# 1st time to the top of Bear Mountain and back (from Cliffside Park, NJ)



## geon (Jan 25, 2010)

I took the day off from work today to take care of stuff with the NJ motor vehicles commission. Surprisingly, I was in and out in less than 30 minutes (the last time I went, I was there for almost 2 hours). Having the whole day to myself and with the nice weather, I decided to try going up to Bear Mountain. 

The ride wasn't all that bad. When I drove there in the past, the hills seemed worse, but riding up to the top was just long, but not too steep. I was sweating a ton -- went through 10 bottles of water...

I was a borderline Clyde (195 lbs) at the beginning of the Summer, but with riding and eating sensibly, I'm down to 173 lbs. Skipping the late night pints of ice cream really helped.

One question: From Nyack, is there a "better" way of getting to Bear Mountain than just shooting up 9W. There were a few sections in Haverstraw where there was construction being done, and no shoulder at all.


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## Nielly (Sep 21, 2009)

one option for that section is to drop down into Haverstraw. As your heading north you can drop down right at the quarry. You make the right off of 9W cross the rail road tracks and down the hill. There are the green 9W bike route signs marking the way if you look for them. This route takes you down around the Haverstraw marina and along the river part of the way. Once your through Haverstraw you climb back up onto 9W to continue north.


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## geon (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks! I think I'll try that on Sat or Sun.


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## jkmacman (Feb 6, 2009)

you can enter harriman via gate hill, lake welch 7 lakes drive and up into bear mtn, then coe back to jersey via 9w. i am heading to harriman on sunday, but will probably just do long meadow, 106 and 7 lakes drive


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## ckelly49 (Jul 9, 2006)

Nielly said:


> one option for that section is to drop down into Haverstraw. As your heading north you can drop down right at the quarry. You make the right off of 9W cross the rail road tracks and down the hill. There are the green 9W bike route signs marking the way if you look for them. This route takes you down around the Haverstraw marina and along the river part of the way. Once your through Haverstraw you climb back up onto 9W to continue north.


You can see the detour route at mile 25.5 here... http://tinyurl.com/GWB2BMSP


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