Date: 2003-07-06
From: 7 Lakes Drive - Harriman State Park

To: Tunnel by Bear Mountain Zoo
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

Today started out by sleeping in¢¦Then we had a relaxed breakfast at the hotel, overlooking the lake.. We packed up, checked out and hit a couple of stores to resupply our food for the to Kent CT. (about 4 days). After good-byes and pictures at 7 Lakes Drive, we started up Goshen Mountain with comments like ¢who overfilled my pack?¢ and ¢why do my legs feel so tired!?!¢ It took a while to get back in the groove again, after hiking, after hiking a few days at a slower pace (I like the slower pace). We bumped along the ridges (nice breeze) and then climbed up Black Mountain (couldn¢t see NYC) and down to the Palisades Parkway (where we played Frogger with the holiday traffic). Near beachy bottom brook, we met two new people, Cobra and Splash, a husband and wife thruhike team! We sat and took a break to talk to them for a bit, before hiking up the steep climb to West Mountain Shelter. It was steep, but had lots of nice view points on the way up (back toward Palisades Parkway), Once we got the top, we realized we weren¢t on Bear Mountain (groan), and still had to go down and back up to get there (we could see the tower on Bear Mountain in the distance and the trail goes right by it). It looked like a real tough climb, but the profile said it wasn¢t too bad, a little steep, but not so bad. The downhill sections were worse. Steep! Full of dust and pebbles. We both slipped and fell our way down (I slipped, Wench Fell). Then we made our way up Bear Mountain to the overlook area. We were hiking up rocks and suddenly there was a pick up truck on the trail (we had finally reached the Bear Mountain tower parking lot). The trail was part road walk, part trail. There was no water on top so we checked out the view. We could see the NYC Skyline in the distance, but only barely, it was tiny, and it was hazy. We talked to 2 hikers there, who were going to do the trail, until the military called him and now he is at West Point. As we were leaving, another couple stopped us to talk. He said ¢Did I hear you say 1300 miles?¢ We said ¢yes¢. They said ¢WOW!¢ A nice couple, they were very interested in our hike and told us to come back to their truck for water (yes, the same truck we saw coming up the trail¢¦.Coincidence? I think not). Next we dropped off the edge of the world and headed for the Bear Mountain Inn (it was too late to get to the company site), or some other local hotel. A very steep downhill, more slipping and sliding. Finally got to sort of an old road and we were walking along looking down at the Bear Mountain Inn, a hockey rink, etc. Suddenly we saw a road coming in from the left down a steep hill and a bridge that stopped right next to our road. We went ¢huh?!?¢¢¦Then we realized that it was the old ski jump for the Bear Mountain Park. It has seen more competitions then any other Ski Hill !! Very cool! And we walked right under the lip of the jump. It was used up until 1970. We walked down the rest of the hill and stopped at the Bear Mountain Inn for dinner, but the building was closed and under renovations. Bummer¢¦. We walked to the tunnel to the zoo and stopped and called hotels in the next town over and no rooms. Then said hmmmm¢¦ There are too many people here for the inn to be closed¢¦ Lets call them..They were open, we had just been on the wrong side of the huge building. So we walked back and got a room and ate dinner in their restaurant (beer¢¦yumm¢¦ lots of water..). We saw old pictures of people watching competitions. We also met more hikers (section hikers). Dr. Thunder, Banana, Capone and Super Dave. Our room was in another building 1 mile away, so the hotel gave us a ride there in a van. Nice people. The rest of the night was spent resting and journaling and showering (feels good to not stink¢¦.). Slept well, I guess I was tired..worn out¢¦ Imagine that. Tomorrow we will sleep in until the zoo opens at 10:00, so we don¢t miss the trail low point and the only bears we may get to see! The over the huge Bear Mountain Bridge and points north! :-)