New York AT November section hike

“I want to close a big gap on the appalachian trail and would like to go from Wawayanda SP in NJ near the NY state line to the Bear Mountain Bridge.

I'm thinking of Thursday night at the Wawayanda Shelter and finish at the Bear Mountain Bridge Sunday afternoon.”

“What weekend Genius?!?”

“first november weekend. weekend following Masten.”

“Gosh! The fun never ends!!!

:ob”

“Rob, I checked my NY/NJ maps and I have them all with no dulicates, so someone else must have your missing map.

Anywho, it's 40 miles from Wawayanda Shelter to the Bear Mountain Inn. I'll know Tuesday night if the weekend is doable for me, and also if I can get Friday off.

As far as Wawayanda, I know the shelter is very close to the parking area in the state park, but I don't recall if the entrance is gated after dark. That would be important if you're gonna start or spot a car a car there Friday night.”

“thanks Pennsy. I must have bought a set with two map 5s.

sounds good.”

“ENS - what's the story with Friday for you? I might be able to swing a half or even a full day off but I'd have to schedule it no later than Wednesday. If Friday's a nono, we could always morph into uber-mode and crank this sucker out in 2 days. Or not.

I'm kinda leaning towards making this a cycling weekend but I probably could be pursuaded into this if you still wanna do it.”

“I have Friday off.”

“I think the 40 miler in three days is a good idea. I am sure we could do it in 2, but 3 gives us cushion and we can make Sunday a short day. I am up for suggestions. If you can't get that Friday off, maybe we can know out the section from Ten Mile to Rt 52 that we skipped over Mem Day weekend.”

“It looks like I can get off Friday. I'd suggest hiking N to S starting at Bear Mountain Inn because Harriman, especially Bear Mountain will probably be a zoo Sat and Sun.

My suggestion:
Meet at the ranger station in Wawayanda State Park Fri morning. If I remember, there is a short side trail from the station to the AT.
Shuttle to Bear Mt Inn and start from there. I like the idea of having our vehicles at 2 safe parking areas also.

Fri - 14 miles would take us to the Fingerboard Shelter.
Sat - another 14 would take us to Wildcat Shelter leaving 12 miles on Sunday.”

“sounds like a solid plan there Pennsy, but you better not sleep in until 11 each morning, because it's getting dark out early now.”

“Long section -- lotsa ups and downs -- PUDs, I believe they're called. Too bad I can't make it this weekend... :(

Anyways, have fun...”

“Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 28. Northwest wind around 6 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 28.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 46.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 46.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 34.

looks pretty friggin good!!!
last edited: 10/31/06 7:13:17 PM”

“Nogranola and I did the same hike. Have fun! That one is all up and down. Mostly up. Even slowed down a couple SOBO thru hikers.

Y'all will luv it. ;)”

“hey spin, why not join us for a spell?”

“Not for that bit ENS, thanks tho. We just hiked it in Sept and I'm still cursing the lack of switchbacks.

Sorry I missed the Masten shindig! Looks like a near illegal amount of fun! The state of Kentucky had me that weekend. Same time next year?”

“yeah, Masten could be a new Halloween tradition for TT. Something about camping in a ghost town on Halloween!”

“ahhh, we may have zee crazypace joining us this weekend!”

“bump for crazypace”

“Where is that lad? He also needs to check his email.

Hey, since Crazypace's wife hiked on a bonafide TT trip, don't ya think she needs a trailname? How about Eazypace?”

“lol - that's goood!!!”

“if she posts, then we can put her on our "who have you met list".”

“I'm in for meeting up on saturday night. I'm checking the maps now for a good parking spot to hike in.

Eazypace ? come on, thats too predictable!
how bout:
"marriedtoabonehead" ?
or
"myhusbandshikingagain" ?
or
"toomuchgearinhouse"”

“Waywayanda is not gated. Call the ranger station ahead of time to let them know you'll be leaving your vehicle(s). The side trail is less than quarter mile.

Your hike on Saturday is going to suck ass. It took us 12 hours to do that stretch; although, we'd had torrential downpours and high winds the night before so there were lakes across the trail. If it's dry it might not be so bad.

