Appalachian Trail Section Hike #3: Bear Mountain Bridge to NJ / NY State Line
Dates: 11/5/04 – 11/7/04
Participants: Tim, Jeff, Mike and Shannon
Our successful completion of the AT in New Jersey fueled our desire to keep hiking and cross the 100-mile mark before winter.
Thursday November 4th
We agreed to meet at the P&J Steakhouse in Greenwood Lake NY on Thursday evening with Tim, Mike and Shannon driving down from Massachusetts. I arrived first and enjoyed conversation with some of the locals and the restaurant staff while sipping on Vodka Tonics. Tim called the restaurant to let me know that he was lost – he got there after 9. Mike and Shannon arrived shortly thereafter. Mike works with Tim and Shannon is Mike’s girlfriend. The owner of the restaurant invited us to leave our cars in his parking lot, as it was more secure than the State Line Trail lot. We readily accepted his offer and piled into Tim’s car for the ride up to the Bear Mountain Inn.
The Inn was beautifully rustic from the outside, but the rooms left a lot to be desired. Tim and I got to share a double bed while listening to the wind roaring through the trees outside. It was close to midnight by the time we set the alarm for 06:30 and turned out the lights.
Friday November 5th
Breakfast wasn’t served until 07:00 so we were already on a delayed start to the hike. Still, I was optimistic that we could make the 13.5 miles to the Fingerboard Shelter well before dark. It was 07:45 by the time that we picked up the trail along Hessian Lake, about 0.7 miles from the Bear Mountain Bridge and the Hudson River. The first task was to climb 1100’ up Bear Mountain in wind that was gusting over 40 mph. Hiking up the leeward side of the mountain wasn’t too bad, but cresting the summit was another story.
The winds surrounding the Perkins Memorial Tower on top of Bear Mountain were vicious. I only stopped hiking for the time it took to take one picture of the tower before crossing to the far side of the ridge and descending into the relative safety of the trees on the windward flank. On an exposed section during the descent, I actually was knocked over by a sudden gust that caught me mid-stride. Fortunately, the wind pushed me to my left and into the mountain.
After dropping into the valley and climbing West Mountain, we were impressed to look back at the Perkins tower on Bear Mountain and see the progress we had made.
The Perkins Tower from West Mountain
Just before noon, we passed a youth group heading northbound to the West Mountain Shelter. The leader of the group informed us that the other half of his group was heading south to spend the night at the Fingerboard Shelter and he recommended that we make alternate plans. While I appreciated his warning, I thought it was a bit presumptuous for him to suggest that we change our plans. Shannon & Mike caught up to us a few minutes later and we decided to break for lunch on the edge of the northbound lanes of the Palisades Parkway. During our break, we reviewed the mileage to the next two shelters. The William Brien Memorial Shelter was 2.1 miles ahead and the Fingerboard Shelter was another 5.3 miles further south. I was doing the math and started getting a little concerned that we might run out of daylight before reaching Fingerboard.
We didn’t do ourselves any favors by eating right before the ascent of Black Mountain. After huffing & puffing to the summit, we were treated to some excellent views of the Hudson River Valley and the Manhattan skyline to the south. 
There was another group of hikers on top of the ridge but they apparently left the ridge on one of the other trails that crisscross the Harriman State Park.
Now is a good time to discuss our nemesis for this hike. On our first section hike we battled heat and humidity. Section Two brought tropical rains to the Drowned Lands of New Jersey. This hike? Leaves. During the summer, the trail in this section would be pretty reasonable with room to walk around or on top of the rocks and roots. But with several inches of leaves covering the trail, every step was a potential catastrophe. Downhill sections were the most treacherous and all of us fell due to a lack of traction or from hidden hazards. Our pace was slowed considerably as we worked through patches of mountain laurel. Both Tim and I were privately worrying about the fact that we hadn’t passed the Brien Shelter and started hoping that we had somehow missed it, putting us closer towards Fingerboard.
Unfortunately, I reached to top of a rocky slope and saw the shingled roof of the Brien Shelter below. It was after 14:00 and we had only hiked 2.1 miles since lunch. I dejectedly dropped my pack in the shelter and waited for the rest of the group to arrive so that we could filter water and assess our options. The only reason to continue hiking was to keep on our original schedule. The cons were numerous: hiking in the dark on treacherous trail, potentially finding a full shelter and setting up tents in the dark, and trying to sleep in a billowing tent as the temperatures dropped dramatically. The decision was an easy one and we settled into the shelter’s two bunk beds after a short 8.2-mile day – 5.3 miles short of our original goal.
