">
From Fingerboard Shelter to Fort Montgomery
Fingerboard Shelter had been our nights home where we tented after a long hard but gratifying day of hiking. We rose early to begin the next day’s journey leaving the group we had spent the previous day with still sleeping. The destination for today was to be West Mountain Shelter where views of New York City skyline and the Hudson River were promised. Expected mileage for the day was 8.5 miles but when we passed our shelter we stealth camped before reaching Bear Mountain. We hiked early the next morning getting to the park and recreation area as the park was opening for the day.
The flag in the next photo from the day before is planted in the highest point in New York. We had views all around as we climbed, jumped, crawled and every once in a while were allowed by the terrain to walk.
Rock walls from times past are everywhere
In one such area where we were allowed to walk I had a terrifying surprise. Larry being a faster hiker than I hiked ahead not disturbing the wild life, however as I came along behind him a rattlesnake reared it’s head and began to rattle at me. It measured about 4 feet long.
It did decide to move along quickly. Needless to say the rest of my day I was wide awake and aware!
I could see a canoe on the water in the distance.
This is a view from the trail of the Bear Mountain Bridge that we’ll cross over after a couple of days rest and resupply in Fort Montgomery.
Bear Mountain Perkins Memorial Tower
Going down Bear Mountain was an experience. A thousand manually placed boulders in stair steps were our means of descent from the mountain. Amazing!
The only bears to date that we’ve seen on the trail were at Bear Mountain Zoo!
A monument of Walt Whitman to honor the contribution made by his widow for the benefit of Bear Mountain
We stopped at Barnstormer BBQ before checking into our Hotel and had a cheeseburger! I know BBQ so we went back that night for BBQ.
A well deserved rest, the past 7 days we had hiked (through rain and humidity) and camped for over 70 miles of some good terrain and some of the roughest. We were forced to continue hiking some days long after it was time for rest.
Drying and airing out our gear in the back hotel parking lot.
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!
To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.
