OK, so strangely enough despite 4 years in NJ I've only gone hiking or backpacking once in northern NJ or southern NY.

I'm training for some alpine objectives and want some relatively short but strenuous hikes where I can pick up 2000-3000ft of elevation gain. Do any trails in, say the Water Gap or Harriman spring to mind?

KG, try Silvermine trail in the Gap - that thing is a killer!

welle wrote:KG, try Silvermine trail in the Gap - that thing is a killer!

Go another hour past Harriman and do the Devils Path?

I haven't done any hiking in the Gap, but I have done a bit in NJ and I can't think of anything with that amount of elevation gain. I agree with the suggestion to head north to the Catskills and specifically Devil's Path. I backpacked it a couple of years ago, it's usually done in 3 days/2 nights, 20 or so miles and something like 18,000 ft of elevation change all told. A few day hike ideas are Breakneck Ridge (near Cold Spring on the Hudson) which starts out with a 1200 foot scramble that then connects to various trails; Schunemunk Mountain, I've hiked a 10-mile or so loop there that starts off with about 1300 feet of gain over the first 5 miles; Bear Mountain is of course crowded on summer weekends but it has maybe 1200 foot gain over 2 miles or so.

Isn't mt. tammany in the gap like 18000 feet of gain??


(seemed like a nice work out anyway...could always do it multiple times/outing)

When training in Florida for mountain trail runs I resorted to jogging stadium steps once a week. Worked up to 1-1/2 hours which if I remember right translated into 3-4K ft vertical. Boring as sin but highly effective for conditioning.

Breakneck Ridge. It's a great training route. You can veer off trail for lots of scrambling and there is a great 3 mile loop that involves 1300 feet of elevation gain. Do laps if you need to.

The <a href="http://www.summitpost.org/route/164146/red-dot-trail.html" target="_blank">red trail</a> up Mount Tammany in the Water Gap would be my suggestion. It's about 1200 ft elevation gain over 1.2 miles--probably the best Jersey has to offer. I'm doing Mt Rainier in 2 months and am doing 3-4 treks up it for each training hike.

If you head up to the Catskills check out the <a href="http://www.summitpost.org/route/164512/wittenberg-cornell-slide-trail-from-the.html" target="_blank">Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide</a> trail, which is about 3,600 ft over 7 miles.

Sam Page wrote:Breakneck Ridge. It's a great training route. You can veer off trail for lots of scrambling and there is a great 3 mile loop that involves 1300 feet of elevation gain. Do laps if you need to.

+1

You can add many miles on to the back end of it via various loops if you like. Gets crowded on the weekend, though.

kheegster wrote:OK, so strangely enough despite 4 years in NJ I've only gone hiking or backpacking once in northern NJ or southern NY.

I'm training for some alpine objectives and want some relatively short but strenuous hikes where I can pick up 2000-3000ft of elevation gain. Do any trails in, say the Water Gap or Harriman spring to mind?

What about doing laps @ the Gunks on some of the scramble routes

FortMental wrote:

Catamount wrote:Here's a TR that some wanker from Texas put up a year or so ago.

http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/499498/2300-Feet-of-Elevation-Gain-at-Delaware-Water-Gap.html

HA! Only a Texas Wanker could find a way to put 2300 of elevation in the Delaware Water Gap! I'd bet that if used really little baby-steps he'd have put in 4600 feet!

I just moved to BC, now ascent numbers are 6-7,000ft :/

Catamount wrote:

James_W wrote:I just moved to BC, now ascent numbers are 6-7,000ft :/

What the highpoint of BC?

Congrats on your move. Hope you enjoy the new locale!

Hmm well Mount Fairweather (15,298ft) or Mount Waddington (13,176ft)

I live about 15 minutes from the DWG and do the following twice a week; up Tammany on the Red Dot Trail, then follow the Kittatinny Ridge along a fire road, down the other side of the ridge on an old boyscout trail, back up and follow the ridge a bit more, bushwack down to Dunfield Creek, follow the Dunfield Creek and Farview Trails back up to the AT, along the AT to another fire road heading up an un-named hill, and back down to the parking lot. Total of 7 miles and 1900 ft of elevation gain in about 3 hours. PM me if you want to tag along one of these days.

I agree with everyone who said Breakneck Ridge. That whole Hudson Highlands area has a lot of nice trails that can be as long or as short as you want. Bear Mountain (yeah, it's crowded, I know) and Beacon aren't bad. Breakneck has the best scrambles though.

In NJ, the Kittatinny area is nice. Again, not a whole of elevation, about the same as the highlands, but you can go for long day hikes. High Point, Sunrise Mountain etc.