Appalachian Trail Section hiking: Arden Valley Road to Bear Mountain Inn

Day Eleven
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Tiorati Circle to Bear Mountain Inn
13.6 miles

By this time, we are three days behind our projected schedule, so any shuttles or lodging I had lined up was nil at this point. We called 446 Taxi Service (listed on the A. T. Conservancy Shuttle List) to meet us at Bear Mountain Inn and taxi us back to Tiorati Circle for $20.

We started hiking at about 8:30 a.m. and hiked until 4:30 p.m. We are slackpacking today for the first time so it is much easier on us. However, the terrain is also quite different. For the first time in New York, there were no boulder scrambles.

It was warm, beautiful weather, lots of good views and lots of dayhikers in this area enjoying a great day to be outdoors. In several places there were nice stone steps going up the mountain instead of the usual natural rocky terrain, especially around Bear Mountain. Someone has done a lot of hard work maintaining the trails.

As we approached Bear Mountain from the south, we could see a tower on the top with bear rock face around it. We eventually made our way to it. The trail goes right around the edge of the mountain and around the tower; however, we got sidetracked by a soda machine. Too bad. There were lots of people loitering around the rocky edifice at the southeastern edge. We meandered around drinking our soda and talking to an inquisitive man about the Appalachian Trail. Then we saw where the trail picked up again, and after finishing our drinks, we took off down the trail. We never did go to the overlook! It dawned on me later that that’s where the view of Manhattan would be. That’s what all those people were enjoying. Dang! We missed our only clear view of the Manhattan skyline!

The well maintained trail comes up behind the Bear Mountain Inn and Hessian Lake. A beautiful spot. After a pleasant day of hiking, we drove to Fishkill, New York and spent the night in the Quality Inn. But not before stopping at Cracker Barrel for a delicious home-cooked meal. I had no idea they had Cracker Barrels this far north. They even had grits from Georgia on the menu!