for a Sunday morning breakfast or lunch. Get there by taking the Long Path to the top in one of our “best hikes in Harriman” picks.
Late start to the weekend? Want to go out and back before the football starts, but also want to feel like you’ve been somewhere? Try the summit of Long Mountain, in the north part of Harriman State Park, NY.
This loop is just the right combination for a beautiful autumn or late spring day when you want a spectacular view for minimal effort, and you’re short on time. At just over two miles, this “lollipop”-style hike (a loop hike on a stick) leads you uphill through a variety of vegetation, across a rocky mountain “spine” to a wonderful spot to have lunch and enjoy spectacular views of Bear Mountain, Turkey Hill Lake, and the Popolopen Torne. If you have dogs, they can refresh themselves in Deep Hollow Brook, at the bottom of Long Mountain.
Dowload our PDF trail map of Long Mountain and Turkey Hill Lake Here.
Our basic trail map for the Turkey Hill Lake/Long Mountain/Long Path area of Harriman State Park is a downloadable PDF.
Download our PDF trail map of the area (you can use this trail map to hike to Turkey Mountain Lake, as well). You’ll park at the trailhead for the Long Path, and follow the aqua-blazed Long Path up Long Mountain and down the other side, along a ledge and a series of switchbacks. Just before you come to a brook at the bottom of Long Mountain, you’ll turn left onto an (unmarked) stony woods road, hiking for about a half mile until you reach the Long Path again. Turn right, and retrace your steps briefly (the stick of the lollipop) back to your car.
A memorial (marked on the map with an “X”) is cut into the exposed stone spine at the top of the mountain. It’s an homage to Raymond H. Torrey, who scouted this section of the trail and held the views from the summit as his favorite in the park.
You can escape for just a little while this weekend: Follow the Long Path from Route 6 in Harriman State Park to the top of Long Mountain and back, in just over an hour.
To Get There:
Take the Palisades Parkway north to exit 18. At the roundabout, take the second exit onto Route 6 west. Drive for about half a mile, and then take the right-hand turn onto a paved park road. This is the parking area for the Long Path trailhead. Pull up to the kiosk (on the right) and park.
See our other “Best Hikes” here.
Hi There,
I hiked the Long Mountain Trail this past Saturday morning Oct 25th. This was my first hike in Harriman and definitely not my last! Couldn’t of picked a better hike for my first time here. The views were absolutely amazing and I really enjoyed the different areas along the trail. I did the hike solo started at the kiosk 9am and got back to the car at 12pm. Spent over an hour sitting up top the summit taking in the views!. Thank you for this wonderful website and description of the trails. you led me in the right direction for my first hike at Harriman. Can’t wait to come back and explore other areas of the park. Are there any other trails that are similar is length and skill level to Long Mountain? Actually I wouldn’t mind something a little more rocky with some steep climbs 🙂 Thank you again for a great website
Hi Billy. Thanks for the comment! There are so many different trails that you’ll just love — I’ll post some of them over the next couple days. But, one of the best hiking areas in the park has to be along the Ramapo Dunderberg trail, near the parking areas on 106. You’ll love the terrain. I’ll make that my next post. Thanks, Billy! (By the way, if you’re into rocky and steep climbs, you should give the Popolopen Torne a try!)
Thanks for the nice things you said about my site!
Hi Suzy,
Great site! Appreciate the time and effort you have put into it. We did this hike on Sunday afternoon and it was perfect! Looking forward to getting to the rest of your top 5.
We made the mistake of going to Lake Welch a couple of weeks ago. Not the best experience or a great hike. So glad I cam across your site!
@Josepf
Hi Suzy,
Great site! Appreciate the time and effort you have put into it. We did this hike on Sunday afternoon and it was perfect! Looking forward to getting to the rest of your top 5.
We made the mistake of going to Lake Welch a couple of weeks ago. Not the best experience or a great hike. So glad I came across your site!
@Josepf
I made the mistake of going here today, a Monday. It seems to be a very popular gay cruising destination for old white men. There were seriously about 30 men there, sitting in cars, meandering the trails and one almost naked guy fondling his nipples. Not fun. Luckily I am a woman and I had 2 dogs with me, so was not too threatened, but I will never return to this trail unless it’s a family friendly weekend! Be warned!
You are so exaggerating, sister. There were not 30 men cruising in the woods that day, maybe you saw three. Now, if old white men are twisting their nipples and you are offended then the best thing to do is just keep on walking thru…the park belongs to everyone. I hate to say it but perhaps you were a little jealous no one was looking at you!
Haha!! Yes. If I happen to see a gaggle of gay white men twisting their nipples somewhere along this hike I’ll just add it as featured scenery.
That is a mean reply to someone who is entitled to her opinion. I, too would have been offended to see men or women (sex does not matter) fondling nipples in public. Take it to your private places. We did not come to see your show we came to see nature.
Is this a difficult hike for someone with a fear of heights ?
Thanks for posting this hike info! We went New Year’s Day with our senior dog. Took maybe 2 hours? We didn’t rush. Beautiful views at the top, highly recommend. Was sad to see such volume of trash around the trail head 🙁
Looking fwd to exploring more.
Misread the map and did not look for the unmarked stony woods road until after crossing Deep Hollow Brook. Fortunately, the map showed the road crossing back across the contour line that I mistook for the brook, and we traversed back across the brook and ran into the stony woods road. All ended well for us. But, there was a family that came down the Long Path with us (after they had used the Popolopen Gorge (Red) trail to get up Long Mountain. They did not look for the stony woods road and kept going on the Long Path – even as the sun was setting. I hope everything turned out okay for them. I had no idea where they had come from when they said they used the Red trail.
Did this hike yesterday. Plus was we found a dog and returned it to its owner! Also forgot about the Stoney trail but retraced our steps back…,wondering why it is not marked? Thanks for the great info was such a nice hike and day!