The William Brien Memorial Shelter
One thing was quickly obvious. Although we were lousy hikers, we were awesome campers. While Shannon and I filtered water, Tim and Mike collected firewood. We soon had a small blaze going just inside of the shelter’s middle support pillar and boiled water for hot chocolate spiked with peppermint schnapps. Then we broke out our collective food supplies and had an early appetizer for dinner consisting of cheese, carrots, candy and various other goodies from Shannon’s pack. After dark, we broke out the white-gas stove and boiled water for our freeze-dried dinners. Our surprise for the evening came when a group of hikers suddenly appeared from the blind-side of the shelter. They apparently had planned on finding an empty shelter and spending the weekend here. After some discussions with the missing portion of their party (via walkie-talkie phones), they decided to pitch their tents about 150 yards south of the shelter. We cleaned up after dinner, organized things for tomorrow morning, and crawled into our sleeping bags as the temperature dropped closer to the freezing mark. I set my watch alarm for 05:45 to insure an early departure on Saturday morning.
Saturday, November 6th
It got pretty cold overnight. While I went back to the spring to re-fill all of our water bottles, Tim boiled the water for hot chocolate and powdered eggs. Commenting on our bed-sharing Thursday night and bunk bed arrangement last night, Tim made the profound comment “I think I am over the homophobe thing, but now I think I might be gay." Just because his pillow ended up on my bunk… After breakfast, we had to take care of the ‘orange trowel’ business. It wasn’t until 07:15 that we left the shelter – better than yesterdays 07:45 start but not great either. Members of the camping group rushed in to claim the shelter as soon as we departed.
The rest had done our bodies well and we hiked a strong 2 miles to the first road crossing. Mike and Shannon led the way towards the second road crossing and set a good pace. Just before the crossing, we met a couple performing trail maintenance. I thanked them for their efforts and told them that the trail behind us was in generally good shape with the exception of the leaves. At the Arden Valley Rd. crossing, we stopped for a few moments to adjust for the rising temperatures and to eat a few snacks. By 10:25, we had reached the Fingerboard Shelter. In the daylight and with a good night’s rest, it had taken just over three hours to get here. Yeah…we made the right call yesterday afternoon. There was one hiker still tented outside of the shelter and he confirmed that the youth group had indeed taken over the shelter by 14:00 yesterday. Shannon and Tim spent a few minutes looking for a seasonal spring before we gave up and headed for the Lemon Squeezer.
As we hiked south, we started to encounter more and more day hikers. The trail crossed Surebridge Mountain and Island Pond Mountain before descending towards a collection of massive rock formations. There were many young people all over the rocks eating their lunches and I correctly assumed that we had arrived at one of the AT’s famous landmarks. The Lemon Squeezer is two different challenges contained within 30 yards. First, the trail drops into a narrow crevasse where most hikers cannot pass through without removing their packs. Then the trail passes underneath two boulders resting against each other to form a cave-like passage. Hiking northbound, this section is more difficult because a hiker is forced to climb out of the crevasse. For us, we simply had to work our way down the sloped rock face and then jump down three feet. After that, it was a simple matter of ducking under the rocks to escape the constriction. We all passed through without any problems but did stop to pose for pictures before stopping for our lunch break.
The lower part of the Lemon Squeezer
Over lunch, we weighed our options. We had two cars in Greenwood Lake, one car at the Inn parking lot, a little over five hours of daylight left, and 12 miles to the next shelter. In addition, Mike’s pack was giving him pain in the shoulders and his feet were in some discomfort. Even if we hiked until 16:00 and found a good camping spot, we wouldn’t have time on Sunday to reach Greenwood Lake in time for me to get home for my family obligations. One of the day hikers we met suggested that we stop at the Elk Pen parking area to ask for a ride back to Bear Mountain. As we stopped to filter more water, we mulled over our options and agreed that this was probably the best idea, although Tim and I entertained the notion of continuing our southbound hike while Mike and Shannon went back for a car.
