Bear Mountain to NY17

[XCskiNYC]

Anybody been through this bit recently?

Most of the shelters listed are "no water" "no privy."

Is there water available nearby? Streams, springs?

Good spots for catholes?

[Raul Perez]

I did NY 17A to Bear Mountain about 3 weeks ago.

No water at shelters but there are streams, brooks, and ponds to get water from on the way there.

Going SOBO:

When you get off of Bear Mountain and go down the road just when you come off Bear to your left will be a stream flowing down some rocks which is easy to get to. It collects in a pool so you can scoop up water.

After you get off West Mountain you will come to a brook. Clean water there and if you fill up you should have enough to get you to William Brien Shelter.

William Brien make a right down the yellow trail and you will come to a brook. Water is not the cleanest but drinkable (I'm here to talk about it). William Brien shelter is usually TRASHED by douche bag inexperienced hikers/campers who dont know how to hike out their trash.

After William Brien you will come to Arden Road... make a left and follow it down to Tiorati Circle... you can get ice cream, soda, and water from vending machines. The trip from William Brien to that point is moderate and relatively flat. Also bathrooms so you can do your business or grab extra TP.

My memory becomes hazy after that but I know at Fitzgerald Falls the water was super clean.

Water at Wildcat Shelter was nasty and muddy which caused us to head to Fitz Falls. But Wildcat had a Privy... the only Privy I've seen in the section you will be doing.

Fingerboard Shelter was very open and I found little places to get privacy to do my daily business and dig a cat hole. Other shelters and spots had some brush you can get privacy in and dig.

Here's my video log of the trip if you want to check out some of the sights you will be encountering:

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6gaNjz3QlU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6gaNjz3QlU)

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEDw3bO2Q_c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEDw3bO2Q_c)

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJfvzDffR4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJfvzDffR4)

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHTM8FLb1Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHTM8FLb1Q)

Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeLvk8cLnuQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeLvk8cLnuQ)

Have fun!

Raul

[Raul Perez]

Oh Island Pond water has a lot of particles in it. You definitely need a filter (my buddy's filter clogged TWICE at that spot)... If you are going chemical I would skip that but it is a great place for a dip and sun bathing if its a sunny day (water is WARM).

[sasquatch2014]

Been dry don't pass up what you can find Tioritti Circle will be key pack more than you think you will need better safe than sorry.

[XCskiNYC]

Raul, thank you for the very detailed reply. Some of that found its way on to the back of my copied pages of the Companion that came along on this hike. If you don't mind I linked to one of your videos in my tj entry to illustrate the general state of cleanliness of shelters on this stretch of the AT -- which is freakin' messy.

Sasquatch, your words were indeed prophetic. This is a nice part of the trail scenery-wise, for seeing deer and birds, and for eating blueberries, but the whole water thing, combined with the heat wave 04 to 06 July made it not so much fun. My pack was 39.2 lbs with all the water (circa 6 liters) I had on board starting up Bear Mountain.

The only natural water source that wasn't bone dry was that Beechy Bottom Brook. That was moving but it was very murky and, with the rest area 0.4 down the Parkway, I went for that instead. I don't use a filter, just bleach, so the water really has to be pretty clear to use.

As a side note, the water outlets at the rest area were: 1) a drinking fountain that imparted a nasty metallic taste to the water or 2) the sink in the men's room.

[Raul Perez]

No worries man glad it was helpful. It really gets me upset when douche bags trash the shelters like that. I dont mind if you dont practice LNT but at least practice respect and hike your crap out.

[ExosC3]

crap, seeing this is getting me a bit worried.