There are no privies at the shelters and reliability of water sources is questionable.

The climb up Agony Grind is special. You boneheads will love it :-)

CP--There were plenty of road crossings. You could easily find a parking spot within a mile or two of the shelter.
last edited: 11/01/06 8:58:12 PM”

“bump for mapleleaf and treebeard”

“Sooooo, what time? Wawayanda is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from here, via county roads, NO congested Friday AM interstates. Bear Mt should be less than an hour from Wawayanda.”

“9am?

Pennsy, I'll call you tonight to formulate a plan.”

“I'm going out for our Thurs night bike ride, so I won't be home until around 9:30.”

“ahhh, that's why I didn't get through when I was frantically trying to reach someone for advice on buying a bottle of saki.”

“Sooo...

Did anyone live to tell about it???”

“Well..........”

“Lost ?”

“we came, we saw, we kicked its ass... or did it kick our ass? Can't remember.”

“Calm down son and tell us where you got bit.”

“Did anyone live to tell about it???”
Capn Bobo

Yes, we survived! It didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked. "Someone" arrived a tad late at my place so after dropping off a car in Wawayanda State Park (NJ), we didn't start hiking from the Bear Mountain Inn (NY) until 12:30. With a 14 mile hike plan for the day, a night hike into camp was a definate.

Bear Mountain was a zoo with a bunch of multi school cross country races going on, and we were cautioned to look out for racers as we started hiking. HA! THEY had better watch out for us dag nab it!

Once we got clear of the mayhem, the hiking was great. It was a clear and cool day, ideal for hiking. After the 1100' climb up Bear Mountain, we were treated to great views of the Hudson and beyond, including a sensational view of the New York City skyline. Sorry, but neither ENS nor I brought cameras on this trip. Hey, what do ya want from a couple of boneheads.

The rest of the day we went up, down, up, down, up, and down through the scenic, rocky and hilly terrain of Harriman State Park. We climbed West Mountain where we met a Southbound thruhiker named Chase. He started from Katadhin in early September so he's gonna get a good taste of winter when he hits the southern mountains in January.

We played Frogger while trying to cross the insane Palisades Parkway at rush hour, climbed Black Mt and several roller coasters and found ourselves at the William Brien Shelter at 4:30. Unfortunately, we still had 5 miles to go to reach our planned destination, the Fingerboard Shelter. We made the decision to camp there since it was getting dark, the shelter was empty, and there was a spring nearby. Of course that would require a monster day on Saturday because we really wanted to get to Wildcat Shelter to meet up with Crazypace, who was joining us Sat night.

Anywho, we set up camp, found enough wood to get a fire going, and we both enjoyed different variations of Sarbar's "Thanksgiving on the Trail" dinner. A little bit of hot saki after dinner and we were 2 comfy campers.

Sat, we got up at the crack of dawn and began an epic day of hiking. In about 2 hours, we approached the Fingerborad Shelter area and quickly realized we made the right decision the night before to not push on to here. It was a friggin zoo with tents and campfires everywhere.

This was ENS's first time hiking in Harriman and I told him to prepare to see plenty of people once we crossed Arden Valley Road, and we did. We saw tons of dayhikers and a few backpackers during our roller coaster hike though beautiful Harriman. The Lemon Squeezer was a blast and I had to remove my pack to get down the one insane rock scramble.

About 10 miles into the day, we left Harriman, crossed rt 17 and proceeded up the climb known as "Agony Grind." We decided to take it real easy to make it not as agonizing, but it's tough to not suffer going up a .4 of a mile 600' climb.

Once we finished the grind and chalked up Arden Mt, we still had Buchanan Mt, Mombasha Mt, and Wildcat Mt to conquer, plus the usual roller coasters before we would hit camp. Ok, these aren't "really" mountains, nothing higher than 1400' but they sure take the snot out of your legs.

