Date: 2013-08-26
From: Bear Mtn State Park

To: Tiorati Circle (Arden Valley Rd)
Miles today: 13.8

A walk in the ParkA little bit of history first; I started hiking the Appalachian Trail around 2000. I don¢t remember much of what got me started though I suppose the idea that I could walk a single trail from GA-ME was intriguing. I was living in southern New England at the time and started day-hiking, doing a good stretch of the trail in MA/CT as roundtrips before trying a two vehicle approach with my sweetheart. While living in New England we went through MA, most of CT, a wee bit of VT, and a bit of New York (northern section). I began NY in 2004 but as good luck would have it, I was offered a job in northern Virginia that I could not pass up AND with the significant benefit of being close to the AT. The drawback was that I left MA without completing the New England section of the AT and without finishing NY¢¦but it was a small drawback.Fast forward a few years and my job took me frequently to NJ, not far from NYC. I began to make trips to hike NJ and NY between 2007-2010. I had also started longer backpacking trips, completing all of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania so I had a goodly-sized chunk of the entire AT done by 2011. But there was this one little 18.5 mile section in NY that was out hanging out there and remained undone. The next two days I will hike that section and complete New York, finally after 9 years. I¢m so glad it¢s over! We drove up yesterday camped out at Graymoor. I wish I had lots of money because I would pay to restore Graymoor Village. There is beautiful stonework falling into disrepair and completely overgrown, it saddens me. It makes me think back to history when churches, monasteries and convents would offer travelers a place to sleep. How great a deal that would be these days! When we arrived at Graymoor there was some celebration going on at the field. It was loud and crazy and almost inconceivable that we were on the grounds of a monastery. We took off to get some dinner and came back to eat at one of the picnic tables away from all the noise. The party didn¢t break up until about dusk, we set our tent away from the commotion. It was a tough night for sleeping because it is so close to a road, the sound of cars kept waking me up.M got me up at 6:00 so we could pack up and get going early. A little bit of an obstacle getting out the gate, but we managed to clear things up and get on the road to Bear Mtn Inn parking area, my starting point. Bear Mtn Inn is inside Bear Mtn Park, there is a large picnic area on one side of a good-sized lake (Hessian Lake). I hiked by this lake in 2004 and was overwhelmed by the blaring music and the heaps of trash near the picnic tables. Today we arrive early morning, there is no blaring music, but it¢s clear that they still have a big trash problem. I don¢t understand why people are so disrespectful of others and the environment. The restrooms were also a disaster- this at 7:30 am, before anyone arrives. It¢s disappointing. Anyway, M and I said goodbye after a few photos around the lake (which I photo-shopped later to remove the garbage). I began the day climbing Bear Mtn using the stairs so recently constructed by the NJ/NY club. What an exceptional job they did! It was a long hike up, but along the way there were nice views of the Hudson, the Hudson River valley and the surrounding mountains. This 18+ mile section of the trail traverses Bear Mtn and Harriman parks; it also is the oldest completed section of the Appalachian Trail. A short historical note: the area around the base of the mountain was slotted for a prison location, it was only through the generosity of a wealthy widow Harriman that the plan was averted, she offered 10,000 acres of land to create a state park (the aforementioned state parks)in exchange for the prison to be moved elsewhere; that prison was later built ¢up the river¢ at Ossining (Sing Sing prison).I also crossed a road or two that seemed to be out of use. There were a number of trails that crisscrossed the mountain and some beautiful spots for tenting. At the summit was Perkins Tower (closed when I arrived), a number of benches, a few of those ¢binocular¢ machines that you pay to look through and vending machines. My dad had been to Bear Mtn a number of times as a kid, so I spent a little time taking photos for him. On the way up and then again on the descent, I heard what I thought might be M-16 fire from USMA. At first I thought it was firecrackers, then thunder, but it seemed to come in regular patterns, and it sounds how I remember it. I figure the water and the mountains create a decent enough echo chamber that it could indeed be weapons training that I was hearing. From Bear Mtn summit, I descended and then climbed again, 3 miles later I was atop West Mtn and with a straight on view of the Bear Mtn tower that I had left a while ago. It was sprinkling, the views were a little grayish but still acceptable. It always tickles me to look back to where I came from and see the distance between, knowing that I walked it. I saw a doe and two yearlings on the descent. There were several rocky sections but generally brief in length- there was also large sections of relatively-flat-faced rock surface to traverse. A few times, especially after the rain, it was quite slick. Another descent, this time from West Mtn to Beechy Bottom Brook and then a short distance from that I engaged in the human version of Frogger. Starting from the northbound side, I dashed between cars to the island that split the northbound from the southbound side, and then I repeated the dash on the southbound side, managing to emerge without a splat! The last significant climb for the day laid ahead, Black Mtn. By this time I was tired (lack of good sleep last night) and under-fueled so getting up Black Mtn was difficult. I began to feel my feet get stupid and kick several rocks as I walked through the area, it was an effort to keep moving; I was annoyed. Didn¢t see many people out, none of the people I saw at Graymoor that were southbound hiking, maybe they went into town when they got to Bears Den. I stopped a few times to drink some water, get a rest and eat something to try to fuel the rest of the hike. I knew I was going to be later than I planned but didn¢t want to be so late that M called the park rangers?. Made another rocky descent to Wm Brien Shelter, which was a pitiful looking shelter in a not too bad location. The last few miles to Arden valley Rd were difficult, full of rocky sections and slick rock. I fell on my knee and cursed loudly, got up and felt it throbbing¢¦this can¢t end my hike- I¢ll have less than 6 miles left and I am not going home even if I have to hobble my way through it tomorrow! Fortunately, the throbbing stopped 15-20 minutes later. I arrived at Arden Valley Road a beautifully paved, pristine looking road- I found out later that it was that way because it is currently closed to through traffic. Walked the last .3 mile to Tiorati Lake, having to listen again to blaring music, what an affront to nature and common decency. We took off and headed toward USMA to spend a night in a local motel. Thank goodness we did, because it started to rain just after dinner.More photos of the trip can be seen at: 2000Miler_NY Completion Hike