Schuber/Yellow-Silver Trails Loop

Ramapo Valley County Reservation

MacMillan Reservoir - Photo by Daniel Chazin MacMillan Reservoir - Photo by Daniel Chazin

This loop hike traverses lesser-used areas of the reservation, passing MacMillan Reservoir and attractive cascades, and climbs to a panoramic viewpoint over the Manhattan skyline.

41.077853, -74.187596

The hike begins at a kiosk in the southwest corner of the parking area. Just ahead, you'll notice a triple-black-square-on-yellow blaze on a tree, which marks the start of the Vista Spur Trail. Follow the black-square-on-yellow blazes as they descend wooden steps, join a wide dirt road, and continue ahead to cross the Ramapo River on a steel truss bridge. Just beyond the bridge, you'll pass...

Prepare For Your Hike

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Trip Reports

rate experience
November 06, 2018
5
First Solo Hike
This was one of the first solo hikes I ever did as a teenager and it was perfect! You begin with a lot of crowds, but then eventually end up in the peace and quiet of nature with nothing but the wind in the trees. Just the right length for a solid morning to afternoon hike. Takes me about 3 hours without breaks!
RachyLovesRattys
April 13, 2014
0
Great Hike!
<p>Did this hike this AM! Totally an awsome hike! Weather wasn't to hot in the AM. started at 7:45 and returned to the car at 12 noon.</p> <p>Only one thing to point out for the people that read this, see below.</p> <p>On the way down towards the end after this part,&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.592000007629395px; background-color: #00ff00;">&nbsp;After passing through an area with thick understory,&nbsp;<strong><span style="background-color: #00ffff;">After this point there is a hugh tree that has fallen down and is blocking the Yellow-Silver trail! You need to work through the tree to get to the path that turns to the right. If you try and go around it to the left you will get taken way off the trail.&nbsp;</span></strong></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.592000007629395px; background-color: #00ff00;">the Yellow-Silver Trail descends to end at an intersection with the Schuber Trail,</span><span style="background-color: #00ff00; color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.592000007629395px;">opposite the dam at the eastern end of MacMillan Reservoir.</span></p> <p><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">On another note the directions for this hike are spot on!</span></p> <p><span style="background-color: #ffffff;"></span>PS: Get an early start, the parking lot fills up with tons of people that come to walk their dogs to the dam area.</p>
nweinstock
August 13, 2010
0
I did this hike on 8/12/2010
<P>The park itself is very beautiful, the hike has a nice mix of mountain trails, river aligned trails, and woods trails, the directions given for the most part were acurate, but since the writer posted this hike back in 2003 some of the trails have changed, been added and removed. So I have a few helpful comments: ***When you near the end of the green/white trail the trail forks, you would THINK that going straight would be correct beacause you can see that it does change to orange from where you are standing at the fork, but you actually need to BEAR RIGHT, and you will instantly see the bridge and building ruins. This is where the green/white trail officially ends (has 3 blazes) and the orange trail begins again. ***When you go passed the dam and climb the hill you reach an intersection where a red trail comes from the left side before you reach the intersection he mentions where a blue trail emerges. ignore it, and continue on the orange trail as instructed. [<EM>NOTE:&nbsp; Both of the above comments are correct, and the hike description has now been edited to take them into account. Daniel Chazin</EM>] ***When you are coming down the mountain on the yellow/silver trail there are multiple intersections of woods roads that you might think are the road you are looking for, but they arent (the trickiest one actually follows the yellow/silver trail-the trail APPEARS to bend right and turns into a woods road with bricks in parts of the road, but you will soon notice that it is unmarked, this is not correct, the trail bends left, and gets narrow, if i didnt climb back up and double check the blaze i wouldnt have believed it) there are at least 4 times where the yellow/silver trail intersects with another trail or appears to fork, for each intersection BEAR LEFT...you stay on the yellow/silver trail untill you hit a road (a REAL park, car acessable road-not a woods road) [<EM>NOTE:&nbsp; There are a number of such side trails as you descend on switchbacks along the Yellow-Silver Trail, but, at present, the trail is very clearly blazed, so that if you carefully follow the blazes, you should not get lost here.&nbsp; Daniel Chazin</EM>]***after you make your 3rd left to stay on the yellow/silver the blazes change from yellow with a silver stripe down the middle to a diagonally cut half yellow half silver blaze. <EM>[NOTE:&nbsp; This was true when you did the hike, but since then, all of the blazes have been changed to silver-on-yellow.&nbsp; Daniel Chazin</EM>].&nbsp; <EM>*</EM>it rained the entire time i hiked here, but it was beautiful non the less and once i left the lake road i didnt see a soul til i got back on the lake road near the parking lot where i began...the woods here are thick but the trails for the most part are clearly marked...the water is clean, there are some neat boulders scattered around the woods, and amazingly this park doesnt close til a half hour AFTER sundown...this trail took me 3.25 hours to complete including the two times i went the wrong way...parts of it are a little challanging but even a novice hiker should be able to do this without much trouble...HAVE FUN!</P>
silverosepetals
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