Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail "Thru-Hike" March 27 and 28th, 2021

In August 2019, the New York Times published an article titled “You, Too, Can Be a ‘Thru-Hiker’” which detailed a 23 mile end-to-end trail that links two of New York's largest state parks. It’s easily accessible from New York City and proved to be a great early-spring weekend outing. The best part is, it’s accessible via public transportation. What’s not to love?

I’d been hiking and running in Harriman and Bear Mountain State Parks all throughout 2020 as the pandemic kept everyone close to home. I was introduced to this article (and the thru-hike) by my neuroscientist-by-day, public-transit-advocate-by-night coworker Gerick, who had made an attempt to thru hike the trail last Fall. In late March 2021, winter had receded from the Hudson Valley and conditions were prime for an early season overnight. I convinced him to put off preparing for a talk he was supposed to give to our department and join me on the trail.

3/27/21

Gerick and I met at Penn Station early on Saturday morning in order to catch the 7:15am train to Suffern, NY. Once there, we had a nice breakfast sitting outside a coffee shop before walking to the trailhead, which is at the southernmost point of Harriman State Park. We planned to hike to Big Hill Shelter on the first night, which is about half the total distance. The first day consists mostly of easy hiking along the Ramapo Ridge with great views of the Hudson Valley and New York City. We even spotted one of Harriman State Park’s famous bears.

We casually hiked the ~11 miles to Big Hill in about seven hours. We stopped to filter water at Third Reservoir before climbing up to the Big Hill Shelter. We were the third or fourth party to arrive and got to choose one of the many available spots. We spent an enjoyable evening hanging out in camp and watching the sun go down before climbing into our sleeping bags. The night was mostly uneventful, save for a brief encounter with a raccoon trying to sneak a peek into my backpack.

3/28/21

We knew the forecast for Sunday called for rain starting in the morning, so we got a pre-dawn start in order to get camp packed up before things got wet. It was a good decision, because things did get wet. It rained on and off throughout the morning, which meant that my rain pants also came on and off. For some reason I just can’t stand hiking in rain pants unless I absolutely have to. We were thankful for the breaks, though, especially when it came time to climb Pingyp Mountain. This is probably the single toughest stretch of the entire trail and it deserves its reputation. There is some legitimate third class scrambling to be done through the broken cliff bands on the way to the summit. We were lucky and got a slight break in the rain for the majority of the climb. I can see why casual backpackers might have trouble here.

The cold rain began in earnest right near the summit of Pingyp, reminding us that it was, in fact, early spring. Unfortunately we were only about half way through our total distance for the day, so we settled in for some wet miles. The terrain in the northern half of the trail is a little more rugged than the southern half. I spent the time trying to remember songs I could sing to annoy Gerick. At some point the discussion switched to what food we would eat when we were done. We caught another break in the rain for the last 2 or 3 miles down to the Bear Mountain Inn. That let us dry out a little before calling an Uber to take us to the Peekskill Train Station (unfortunately this is the only stretch of the journey that isn’t either on foot or by rail. Since you don’t need to own a car to do this from the city, it still counts!). We scarfed some much-needed warm food while waiting for our driver, then we both got to take a little nap on the train back to NYC.

While I had covered much of this ground before on day hikes and trail runs, it was fun to link it all up. I also hadn’t done much backpacking that wasn’t part of a mountaineering trip, so it felt good to revisit those skills. And it was especially fun to do it all without a car. It was a little much for a single weekend, though. Both days were over 10 miles of hiking with thousands of feet of elevation gain. Maybe it’s the soft, spring legs talking, but I was feeling pretty sore for a few days afterwards. It would be easily to split this up into 3 or even 4 days though, there are plenty of camping opportunities.