Determine your easiest route to Bear Mountain. Coming from New Jersey, you want to head north on the Palisades Parkway to the end, where you will find yourself right at the entrance to the park. Coming from the New York side, a drive over the Bear Mountain Bridge gives you a beautifully scenic glimpse across the Hudson.
Plan your visit. Check out the website at the NY State Parks department (see References) for information on Bear Mountain and listing of current events. Visit Bear Mountain during each of the seasons if you can, to fully experience all it has to offer. Spending a one weekend per season can help you determine your favorite time of year to make return visits to this Hudson Valley landmark.
Take a fall weekend at Bear Mountain for breathtaking views of autumn foliage from scenic drives along such paths at Seven Lakes Drive. Revolutionary War re-enactments are not uncommon fall events seen at the lodge at this time, and the Bear Mountain Oktoberfest, selling German beer, food and merchandise, is every Saturday and Sunday from the end of September through Halloween.
Enjoy winter sports at Bear Mountain: try cross-country skiing, sledding, ice-skating and snowmobiling. Enjoy a cup of hot cocoa at the Bear Mountain Lodge in the evening, or consider dining in the lodge's full-service restaurant. Around Christmas time, the lodge and surrounding grounds are festively decorated and lit.
Try the warm-weather recreation. Bear Mountain's outdoor swimming pool is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and paddle boats as well as rowboats are available to rent at Hessian Lake. Playgrounds, picnic spots and hiking trails are scattered throughout. Near the Bear Mountain lodge is the Merry-Go-Round, which showcases hand-painted scenes of the park and 42 hand-carved seats of common mountain animals including black bear and wild turkey.
Check out the Bear Mountain Zoo. This free-admission zoo lets you take in up-close-and-personal sightings of bald eagles, foxes, river otters, owls, hawks, deer, bobcats, turkey, fish - and, of course, bears. Small trailside museums throughout the zoo paths highlight the Hudson Valley's flora and fauna. Walking the whole length of the zoo will put you nearly underneath the Bear Mountain Bridge, and makes for great photographs of the bridge and the Hudson River.
