| White Bar Trail | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Name: | White Bar Trail | |
| Blaze: | Horizontal white | |
| Distance: | 7.4 miles (as of 2007) | |
| Notable areas: | Camp Deerslayer, Carr Pond Mountain, Dutch Doctor's Shelter | |
| Termini 1: | Arden-Surebridge Trail, Long Path | |
| Termini 2: | Johnsontown Road cul-de-sac | |
The White Bar Trail is a trail in Harriman State Park. The trail goes for 7.4 miles and connects the Johnsontown Road cul-de-sac to the Arden-Surebridge Trail and Long Path. The trail is blazed by horizontal white blazes, one of a kind in the park. The trail junctions with the Triangle Trail twice, the Victory Trail, the Tuxedo - Mt. Ivy Trail, and the White Cross Trail. Notable places along the trail are Camp Deerslayer, a Boy Scout Camp, Carr Pond Mountain and Dutch Doctor's Shelter.
Trail description[]
Mileposts 0.0 - 2.0[]
The White Bar Trail begins at an intersection with the merged Arden-Surebridge trail and the Long Path, about the same point where they merge. Just as a note, the Bottle Cap Trail starts nearby as well. At .3 miles, the WB Trail joins the Crooked Road and about .6 of a mile later, merges with the Dunning Trail. The yellow-blazed dunning trail lasts for about another 1/4 of a mile, when it turns right towards Boston Mine. At 1.7 miles, the WB Trail merges with the Nurian Trail, a white-blazed trail named after its creator, Kerson Nurian. .05 a mile later, at 1.75, the WB reaches the site of Camp Deerslayer. At 1.8 miles, the Nurian Trail leaves to the right and at 2 miles, the Island Pond Road joins the WB Trail.
Mileposts 2.0 - 4.4[]
After joining in with the unmarked Island Pond Road, the White Bar Trail cross County Route 106 at mile marker 2.05 and starts climbing steeply. At 2.3 miles, the Hillside shelter is visible on the right and begins an ascent up Carr Pond Mountain's second summit. At 3.1 miles, the WB Trail crosses a brook and begins a steady climb up Parker Cabin Mountain. At 3.55 miles, the yellow triangle-blazed Triangle Trail merges with the WB Trail and soon leaves to the left. After another .2 miles, milepost 3.9, you reach the summit of Parker Cabin Mountain and a junction with the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail between Parker Cabin and Black Ash Mountains. After dropping for a 1/2 mile, the WB Trail crosses the Victory and White Cross Trails at milepost 4.4.
Mileposts 4.5 - 7.4[]
The White Bar Trail continues on after passing the Victory (blue V on white) and White Cross (as the name suggests, a white cross) Trails. The White Bar Trail then begins to climb Blauvelt Mountain and reaches the terminus of the Triangle Trail and passes the Dutch Doctor Shelter. The 1992 terminus of the WB Trail happens .3 of a mile later at the Tuxedo - Mt. Ivy Trail. As of 2007, the terminus has been moved and the WB Trail continues on merging with the T-MI Trail. The trail continues on and soon enough, the T-MI trail leaves to the left. The WB Trail continues on comes close to Seven Lakes Drive, but turns to the right onto Old Johnsontown Road, an unpaved continuation of Johnsontown Road. The trail crossed through switchbacks and crosses the Kakiat Trail. At this point, the White Bar Trail continues on a flat meadow road and ends at the Johnsontown Road cul-de-sac, where the Blue Disc Trail begins.
History[]
The White Bar Trail was first marked in 1922 by the Boy Scouts, who had a camp called Camp Deerslayer. Their markers for a trail was a red disc with a white bar through it. They used this marker for 35 miles, but the only section related to the White Bar Trail was the Parker Cabin Hollow portion. The trail was neglected for some time and was restored in 1944 by the ADK. The ADK continued mantaining the trail until 1964 when the new Long Path was created by the NY-NJ Trail Conference. For about 17 years, the area from Dutch Doctor's Shelter to Island Pond. In 1981, the trail, Long Path, was re-routed and the WB trail got its old route back.
Terminus confusion[]
Back in 1992, the White Bar Trail begins at the Arden-Surebridge Trail and the Long Path. This has stayed the same where, as of 2007, its other terminus has moved from the Tuxedo - Mt. Ivy Trail to the Johnsontown Road cul-de-sac. This change has resulted in changing the length from 5.85 miles to 7.4 miles.
References[]
Myles, William J., Harriman Trails, A Guide and History, The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, New York, N.Y., 1999