Hike #661; Harriman/Bear Mountain Loop

 Hike #661; Harriman/Bear Mountain Loop

11/6/12 Harriman/Bear Mountain Loop with Brad Anesi and Jason ?

View on West Mountain

This next hike would be another great loop in the Harriman-Bear Mountain area, the next section of stuff I wanted to do on the way to Bear Mountain. Brad had been telling me about Pingyp Mountain, and posted photos of it on Facebook. It was the steepest, most difficult climb in Harriman State Park, and he knew I'd love it.

Brad had been out with us a lot, and he knew exactly the model for the hikes I do, connecting previous sections with others, and had already helped me on a Sterling hike in the past, so he took the lead on putting a route together that would cover more stuff I'd not done through the group. He came up with a fabulous, ass kicking route that would end up being 18.2 miles and possibly 4000 feet of elevation gain.

We met at the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area and got on the Bike Trail out of the large parking lots. His friend Jason joined, a guy who's proved can handle high mileage and insane terrain. Brad wrote had a well written and  humorous description of the hike that would scare off anyone unable to keep up with us.

We followed the bike trail to I think it was 1779 Trail (or 77?) and the Appalachian Trail across Palisades Parkway. On the other side, we meant to turn left on 1779 I think it was, but we missed it and ended up climbing all the way up Black Mountain, which has a superb view itself. Manhattan was clearly in view from the top. We opted to follow southbound AT to the Wm. Brien Memorial Shelter, then continue to Menomine Trail. We almost opted to take Silvermine Road, a graded road that I conclude must have been a railed tramway, but it ended before a steep drop off so we didn't do it. We headed to Menomine Trail and followed it south to Red Cross Trail over a brook. We continued on that to the left, passed a former house site, then turned right onto the unblazed Stillwater Road. Near the end of the road, it too became a graded route which leads me to believe it could have been a railway.The road ended at Palisades Parkway; we crossed and followed the northbound side of the parkway south, on wide grassy edges until we got to the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail and Pingyp Mountain. I noticed an older trail further up the road from it, but we didn't bother exploring. We followed the main trail route up hill, and it got quite steep with required hand holds. I loved it. It still wasn not as difficult as the Long Path in the Catskills, but very fun.The top of the mountain proved to be my favorite view I'd seen in Harriman SP. The Palisades and NYC were visible to the south, with High Tor dominating the landscape. It looked like something out of a movie.We continued on the trail to the north, through an area and hill called "The Pines", and then over Horn Hill. The terrain was tough, but we didn't have trouble keeping pace. The dead leaves made for slippery conditions, but we managed to get through alright.After Horn Hill, we climbed West Mountain, with a stunning difference in terrain as we made the steep ascent. I'd been on the AT on West Mountain, but this sort of paralleled it with totally different vistas. We had a similar view to the south like Pingyp, but wider angled. We paused for a moment to admire the view before turning to the north. There were many trail intersections, including the Bike Path and 1777, and we were co-aligned with Timpe-Torne Trail for a bit. S-BM Trail turned left away from T-T trail at a low area and continued along a sort of ridge heading north. Bear Mountain Bridge was in view through the trees, as well as the Hudson and a railroad bridge I think it was. The trail eventually followed a rather easy woods road for a bit, then turned off to reach Seven Lakes Drive. At the last ascent before the road, my legs began to cramp up.I'd obviously not done enough up hill stuff, and certainly not this fast. I had been fine, but all of a sudden I started getting crazy pain. I sat down on the road and stretched for maybe five minutes and was ready to go, but now worried a bit. I'd been eating snacks (nature valley bars, keeping it healthy this time), and drinking a lot of water, but it apparently wasn't enough.We had another climb for a bit as we approached Bear Mountain. We came to old Doodletown Road, but there'd not be enough time to explore here, so we continued on S-BM. The original AT route came in from the left, with signs to stay off, and we continued out to the base of Bear Mountain. There was a wide field, and music blaring away from a building. I'd never been in the large lodge building along Hessian Lake, so we went in. Brad refilled waters there, and we talked to the lady running the place who explained they had just gotten power back and would be open again the next day.From here, we got on the all new AT. Chris Ingui, when he worked for the trail conference, built a lot of the stairs heading up Bear Mountain. Some consider it to be overdone, but for the amount of use that area gets, I think it's just right.The steps were incredible; up to par with the best of the CCC work from the 1930s. In fact, those who didn't know better would swear that it was an old CCC project. It was something really special to see, though by this time of day my legs were killing me with every step up hill! I was careful how I stepped as not to pull a muscle, and soon was fine. We didn't head all the way up Bear Mountain this time because it was getting too late, so we followed the abandoned paved road down hill gradually along the south face of the mountain, and took the AT to Perkins Memorial Drive. Instead of heading through the woods, we turned down the road, then cut over to Seven Lakes Drive to pick up the AT again, because we'd save a little bit of time. It was already getting dark.We hurried through the woods when we got to the AT again, then turned right on Fawn Trail. Fawn Trail was a good route because it was really easy. The coolest part about that was a giant hollowed log that was laying over the trail. I was able to crawl almost all the way through it. Enormous thing.

Soon we reached Anthony Wayne Recreation Area to complete the hike. Brad had commented that it was the toughest hike he'd ever done.Indeed, it was pretty difficult, but really rewarding. I was very happy with the route we'd taken, and can't wait to do more up that way.