Bear Mountain Hike-a-thon 2009
Saturday, October 3rd was the Ny-Nj Trail Conference’s 2nd Annual People for Trails Hike-a-Thon, which Liz & I participated in. It was at Bear Mountian State Park, NY, which is quite a nice park that we will be returning to in spring (unless we get a few nice days before winter). The weather left a bit to be desired, but after our week in Maine, we don’t let weather get us down, and had a good time. Liz & I didn’t arrive until 9:30, and the official start was at 7:30, so we found ourselves a bit lost. I felt things could have been organized a little better, but the rain may have caused issues for the organizers as well. It was not clear what we were supposed to do when we arrived, so we wandered over to what we hoped was the registration tent, and the people – although a bit flustered were friendly and helpful and got us registered and going quickly. When we made it back from the hike around 2pm, It seemed they were cleaning up and getting ready to leave. Maybe a more definite schedule would have been helpful.
Liz & I decided on doing the moderate route, about a four mile hike. The green route on the map is the one we took. 
Things got off to an interesting start. The route was composed mostly of cross country skiing trails which made things harder for us to follow – we’ve been spoiled by cairns and trail markers, and before we’d even really started we found ourselves in a field looking at each other thinking “I think we missed something…” Fortunately the trail head was only a few yards behind us.
Once we found the trail head, we were going south on the Red Trail (1777E), absent-mindedly trodding along, not really paying attention. When you go hiking, especially somewhere you’ve never been, pay attention. We must have completely missed the fork in the trail where the Blue Trail (not the Blue Route, confusing, I know.) started, so when we happened on another fork, which apparently is an unnamed cross country ski trail, we went left. Logically, we should have realized left was not the Red 1777E trail, and that right was not the Blue Trail. We weren’t being logical, we were being absent-minded. After back tracking two or three times, we finally figured out our location on the map, and the error we had made. Although it was a bit disheartening to allow ourselves to get ‘lost’ so quickly, we weren’t truly lost. We knew how to get back to where we came from, we were just unsure of our position on the map. Always remember how to get back to where you came from, it’s helpful.
Shortly after our little map/trail marker reading errors, we came upon the Doodletown Reservoir.
Doodletown Reservoir
After taking a short break and enjoying the view at the Reservoir, we continued along the Green route (still on the Red 177E trail). Then proceeded to miss the left for somehow for the Red Trail, not a big deal though, since the ski trail intersected with our route again, and ran parallel with our route for the most part. Along this ski trail were the location of many old building from what was once Doodletown. We didn’t see any buildings, occasional partial foundations, but there were many signs with information about what used to be there. I found it interesting.
While on the ski trail we reached the Yellow Trail, and turned right to continue on the Green Route. The scenery was beautiful on this trail, much more so than the others in my opinion. For some reason I didn’t stop and take many pictures, but we did happen upon a millipede.
Millipede along the trail.
I think it was the large outcrops of rock and the lack of underbrush that gave a feeling of openness. The other trails leading to this point were cut through dense briars mostly, or other underbrush. I like the open feeling on the forest floor, with the canopy above. The rain and mist also lent a ethereal quality to it. Just before we reached Seven Lakes Drive on the Yellow Trail, it started to rain. We were under a thick canopy of trees, so we weren’t getting wet, but we could see it in the clearing. We quickly got out our brand new ponchos, put them on, and the rain then stopped.
The rest of the hike was fairly uneventful. Once we crossed Seven Lakes Drive we started seeing other hikers, which we hadn’t in a while. There was a lot of activity once we intersected with the White Trail. Shortly after we reached the parking area where we began.
As I said before, they were starting to clear out once we got back it appeared, and no one seemed to know what was going on. Liz and I just signed out and grabbed out t-shirts & gift bags and hit the road. We hope to make it back to Bear Mountain soon.
