Lake Stahahe Paddle

Visiting a state park or a beach on July 4 is a little bit like going skiing on Martin Luther King Day. You should expect crowds. Harriman State Park gets very busy on a normal summer weekend. People from New York City, New Jersey and surrounding areas come in droves to picnic and swim at the lakes. July 4 weekend is a whole ‘nother level.

Harriman’s summer crowds are not known for being rule followers but when Independence Day rolls around standards go completely out the window. People swim in lakes without beaches, they park on roads, driveways and lawns and all kinds of places where they aren’t supposed to be. It becomes a real problem for the people that are responsible for the Park.

If you know the park well enough, there are spots where you can get away from the crowds even on the busiest days. On July 4, while the Lake Welch and Lake Tiorati beaches were busting at the seams, I drove through downtown Sloatsburg and entered the park on a road that most people do not know about.

One of the lesser known lakes in Harriman State Park is Lake Stahahe. You need a permit to paddle on the Harriman Lakes, and if you want to, you can pay a little extra to get a key, which allows you to park in dedicated paddlers parking at a few of the lakes, including Lake Stahahe. The nice thing about Stahahe is that the boating parking requires the key and there are no picnic grounds or big parking areas around the rest of the lake. There are a few summer camps, but on July 4, they are closed.

When I got to Lake Stahahe, I was happy to see only one other car at the boaters parking area. I unlocked the gate, locked it behind me after I entered and drove over to the boat launch to drop my kayak on the ground.

It was a nice day for a paddle. The sun was out. The water was calm. It was a little on the hot side, but once I got out on the water, a nice breeze cooled things off. Lake Stahahe isn’t very big. Following the shoreline all the way around only get you about 2 miles I think. I wasn’t there to put up any big numbers or set any speed records so I just had a leisurely paddle.

It’s pretty amazing that on the July 4 holiday I had the whole lake to myself other than the birds and turtles and one other guy in a fishing kayak. I did one complete lap around the near end of the lake, then down it’s full length past some summer camps to the dam at the opposite end.

I lingered there for a moment, taking a look around and drinking a little water and then headed back. Of course it didn’t take me very long to do that first lap, so I went ahead and did another one and explore around a couple of the islands out in the middle of the lake for a little while.