Historic Popolopen Suspension Bridge — Attraction in Town of Highlands

Grand place to stop by and picnic or hike (plenty of hiking or walking trails, both short and longer). Stopped by on a kinda dreary Febr day. Parked in the Fort Montgomery park, parking lot. (free parking). Its real EZ to miss the entrance to this parking lot off of the main limited access road, SLOW DOWN and have your Google Maps turned on. YOU access the suspended pedestrian bridge easily by walking AROUND the Fort Montgomery Historic site bldg and walk downhill to the bridge (kinda a severe 20 degree or so downgrade on a rocky but well tended trail).. Even tho a cloudy and raw dreary day, plenty of other folk there to enjoy and take in the vista. The suspension bridge is modern and sturdy and well maintained. The sights and photo op is great also. Quite a few folk with friendly doggies (grand!). After crossing the bridge, you can continue on the trail to the hiking trail to the zoo. There is a clearly marked embossed plaq in the Ft Montgomery park, parking lot, showing the trails. This is a great plae to stop off for a picnic lunch or an afternoon. NO trash barrels, so you have to carry out your own trash (bummer, you'd think they'd provide a few trash barrels!! Com'on...

No matter how hard it was to get to, it was worth it. Since, unbeknownst to us, Fort Montgomery was closed for the season, we parked at the 9W Parking lot, and walked over to the trail. Totally unfamiliar with the trail system, we finally figured out how to get down to the suspension bridge. It was a steep, somewhat rocky descent, and I think you need to have some sense of good balance to do it safely. We knew that you could cross the bridge, and continue the trail to take you up to the Trailside zoo and museum, on the other side of the Bear Mountain Bridge, but changed our minds when we saw how steep it was, and how you could barely make out the trail because of the leaf cover. Originally our plan was to take the trail from Bear Mountain Inn, under Route 202, and do the trail as we went through the Trailside Zoo and Museum, but the zoo was closed. i was glad it worked out that way. The nice thing about doing it in the middle of March was that we had the bridge completely to ourselves. Armed with more information, I'll be going back to do more of this trail. The whole Bear Mountain State Park area is such a safe, serene and beautiful place to get...

I wasn’t sure if the parking lot at fort Montgomery or the bridge itself would be open this April weekday based on reviews and the museum’s website. I’m happy to report that even though the museum building was closed, the parking lot was open, as was the bridge, which is .25-.5 miles from the parking lot at the bottom of a decently steep gravel path. The bridge was safe for supervised children though there were a few surrounding areas kids could tumble down a good distance if they wandered off the trail, plus we all skipped a few times despite our Keens down the hill going to the bridge. There is a sign that says the gate to the parking lot closes at 5 so I figure that is the more important thing to consider. It was too late in the day to go further so I’ll be back to explore the trail past the bridge and any others that start from three Fort Montgomery museum...