Sunday, November 1, 2015

West Mountain Southern Portion

Harriman/Bear Mountain State Parks
Rockland Co.,
New York

Hiking Trails:
Ski Path: Unblazed
Appalachian Trail: White blaze
Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail: Red blaze
Timp-Torne Trail: Blue blaze
Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail: Yellow blaze

Total Time: 2:40 hours
Estimated Distance: 4.6 Miles
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Level of Recommendation: Highly Recommended

Points of Interest:
Good climb and many excellent views
Cons: None

Hiking Partners:
Jacob Baldinger
Shimmy Rosenberg

This was yet another foliage hike, and I was surprised that so many leaves were still on the trees already in November. Although peak foliage had already passed, there were still some very scenic colors to behold on this hike. We were honored to be joined by Jacob Baldinger, an old-time hiking partner of mine who recently moved back in to the area.

The week prior our hike was on West Mountain, and I during that hike, I decided I would do the southern part of West Mountain the following week. We parked in the Anthony Wayne Parking area at the southern-most lot, and went along the Ski/Bike Path the to Appalachian Trail. We took the Appalachian Trail up West Mountain, and veered off the trail through the valley to meet up with the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail. We took the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail north to the intersection of the Timp-Torne Trail, and then took the Timp-Torne Trail to the shelter, where we were the prior week.

After the shelter we continued down the Timp-Torne Trail to the The Timp valley, and debated if we should climb up The Timp or not. In the end we didn't, and just veered off by the Timp Valley to the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail, climbing the southern slope of the southern portion of West Mountain. We took this trail all the way to the intersection of the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail, which we climbed down on an extremely difficult scramble down. We then cut across from the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail back to the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail, which we took down the mountain to the ski/biking trail, and then back to our car.

Map of the Route.
Harriman/Bear Mountain State Parks Northern Map

Foliage and Leaf Cover along Beechy Bottom Road

Me at the Intersection of the AT and Beechy Bottom Road

Jacob on the Timp-Torne Trail

Our First View on the Ascent on the Timp-Torne Trail

Viewof the Timp and the Hudson from the West Mnt Shelter

Foliage Colors from the West Mountain Shelter

The Timp from the Shelter

Approaching Towards the Timp on the Timp-Torne Trail

View Along the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail

View from the Ramapo Dunderberg Trail

Shimmy Ascending the Mountain

Along the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail

Bright Red Trees Along Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail

Beautiful Red Colors

Jacob at the Suffern-Bear Mountain/Ramapo Dunderberg View
Above Cat's Elbow

Me at the Same View

Ditto

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