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New Bear Mountain path carves legacy in stone - 4 June, 2010
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By Laura Incalcaterra
The Journal News
BEAR MOUNTAIN — The line of gray stones rises up through the lush woods like a great cathedral's staircase.
Nearly 800 steps zig and zag and take hikers ever higher, finally depositing those with enough gumption to make the one-mile climb on the top of Bear Mountain.
Welcome to the newest section of the Appalachian Trail, where the popular but perpetually eroding trail has been replaced by one that organizers hope will last for at least a century.
Emily Zimmermann of Machias, Maine, was among those using the new trail this week.
"There was one section up near the top that I got to come down, and it was really nice," she said.
She is a "thru-hiker," traveling the entire route of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine. Zimmermann, known as Switchback on the trail, said she hadn't seen anything similar to the new section on Bear Mountain during her three-month trek.
The Bear Mountain Trails Project, launched about five years ago, is addressing all trails on the mountain, with a focus on the Appalachian.
The historic trail runs nearly 2,200 miles, passing through 14 states, eight national forests and six national parks. Its first section was built between the Bear Mountain Bridge and Arden, in lower Orange County.
The overall project is a partnership with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference; the Palisades Interstate Park Conference; the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; the National Park Service; and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The Palisades Interstate Park Conference oversees Bear Mountain State Park.
Eddie Walsh, a professional trail builder hired by the trail conference to serve as project director, said the terrain and a desire to preserve the nearby surroundings had dictated how the work was done.
Bear Mountain, which rises behind the inn of the same name, is steep and rocky. It is also among the most-used trails in the region, with an estimated 1 million to 3 million visitors annually, including 250,000 to 500,000 hikers.
Many of the hikers are inexperienced and therefore unfamiliar with the proper way to hike. For example, rather than walking single file, they may walk several people abreast. This widens the trail and makes it more susceptible to erosion by other hikers and by rain and snow.
As a result, Walsh said, the new trail is 60 inches wide. The standard width along the the Appalachian is 18 inches, he said.
Most of the work was done without the benefit of power tools, except for small drills that were used to break boulders found on the site into the steps and retaining-wall stones needed to build the trail.
A system of overhead cables was rigged on trees and wood tripods to move the material into place, he said.
All of the stone was "dry set," meaning that no mortar, which can be impacted by rain, snow, freezing and thawing, was applied, Walsh said.
A key to the success of the project was the more than 700 volunteers who pitched in, said Chris Ingui, a special projects manager for the trail conference.
Ingui started out as a volunteer himself and said it was the work and what it meant to the larger community that interested him.
"It's something that's not going to just be tossed away or deleted," Ingui said. "This is something that's going to have a legacy.
"Every rock that gets set, you're leaving a little bit of you with it, and you'll always remember it," Ingui said. "I think that's a big part of why people do come back here to volunteer. They do identify with this project."
A special Trail University, which trained volunteers in stonework techniques, was established, and many of the volunteers took part, including Steve Zubarick of Tomkins Cove.
Zubarick put in about 100 hours of work each year since the project really got going in 2006.
"I live in north Rockland so I kind of consider (Bear Mountain) my backyard," Zubarick said. "It's kind of like they're landscaping our neighborhood.
"It's something we'll be able to enjoy for a very long time," Zubarick said. "It's the Machu Picchu of Rockland County."
Julien Buck of Cambridge, Mass., another thru-hiker, was also among the trail's first users this week.
Down he came, step after step, wearing a backpack, T-shirt and, well, a bright red kilt.
"It was great," Buck said. "It takes a load off your legs."
Buck, who goes by the trail name No Point, left Georgia on March 8. He said the new Bear Mountain trail was unlike anything he'd seen during his trek and that he was glad to know he was among the first to give it a go.
As for that kilt, Buck said he picked it up while passing through Hot Spring, N.C.
"It's very breathable, and when it gets hot, it's nice to have some flow going," Buck said.
His two hiking buddies, who apparently had opted to hike without him for a while, did not purchase kilts.
"I get a lot of crud from them," Buck said.
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