Im thru-hiking the NY section from greenwood lake to hoyt rd in ny/ct state line, 89.7 miles, starting like the first week of august i think. doing it in 6 days, 15 miles a day. my AT book mentions water sources along the way, each of them nearly like mile 10-15 each day, maybe 2 of them are pumps. the others were natural, i remember it mentinoing one about .5 miles past beechy bottom creek, or maybe it even was beechy bottom.

either way, we have been contemplating over the past few days, whether or not we should take two 3L camelbacks each, essintially 6L aka 13 pounds. Its gonna be hot and it would be nice to be able to drink a lot, im sure we could go through 5L a day. the way we planned the trip, we are going to fill up at the end of each day, but if all sources are dry, then we may need to take 6L each and still conserve. we do have a filter by the way, so anything moving is likley ok.

what do you guys think? i know, rather be safe than sorry. take 6L and if we dont need it after day 1, just dont refill it all. its jst...13 pounds lol

[Ironbelly]

Well the good news is most of that area is getting poured on right now. I would at least plan on having the capacity for 5-6L. If you see that the sources are not dry after your first day then only fill up what you think you will need.

I know that in hot weather like we have been having here in the NE I will easily drink 5-6L a day. If your drinking that much then you are also sweating that much. Don't forget about replacing the salt/electrolytes lost.

Hope you have a good hike, with lots of ample water to ease the load on your back!

[ExosC3]

yea for sure...ive decided 6L it is...13 pounds but i dont think ill regret that. sweat about a quart an hour in the heat so thats 5-6L right there

[XCskiNYC]

Between Bear Mtn. Traffic Circle and NY17 the only sweet, reliable water on a hike I did 04 to 06 July was the tap at Tioratti Circle. The ice cream vending machine was okay there also. And the shade tree was excellent. On the middle, and hottest day of my hike I spent most of the daylight part of the day there with other hikers waiting for the mercury to back off.

Beechy Bottom brook was flowing but it was very murky. It'd be okay if you had a good filter or some water system that could deal with particles.

Just trail south (compass west) of Beechy Bottom Brook the AT crosses the Palisades Interstate Parkway multi-lane expressway and about 0.4 compass north (trail west) of this crossing there's a rest area. I didn't ask the staff if there was a tap but none was readily visible. The options for water looked to be either the sink in the men's room or the drinking fountain. The fountain, unfortunately, had a really bad metallic taste. It's probably healthy enough but I still had a few liters on board and just stuck with the water I already had.

Anyway, I hope your hike went well. If you're still in the planning stages, I'd say 4 to 6 liters is a good amount for stretches like NY17 to Tioratti Circle (the circle itself is on Arden Valley Road, 0.3 compass east of the AT; for NOBO's a right turn at the road crossing just after the big water tank) and Tioratti Circle to Bear Mtn. Traffic Circle. That Tioratti Circle to Bear Mtn. Traffic Circle stretch is about 16 miles so Tioratti is a good place to really pile up the water. If it's too heavy drink a bunch of it but try to still have at least a couple of liters left for West Mtn. to Bear Mtn.

You can get water, I think in 20 oz bottles, on the summit of Bear Mtn. from the vending machines. There's also soft drinks in 20 oz bottles for about $2.

[Strategic]

Most of the water advice you've gotten here is excellent for this section, but I'll add one note to what XCskiNYC wrote. The rangers at Perkins Tower on Bear Mountain will often give hikers free water from their own private taps inside Perkins Tower. This is not something available to the public, but many of the rangers (I've met several) will offer water to anyone who looks like a section or thru-hiker, especially if conditions are dry. Just chat them up when you make the summit and be sympathetic; after all, they're dealing all day with the packs of people who drive up there. I think most of them view long-distance hikers as a positive relief from their usual work of herding the general public around and treat us accordingly.

[LIhikers]

While doing a 3 day, 2 night backpack in the Bear Mountain/Harriman Park area this summer we had a ranger go into a cooler in his truck and give us several bottles of water. We couldn't thank him enough.

[northernstorm]

lets see i leave march 5th, trail days on may 13-15th, than all of virginia, maybe attempt the 4state challenge, boring pennsylvania, .....

yeah i should be in NY by july. ill keep all that in mind.