Harriman State Park (NY) is about 30 minutes outside of NY City. The main areas get crowded on late spring, summer and early fall weekends, but hike into the park a mile or so and you will find excellent and challenging trails virtually all to yourself. The Harriman Trails, A Guide and History gives the hiker many interesting facts on the trail they are contemplating hiking. It also gives the weary hiker the distance to the trail head ;) Great book. Too bad it's out-of-print. I was going to buy another one because my copy is dog-eared and worn.

Mr. Miles has captured the essence of Harriman State Park in his magnificent guide. As a life-long resident of Rockland County, which incorporates the eastern half of the park, I have hiked many of the trails. Yet with Mr. Miles' guide in hand, it's like hiking each trail for the first time! Of particular interest is the author's detailed history of the "forgotten villages" which were absorbed into the Park, and are slowly fading from memory. Harriman Park with it's 50,000+ acres is a wonderful treasure of natural unspoiled beauty only 40 miles from the greatest city in the world. Mr. Miles has given his readers a magnificent passport to this treasure!