Valentine's day Off-road ride to Bear Mt Bridge

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Hank Schiffman, Scott Blau and I met at the GWB for a less-than-typical ride to the Bear Mtn Bridge. Our objective was to ride as many off-road routes as possible from NYC to Bear Mtn. We started the ride on River Road through Palidades Park. We had heard that there was a slide, so this was a chance to check it out. (photos above). The slide was substantial and was challenging to cross. The rest of River Road involved steering clear of boulders. The feeling of remoteness so close to Manhattan was palpable.

Just past the Police Station, we crossed the Palisades Parkway to the remnants of the old US 9W route along the cliff top (pictured above, right, at State Line Lookout, with videoclip below). Hank led us through Lamont-Doherty campus down to the quaint and surprisingly isolated community of Sneden's Landing at the River's edge.

Next up were the muddy trails of Tallman Mtn S.P and then the Nyack trail above Piermont. We stopped at the Runcible in Nyack and met up with dozens of road riders.
After this break, was the best part of the ride - the Nyack-Haverstraw Trail - a great combination of top-notch scenery (the cliffs of Hook Mtn on the left, the Hudson on the right) and a fun, rolling unpaved trail.

After this trail, we rode the "Bike 9" route through Haverstraw and Stony Point, and rode our last stretch of off-road near Dunderberg Mtn. (the only stretch where studs would have been worthwhile). We briefly debated whether to climb Bear Mtn via the "off-road" route up, but the 2:12 train in Peekskill beckoned us instead.