Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain State Park
Palisades Parkway
(Route 9W North)
Bear Mountain, NY 10911
(845) 786-2701
Bear Mountain State Park is located in a valley between mountains overlooking the Hudson River. The park has a lodge, lake, swimming pool, and Trailside Museum and Zoo and numerous hiking, biking and cross-country ski trails. There are over 50 official trails covering 235 miles in the Park. The first section of the Appalachian Trail running from Bear Mountain south to the Delaware Water Gap opened here on October 7, 1923 and served as a pattern for the development of other sections of the Trail.
On this hike, I started near the Bear Mountain Inn and walked the Appalachian Trail through the park to the Trailside Zoo. The Appalachian Trail passes through the Zoo which is the lowest elevation on the entire ~2,200-mile trail. If you plan to visit the Zoo during your walk through the park – make sure to arrive by mid-afternoon. It closes at 5pm during the summer and an hour earlier during the winter.
- click for a Daytimer report of this trip to Bear Mountain: March 15, 1995 (password required)
- click for a park map of Bear Mountain State Park,
- click for a trail map of hikes in Bear Mountain State Park
- click for a map of the entire Appalachian Trail
- click for a map of the A.T. from New York to New Hampshire (password required)
- click for an Appalachian Trail Map from Goshen Mountain to Bear Mountain State Park (password required)
- click for an Appalachian Trail Map from Bear Mountain State Park to the Graymoor Monastery (password required)
- click for more hikes at Bear Mountain State Park in March 2005, November 2022 and April 2023
- click for a summary of the 2000+ mile Appalachian Trail
- click for recommended books, videos and games about the Appalachian Trail