Suffern - Bear Mountain Trailhead — Attraction in Town of Ramapo

Great trail for a challenging two day / overnight hike. Completed in August in 12 hours (5.5 Day one to Big Hill Shelter and 6.5 Day two to Bear).

Suggested northbound itinerary - get to Suffern NY (easy by NJ Transit) around midday, lunch at Fink’s BBQ (take dinner to go!), head 11 miles to Big Hill shelter. Important, your first water will be the reservoir at mile 9.7. The next opportunity will be mile 13 before you cross the road, and around mile 15 before you cross again. There is no guaranteed further water until the end. Once you cross the Pip and start Pingyp Mountain the elevation changes get pretty tough. It could be better to do the trail in reverse so you have more flats on Day 2?). But don’t give up, you’ll eventually get there.

I then took an Uber to Peekskill for a brewery visit before Metro North train back to the city. Manitou station is currently closed due to covid...

Word of warning after crossing the clearing at Mile 4 I think (or 2.7) the trail was quite difficult to follow. Definitely have maps...

First I want to start off with, definitely download the map. We hiked in the wrong direction for a while and had to start over. It's a really amazing hike, pretty intense start but it evens out after the incline. Lots of prickly bushes and vines so be aware of that. We went in May and there were lots of slippy leaves covering rocks so if you're not used to hiking just be aware of where you step. Amazing...

Sign is almost impossible to see or read. If I hadn't seen reviews saying this was the correct destination I would have guessed Google was mistaken.. not sure where you're supposed to park but I didn't get a ticket under the overpass. A little hard to get started (3 foot retaining wall) but once you're in it's a nice hike but challenging over some of the rocks.. still we managed and...