West Mountain/The Timp/Doodletown - Bear Mountain and Harriman State Parks, NY

ABOUT THE PARK:
NY/NJ Trail Conference Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks
NY State Parks - Bear Mountain State Park
NY State Parks - Harriman State Park

TRAIL MAP:
NY/NJ Trail Conference Northern Harriman Bear Mountain Trails Map #119 (recommended)
New York State Parks - Bear Mountain State Park Trail Map

DIRECTIONS:
I-87/I-287 (New York State Thruway) to exit 13N (Palisades Interstate Parkway North); after 15 miles on Palisades Interstate Parkway North, exit 19 for US-6 East, keep right on Seven Lakes Drive; watch for narrow paved road on right (pictured below) in about .4 miles and turn right - no signs but this is the parking lot which holds about 12 cars.

GPS coordinates: 41.304258, -74.01571

HIKE DISTANCE: 7.3 miles (1st half moderate/strenuous, 2nd half easy)

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
NOTE: It seems that due to vandalism trail markers are often removed in these parks. I will note those areas and how to tell if you have gone too far.

Facing the barrier at the far end of the parking lot, take the white disk with red 1777W trail to the left.



Keep left on the 1777W trail at both of the forks (unmarked).

.25 miles - the 1777W trail turns right merging with the white-blazed Appalachian Trail for a short distance. When the trails split, stay right on the white-blazed A.T. leaving the 1777W trail.


.8 miles - after a steep uphill climb the white-blazed A.T. turns left; after another brief climb you arrive at east facing views of Bear Mountain with Perkins Tower and the Hudson River.



After another short uphill climb the blue-blazed Timp-Torne trail joins the white-blazed A.T. from the right, keep left on the blue/white trail to views facing west.



This trail continues along a ridge with several more west-facing views of Harriman State Park and the Palisades Parkway, which provides some traffic noise for a while until the trail leaves the ridge.




1.8 miles - At the trail junction sign, keep left on the blue-blazed Timp-Torne Trail when the white-blazed A.T. continues to the right.


A yellow trail will join for a while then branch off - continue on the blue-blazed trail.

2.3 miles - Arrive at the West Mountain shelter with great views of the Hudson and the New York City skyline.




Nice, shady break spot downhill a little bit beyond the shelter with great Hudson views and lots of overhead flight activity:



2.8 miles - after descending West Mountain, watch for the blue-blazed trail to make a left turn. An unmarked trail will go to the right. Although the turn is blazed on a tree, this turn is easy to miss if you are not paying close attention. If you end up at an intersection with the red-dot-on-white and red-cross-on-white trails, you missed the turn.

3.4 miles - arrive at The Timp summit with views of the Hudson River and the New York City skyline. You can also look back over at West Mountain and see the shelter you were at previously.




Stay on the blue-blazed trail as the red-dot-on-white trail crosses over.

4.4 miles - arrive at an unmarked intersection with a cairn in the middle. When you look to the left you will not see any markers on the trees. This is, however, where you turn left. You will not see markers for the 1777 trail until you walk farther down the trail.



If you come to this series of stone steps going up along a vertical rock wall, you missed the turn and need to backtrack.


The 1777 trail takes you through Doodletown, now an abandoned ghost town. Signs posted along the way point out interesting facts and sometimes show drawings or pictures of the homes which once stood at those sites.






There are also some old cemeteries. The oldest tombstone I saw was dated 1816 but there were many older stones which were illegible.


If you want to spend time more thoroughly exploring Doodletown, you might want to print out the map below from Wikipedia as we saw a note saying the sign you would come to as you entered Doodletown was removed by vandals.


6.0 miles (not counting walking around Doodletown) the 1777 trail splits off into the 1777W and 1777E trails at the sign:

Take the 1777W trail to the left.

6.5 miles - stay on the 1777W trail as the yellow-blazed trail crosses over.

7.0 miles - the white-blazed Appalachian Trail joins from the left briefly; keep left on the 1777W trail as it leaves the A.T. after a short distance.

Keep right at the two unmarked forks.

7.3 miles - arrive back at the parking lot.

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