Today Mark, Marta, Joshua, and I tackled Bear Mountain. We set off at around 11:00 this morning (just barely morning), made the short 10-12 mile drive, made a few wrong turns, and finally ended at Bear Mountain Inn. It was an interesting site. Hundreds of families were there playing soccer in various fields, grilling food, playing basketball, and basically, not hiking. For the number of people who were at the base of Bear Mountain, we saw very few people hiking on the various paths.
The hike was pretty typical New York hiking woods. It wasn’t too hot, there were several dry river beds, lots the lush woods, and large rock formations. I’ll let the pictures tell the story, since it’s simply easier, though I should mention a few things. It took us around two hours to reach the top. To be honest, there were several paths, and we started on one that didn’t go to the top without realizing it. The hike was quite an exercise too. It wasn’t too difficult, but it certainly make you break a sweat. The hike was easily worth it when we reached the top and ate a little lunch, which was an interesting hodge-podge of bread, boiled eggs, chips, lettuce, and whatever we brought with us. The view from the top was also amazing, and is not captured (at all) by the photographs. They don’t provide any sense of scale, height, or distance, and without a wide angle lens, don’t convey the grander in the least.
What was especially upsetting about the trip was reaching the top though. After the long hike we were rewarded, not by the scenic views, but by kids, cars, and motorcycles. A simple reminder that this is America, and the reason we saw so few people on the hiking trails, is that most were too lazy to attempt the hike and opted to drive instead. You can see the top (denoted by a large tower) around the center of satellite image from Google. For those who were on the trip, an archive of all of the photos is available here. Since each image is 3.2 MB, I’ve scaled them down. If you would like the full resolution copies (3072 x 2304), just let me know.
One Comment
I’m sorry for your experience hiking Bear Mountain. The reality is, there are lots of hikes you can take in New York State, including many of the “lesser” peaks, that offer lovely views, peace, and solitude. Don’t give up searching.