Hiking Bear Mountain (New York State)
As I mentioned last week, my husband and I have been enjoying hiking. After getting lost last week at Bear Mountain in New York State and spending several hours on the trails, we wanted to go back, retrace our steps and conquer the trails. There are hundreds of miles of trails at Bear Mountain, so it’s hard to run out of options.
Between Bear Mountain (New York State), Harriman State Park, the Hudson Highlands, you can’t run out of things to do. From hiking up Perkins Memorial Drive to Perkins Memorial Tower, to cross country skiing, boat rentals, to ice skating, to trailside museums and zoo, there us a lot to do. At the Trail trailhead for Bear Mountain State Park, there is Bear Mountain Inn. I think it would be fun to stay at Bear Mountain State Park and day hike sometime.
Bear Mountain State Park is one of my favorite parks in the Hudson alley and Rockland County.
Right now, I enjoy hiking because I’m able to be active without the worry of being injured. Hiking doesn’t use the same muscles as running, and I’m able to hike completely injury-free and “not worry about it.” Even though my running is currently injury-free, I still worry. During my injury, I’ve discovered a new and exciting hobby to be active. Plus, it allows me to see various local areas from a whole new view (and, of course, new diners too). Bear Mountain State Park gives beautiful views to Orange Counties, Hessian Lake, Hudson Valley, and Iona Island. Apparently, it’s possible to see bald eagles at the Bear Mountain State Park summit.
We started off near the lake and hiked upwards. The first 2 miles were nearly straight uphill to get to the top of Bear Mountain. Fitbit told me I climbed 100+ flights of stairs and two days later, I’m incredibly sore.
We made it to the summit of Bear Mountain and were able to see several different views, including the lake we started. It’s hard to believe how high we climbed.
After that, we worked our way in a large loop around Bear Mountain and to the opposite side. We were able to see a faint view of NYC about 50ish miles away. If you look closely towards the center, you can see the New York City skyline about 50 miles away.
Of course, we had to take a selfie as well at the summit of Bear Mountain.
Finally about four hours later, we got back to the bottom of Bear Mountain State Park. To be honest, I was more sore and tired than any run I’ve ever done. Hiking is a lot of fun and a serious workout. 
Other Hiking Posts:
Getting Lost at Bear Mountain
Hiking Hemlock Falls
Hiking the Hollywood Sign
You can see more hiking posts here.
Question for you:
What is the most tiring workout you’ve ever done?
For me, I believe it’s cycling or hiking.
Have you been to Bear Mountain State Park?
That looks like so much fun! Virginia has some great mountains and I don’t take advantage of them nearly as often as I should!
There are definitely a few great options in the western part of the state. I would love to go out there too.
Ah! I love that you are getting to hike with your husband. That looks like an absolute blast…although a tiring one 🙂 You look great in all the pics and I’m so happy you have returned to injury free running!
Hiking is pretty hardcore! That and snowboarding are probably the roughest ones for my body to recover from, with snowboarding taking a slight edge. A weekend in the morning requires twice as long to recover from 😆
I can’t imagine how difficult snowboarding is. I get sore just thinking about it.
Wow, what an awesome hike! All these pictures are gorgeous! I always find that things like hiking and swimming tend to wear me out! And playing with little kids, haha.