Sterling Forest - Bare Rock, Fire Tower - 8/15/10

[njHiking.com]

Finally a “cool” 80 degree partly-sunny day… what a nice change.

Sterling Forest is just over the NJ-NY border in New York, to the west of Harriman State Park. We hadn’t been there in awhile, and decided to check out the Bare Rock trail and Greenwood Lake overlook. There is a small viewpoint trail from the Bare Rock trail that leads to an open area with a wide view over Greenwood lake and makes for a nice break spot.

After that we just put our route together as we went, and ended up at the fire tower, which was open. Even though it was overcast that day, the 360° views were nice. There are two other nice small overlooks, before and after the fire tower. Near the visitor center, you can check out an old iron furnace and some other building ruins.

8.1 miles. Trails are very well marked, and there are signs posted at junctions to really make things clear. A lot of Sterling is old woods roads that are quite rocky. We’d rate this route as moderate, with the exception of the approach to the fire tower that is up a steep rocky section, with a little scrambling.

Route: From the visitor center… BLUE - ORANGE (Bare Rock) - BLUE STRIPE on ORANGE (Viewpoint Spur) - WHITE STRIPE on RED (Fire Tower Trail) - BLUE (Sterling Ridge)/TEAL (Highlands) - ORANGE (Bare Rock) - BLUE

Complete hike details, photos, and video on our Sterling Forest page.