coldfeet
Well-known member
Trying to start a tradition with my youngest daughter and her friends...this was our 2nd annual day after Thanksgiving Harriman State park hike up to Bear Mtn in NY..couldn't have asked for better weather especially after the drenching that took place on Thanksgiving....
Attendees....3 parents , 1 neice of mine (22yo) and 4 soccer girls (5th/6th graders)...we hit the AT trail and after 2 minutes I saw an old ski trail and we went up that...my daughter asked if this was a bushwack and I told her that indeed it was but we would hit the trail very soon........Wrong!...We never hit the AT again until we came back down a few hours later...But my mistake led to a cool waterfall....the girls's hung out there and took lots of pictures.....we then went up some steep rocky sections to get to the road....crossed over and found an old herdpath...we ended up on the other side of the mountain on the Major Welsh trail (sp?) red dot trail...but being a good leader I took out the map and figured out the way to go..thank g-d .....during the hike the girl's spooked out a deer and they were really excited after that wanting to see more..
The road was open for cars (first time i saw that) to get to the summit and the place was jammed....we found a little area and I boiled up water and we had soup...I bumped into a family from our town, they go up yearly also..the views were beautiful, one young boy was flying a kite up there...on the way down we stopped and talked to Rambo Rob, a thru hiker going South....the girls were intrigued listening to him for a few minutes....hope he does well...we hiked back to the bottom, the girl's liked the bushwack up better than the marked trail going down because it was crowded and the rock climb was more exciting.....then it was on to the carosel for a few spins and then sundown ice skating!......and my knee continues to hurt ...One more thing....we saw the longest cargo train pass along the Hudson River while we were hiking, must have been 80-100 cars long...kids loved it!
Attendees....3 parents , 1 neice of mine (22yo) and 4 soccer girls (5th/6th graders)...we hit the AT trail and after 2 minutes I saw an old ski trail and we went up that...my daughter asked if this was a bushwack and I told her that indeed it was but we would hit the trail very soon........Wrong!...We never hit the AT again until we came back down a few hours later...But my mistake led to a cool waterfall....the girls's hung out there and took lots of pictures.....we then went up some steep rocky sections to get to the road....crossed over and found an old herdpath...we ended up on the other side of the mountain on the Major Welsh trail (sp?) red dot trail...but being a good leader I took out the map and figured out the way to go..thank g-d .....during the hike the girl's spooked out a deer and they were really excited after that wanting to see more..
The road was open for cars (first time i saw that) to get to the summit and the place was jammed....we found a little area and I boiled up water and we had soup...I bumped into a family from our town, they go up yearly also..the views were beautiful, one young boy was flying a kite up there...on the way down we stopped and talked to Rambo Rob, a thru hiker going South....the girls were intrigued listening to him for a few minutes....hope he does well...we hiked back to the bottom, the girl's liked the bushwack up better than the marked trail going down because it was crowded and the rock climb was more exciting.....then it was on to the carosel for a few spins and then sundown ice skating!......and my knee continues to hurt ...One more thing....we saw the longest cargo train pass along the Hudson River while we were hiking, must have been 80-100 cars long...kids loved it!
the NE face of Bear Mountain, very steeply from the tower towards The Bear Mountain Inn and the ice rink, soccer fields, etc. The AT has been somewhat relocated from the SW climb I think recently by the NYNJTC cause they made a big todo about it in their trailwalker not too long ago.
