The New York Ramblers - A Hiking Club

History

The New York Ramblers, a hiking club, was founded by Edward Bursht and B. W. Blandford on October 25, 1923, at the summit of High Mountain, Haledon, New Jersey, at the cabin of a Mr. Ellis, the same place where the Paterson Ramblers hiking club was founded in 1904. The Ramblers were described in the original New York Walk Book as having been "organized to promote an outdoor and social spirit among congenial people of both sexes."

Laura and Guy Waterman, in Forest and Crag, their history of hiking in the northeastern United States, describe the Ramblers as being notorious for fast-paced hikes. Both of these descriptions are apt; however, hiking fast is not a Rambler objective, nor are the Ramblers by any means the fastest group.

The club has observed the Torrey Memorial with a hike to the inscription on Long Mountain every year since its installation there in 1938. The Ramblers have attracted people from all walks of life and all economic backgrounds. Possibly the most famous person to hike with the Ramblers was the science fiction author H. P. Lovecraft, who mentions an outing with the club in a diary entry from the mid-1920's.