We descended Mombasha High Point and were treated to a spectacular waterfall, Fitzgerald Falls. I'm still kicking myself (and ENS) for not bringing a camera. We crossed Lakes Road, donned headlamps, and after a stiff climb up Wildcat, found the side trail to Wildcat Shelter. We smelled fire as we neared, and were really really really hoping Crazypace was the cause of it. YES! He gave us a rebel yell and we crawled into the lean-to. Life is good. No foraging for wood, a reliable spring, and a Crazypace with a nalgene full of merlot. YAY. After a 10 1/2 hour 20 mile grind, it felt real good to veg in the shelter.

I think we all crashed around 9 and slept like logs. Sunday morning, ENS, who has been fighting a cold, wasn't feeling that well so when we descended Wildcat to Crazypace's truck, we decided to end the hike there. It's another 10 miles to Wawayanda but we'll snag it when we return for Crazypace's section hike. CP gave us a ride to Wawayanda and after a great breakfast in Warwick, we headed home. Great hike, great weather, great trail and scenery, and as usual a great great time with the Boneheads.
last edited: 11/06/06 8:19:38 PM”

“Nice hiking there, Boneheads.”

“Pennsy wrote up the trip report? Who allowed this?!?!?

muuahhahah! Sounds like another good'un, but no pics? Then how do we know you really did this hike, hmmm?????”

“it was a great hike and Pennsy, that is an outstanding work of bonehead literature, but I did not see any, "an den" in there.

I was late due to sooo much construction traffic between York and Reading and didn't meet up with Pennsy until an hour after our planned time and that put us an hour behind.

Yes, the view of Manhattan was awesome!!! You could see the sun shining on the glass and steel buildings. We were actually treated to two views of the city. The first time was on the top of Bear Mountain, near the tower and the second, I believe was on Black Mountain. The view from Black Mountain was amzing, since that is when the sun was starting to set and the buildings were shining. The views of the Hudson did not suck either.

Camp Friday night hit the spot. We had the shelter to ourselves, it was quiet and the temperature was perfect. I wasn't feeling that great all weekend, so stopping there 5 miles early seemed perfect and I got a great night sleep to top it off.

Thanksgiving on the trail rocks, and even though its preparation required the help of Pennsy, I finally made it and next time I will make it on my own (and I will bring a cup for the gravy).

Saturday, the hike through Harriman was really nice. Lots of lakes and some views. Nice open mountain tops and nice forest walks. The lemon squeezer was a lot of fun.

After we got to 17 and had to climb the grind, my butt start getting kicked. It was a roller coaster from there. The mountains weren't big, but there were a bunch of them and these were more than speed bumps.

I walked into camp on fumes, but it was great to get there and good to see Crazypace and his rip roaring fire. We set up, cooked dinner and sipped some wine and like Pennsy said, we were snoring not long after nine. The weather again seemed perfect for sleeping and the Wildcat shelter was really nice.

Crazypace had his -10 degree montbell sleeping bag and looked like a fat catapiller when it lofted up. It was pretty funny.

Sunday, my wheels were flat and I couldn't get the energy I needed to hike the remaining 10 miles to Wawayanda, despite eating for packs of oatmeal, the cold got the best of me.

We still got in 30+ miles and had a most outstanding hike to boot!

Wish I had my camera in tow.”

“bump”

“Nice report, Harriman is a bueatiful park and last weekends weather was perfect. Hope you feel better now ENS.”

“When is CP doing his section hike and what are the start and end points. i would like to climb Bear Mountain again just for the view of manhattan. It was a cloudy, crappy day when we were there.”

“probably the next hike we'll do in the area is Pochuck Shelter to 17A and it'll probably be sometime in December.”

“Nice reports. You’ve got to love those ups and downs in the highlands. Nothing big, but nothing flat.”

“Flat? What's that?”

“the views of the skyline were awesome, probably the highlight of the hiking part of the trip.”

“the views of the skyline were awesome, probably the highlight of the hiking part of the trip.”

“the views of the skyline were awesome, probably the highlight of the hiking part of the trip.”

“the views of the skyline were awesome, probably the highlight of the hiking part of the trip.”

“I liked hitting that section. Thanks for the report”

“Wow, ENS just had a fourgasm!

Hey Pete - we were talking about the time we did that section. I especially pointed out where you found the hidden campsite behind Obrien, and more especially where Jerry made the awesome homemade garlic bread.”