West Mountain (Timp-Torne/A.T. and Beechy Bottom Road) Loop from Anthony Wayne Recreation Area

Description

From the parking area, walk back along the entrance road until you reach a gravel road on the right blocked off with a gate. Turn right and follow this road, marked with the white blazes of the Anthony Wayne Trail. Bear right at the next fork and continue uphill, proceeding ahead across a four-way intersection.

When you reach a T-intersection, turn left. Then, in 25 feet, you'll notice three red-"F"-on-white blazes on a tree to the right, which mark the start of the Fawn Trail. Turn right onto the Fawn Trail, which climbs, using switchbacks and rock steps for part of the way, to reach a junction with the blue-blazed Timp-Torne Trail.

Turn right onto the Timp-Torne Trail and climb steeply over rocks to reach a viewpoint to the left over Bear Mountain (with the Perkins Memorial Tower visible at the summit). After a short level stretch, the trail continues its steady climb, steeply in places.

In about a third of a mile, you'll emerge onto a panoramic viewpoint from an open rock ledge, with Bear Mountain and the Hudson River visible to the left, the north parking area at the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area (where the hike began) below to the right, and Black Mountain in the background.

After another relatively level stretch, the Timp-Torne Trail climbs to reach a junction with the white-blazed Appalachian Trail (A.T.). Continue ahead, now following both blue and white blazes. Soon, you'll reach another viewpoint to the left over Bear Mountain and the Hudson River. The trail now swings to the west side of the ridge and emerges at a west-facing viewpoint over Black Mountain, with the Palisades Interstate Parkway and the two large parking areas for the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area visible in the valley below.

The joint A.T./Timp-Torne Trail proceeds south along the ridge for about two-thirds of a mile, passing more viewpoints to the west. After reaching another east-facing viewpoint, with a tower of the Bear Mountain Bridge visible between Bear Mountain and Anthony's Nose (on the east side of the river), you'll come to a junction, marked by a sign. Here, the A.T. continues ahead, but you should turn left and follow the blue-blazed Timp-Torne Trail, which heads southeast, crossing a fire-scarred ridge.

Soon, you'll reach a junction with the yellow-blazed Suffern-Bear Mountain (S-BM) Trail. Turn right and follow the S-BM Trail, which descends to a valley, where it crosses a stream. After climbing out of the valley, it crosses another fire-scarred area, with some young pine trees. It then descends from a rock ledge, joining the red-dot-on-white-blazed Ramapo-Dunderberg (R-D) Trail on the way down.

The joint trail soon comes out on a slanted rock ledge (near a steep climb known as "Cats Elbow") with a panoramic south-facing view (the Hudson River is visible to the east). Here, the two trails split. You should turn right (west) and follow the R-D Trail, which descends steeply on a long switchback, then more gradually through dense mountain laurel thickets.

At the base of the descent, the R-D Trail crosses the wide Beechy Bottom Road, blazed with blue-on-white Bike Trail markers. Turn right onto this pleasant woods road (improved by workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934), which you will follow gently downhill for the next 1.4 miles.

In about a quarter of a mile, the white-blazed A.T. crosses. When you reach a T-intersection in 1.0 mile, turn right, then immediately bear left, continuing to follow the Bike Trail markers. Then, at the next Y-intersection, bear left and follow the white-blazed Anthony Wayne Trail downhill, retracing your steps to the north parking area at the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area, where the hike began.