a week in new york

[bubba man]

hello all - have a week maybe 2 - want to start near bear mt. and go north - anyone tell me where exactly would be a good place to start - thanks

[swjohnsey]

Start on Bear Mountain, nice trail (for New York), easy to get to. Might want to watch the water. Oh, yeah, go north. Trail sucks the other way.

[Gillum]

Ditto to that....

[gwb]

I just finished NY... I aggree South of Bear Mtn sorta sucks. Unless you like a challenge. Take the train to Bear Mtn and hike from there. One good climb after crossing the Hudson, the rest is beautiful! Hike 'till you stop having fun. Lots of road crossings which lead to towns, typically less than a few miles away. Plenty of transportation options in the Northeast.

[Feral Bill]

I'd start at the other side of Harriman SP (Arden, bus accessible). North from there give you 2 days of scenic hiking before passing Bear Mountain on your way north. Continue as far as you wish.

[joshuasdad]

If you do like a challenge, you can pretty much do all of New York in a week, and have cheap transportation too. There is transit at the southern NY/NJ border (bus to greenwood lake, then state line trail), then Metro North trains near the NY/CT border.

BTW getting up/down Bear Mountain is pretty easy because of trail relocation. Nice stairs, crushed rock paths, etc. Felt like I was at a Disney park, not the AT.

[Another Kevin]

If you miss the challenge of Bear Mountain, use the Major Welch trail (blaze is a red ring, it ends at the AT by the south end of Hessian Lake and crosses the AT again at the summit). It's a nice steep trail with one overlook that has a pretty view of the bridge.

If I had a week to bum around in New York State, I'd head for the Catskills or Adirondacks myself.