The 22 mile Ramapo Dunderberg Trail
The Ramapo Dunderberg Trail is located in Harriman State Park, New York. The trail dates back to 1920 when the first miles were established by the Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference. It is about 22 miles in length with around 5,500 feet of elevation gain. The trail traverses the park, starting from the Tuxedo Train Station along the Ramapo River in New York and travels all the way to Dunderberg Mountain which pushes out into the Hudson River.
This is a point to point trail that can be covered in a few days using the 5 shelters along the way. If you live in NYC, this would make for one hell of an adventure. After completing the trail, the hiker would then make their way to the Bear Mountain Inn which is a couple of more trail miles away for a nights stay before crossing the Bear Mtn Bridge the next morning and walking north along Route 9D to the Manitou Train Station.
Our goal was to complete the trail within 7 hours. We set out early Sunday morning to shuttle cars to the end point. It is about a 30 minute drive each way so plan at least an hour + of travel time before getting started. We had one water drop at the mid way point where the trail crosses Seven Lakes Drive. The 9 of us, which included our dog Sammy began our adventure just after 7am.
Make sure to pick up a trail map from the New York New Jersey Trail Conference (map 118 & 119). Along with the hard copy map, you can use apps like Avenza & AllTrails. These 2 applications have the entirety of the RD trail and Harriman State Park.
