[ Visiting the New York Ramblers birthplace on our 90th Anniversary, High Mountain, Haledon, NJ, October 2013. ]
The New York Ramblers 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. However, while that is true for a few of them, in fact, most of our hikes proceed at a brisk or moderate pace.
The club has observed the Torrey Memorial with a hike to the inscription on Long Mountain every year since its installation there in 1938. Throughout our history, 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.
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Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as the sunshine flows into the trees.
-John Muir
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Member of New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Photo by Jim
