Appalachian trail gets a new section in Bear Mountain
A new section of the Appalachian Trail in Bear Mountain will open this weekend, thanks to nine months of work by volunteers.
The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s Long Distance Trails Crew, an all-volunteer group, contributed more than 3,000 hours this year to relocate a 0.2 mile section of the historic trail in Bear Mountain State Park.
The section was heavily used and deeply eroded, said Chris Reyling of Hartsdale, who’s the head of the Trails Crew team. The relocated route was built with natural stones to minimize erosion, he said.
“We hope what we designed is going to last for a long time,” Reyling said.
The Appalachian Trail runs for nearly 2,200 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia toMount Katahdin in Maine, passing through 14 states, eight national forests and six national parks.
The Bear Mountain section of the trail was originally built in 1923 by the Trail Conference, and the organization has been working on multiple trail renovation projects in recent years.
The opening of the new section will be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting event at noon Saturday.
Following the ceremony, the crew will lead a half-mile guided hike up the new trail, which includes a rock-pinned stone ladder.
Akiki Matsuda: Twitter: @LohudAkiko
If you go
What: Opening of Appalachian Trail’s new section in Bear Mountain.
When: Noon Saturday (rain date is Sunday).
Where: From the Palisades Interstate Parkway Exit 19, get on Seven Lakes Drivetoward Perkins Memorial Drive. The meeting location is about 0.1 miles west of the Appalachian Trail Crossing on Seven Lakes Drive (GPS coordinates: 41.30414, -74.01601).
How to help: The Long Distance Trails Crew team welcomes new volunteers. No experience is necessary. Email crew chief Chris Reyling at [email protected], or crew leader Bob Fuller at [email protected] for more information.
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