During the steep descent to Arden Valley Rd. and the parking area, Tim slipped and fell right in front of a day hiker out with his dog. This proved to be fortuitous as he was the first person to return to the parking area after we arrived. He didn’t need much pleading from Tim before he agreed to drive up to the Inn. Here is where it is humorous to compare the hiking world with the regular world. We spent the better part of two days hiking 17.6 miles to this point. Tim was gone for no more than 40 minutes before he returned with his car. We piled in and made short work of the drive down to Greenwood Lake. Once there, we finalized our plans. Mike and Shannon opted to head back to Boston and Tim and I decided to look for a motel so that we could do some more hiking on Sunday morning. We stopped for an early dinner at Doc’s Pizza & Steaks in Greenwood Lake before splitting up and heading our separate ways. Again, we fell short of our 14.3-mile goal but made the right decision.
During our stop at the P&J Steakhouse on Thursday, the owner had mentioned that he also owned the Warwick Motel. Since he had been kind enough to let us park in his lot, we decided to give him our lodging business. The room wasn’t spectacular by any means, but it had two beds and sufficient hot water. We had the lights out by 20:00 and both got a good night’s sleep.
Sunday, November 7th
I woke up before my alarm and confirmed that Tim was also up (by tripping over his pack). We took advantage of the fact that today was going to be a 7.1-mile day hike and both emptied our packs of every non-essential item. It was almost embarrassing to carry a pack so vacant that it couldn’t even hold its shape. I passed on the white-gas stove and used the in-room coffee maker to boil my water for hot chocolate. By 06:30 we were parked at the trailhead at Route 17A overlooking Greenwood Lake and were ready to knock-off a quick 7.1 miles. My first job was to retrieve four cans of Coke that I had cached under the guardrail on Thursday night when I first arrived. At least they added some weight to our packs. We set out on a blistering pace and were well on our way before the sun topped the parallel ridge to the east and fully illuminated the path at our feet. Although there are no listed camping areas in this section, it was obvious that some folks have found a few comfortable sites nonetheless. 
The first site we encountered was a large clearing next to a stream, complete with a fire circle and plenty of room for several tents. The second spot was much smaller but was nestled in a serene saddle of evergreens just below the eastern lip of the ridge. Most thru-hikers wouldn’t need to stop in this 12-mile stretch between the Wawayanda and Wildcat shelters but I would gladly spend a night on this ridge if I ever return. We only stopped for three short breaks – one after two miles, another at the top of a steep rock escarpment, and a final stop for pictures at the NY / NJ state line. After signing the trail register and posing for the triumphant photographs, we turned left and headed down the familiar State Line Trail. 
Although we hadn’t passed a hiker in the first 5.9 miles, we passed two other day hikers on our way down this trail. Our last trip down this ridge had been in near-darkness only six weeks earlier. The sunshine made it much easier to find our way but the leaves were as tricky as the previous two days. I confided to Tim that on our first descent in September, I often led the way without seeing any blazes. We reached the lot at the bottom of the trail at 10:17, covering these last 1.2 miles three minutes quicker than our first time. Then again, my truck was parked a few hundred feet north at the steakhouse so it all evened out. We literally threw our packs in the back of the truck and found a diner for a late morning breakfast. Then it was one last trip up to the top of the ridge on Route 17A to drop Tim off at his car. We collected our respective gear from each other’s vehicles and headed off in opposite directions by 11:15.
Mileage Summary – 8.2 AT miles on Friday, 9.4 AT miles on Saturday, 5.9 AT miles on Sunday and 1.2 miles on the State Line Trail. Total AT miles: 23.5. Total miles: 24.7. Cumulative AT Miles: 96.0.
We now have a 12.3-mile section to complete in the middle of this 36-mile stretch.
Trail Summary – Good, but the leaves made for treacherous footing.
Blister Count – None. I passed on wearing liner socks and maybe that helped. Or maybe it was the low miles each day.
Lessons learned – Where to begin?
- Hiking in the fall after the leaves are covering the ground is going to slow us down.
- High winds are also going to hurt our pace.
- Don’t waste daylight hours by starting the hike late. Use the daylight cushion at the end of the day, not in the morning.
- Complete all camp chores before retiring for the night. It took us 1.5 hours to get going on Saturday morning because we needed to filter water and finish packing up.
- Keep looking for opportunities to shave off pack weight. Hiking on Sunday with a super light pack was an outstanding experience.
- Attempt to begin a new section hike where the old section was completed. This will solve the problem of “orphan” sections like the one we left between Routes 17 & 17A.