Rockland County,
New York
Hiking Trails:
Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail: Yellow blaze
Total Time: 1:45 hours
Estimated Distance: 3.3 miles
Level of Difficulty: Slightly Difficult
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Points Of Interest: Old ruins, excellent view from Fire Tower
Hiking Partner:
Rachel Friedman
Google Maps of Parking:
View 2012 Hiking in a larger map
This hike goes up and around Jackie Jones Mountain. I started on the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail, on the route up to the fire tower. We passed the ORAK ruin, which was the old estate of the owner of Karo Syrup. From there continued along past the excessively tall Jackie Jones communications tower to the fire tower. I keep on finding the tower to be more and more rickety, with some of the wooden footboards totally loose. It is a real safety hazard if you are not careful, and I think it is only a short manner of time before they close it off entirely or demolish it. I climbed up to get the amazing view it affords, and Lake Welch which is pretty close nearby was buzzing with swimming activity being a nice and warm Sunday afternoon right before the summer.
Continued along past the tower on the Suffern-Bear Mountain trail, and then down the mountain to the intersection of the old Jeep Road, which we took east and then took a different unmarked yet maintained old woods road back to the Suffern-Bear Mountain trail, intersecting it, and then continuing down the paved road the goes to the communications tower. We took this road back down instead of the path because the hour was getting late.
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| Map of the Route |
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| Old Gatehouse Ruin of the ORAK Ruins |
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| Another ruin at ORAK |
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| Fire Tower |
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| A Busy Lake Welch Beach from the Fire Tower |
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| Looking north towards Bear Mountain from the Fire Tower |
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| Facing Jackie Jones Communication Tower from the Fire Tower |
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