Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / New York / Hudson Valley

Appalachian Trail: Bear Mountain Bridge to Dover Oak

Appalachian National Scenic Trail through Hudson Highlands, Fahnestock State Park, and Dutchess County

East of the Hudson, the Appalachian Trail climbs out of the river’s lowest point at the Bear Mountain Bridge and works across the Hudson Highlands, Fahnestock State Park, and the farm country of Dutchess County toward Connecticut. Along the way are a Franciscan friary that has long hosted hikers, a shelter where Backpacker notes pizza delivery to a nearby road, and what the ATC calls the largest tree on the A.T.

This page runs about 43 miles by the ATC’s mile markers, from the bridge to the Dover Oak on West Dover Road near Pawling.

The hike

The ATC lists the Bear Mountain Bridge at northbound mile 1,409.8. N2Backpacking describes the climb on the north side up Anthony’s Nose, a rock outcrop with views of the Hudson and Iona Island, and then a few miles to Graymoor, the Franciscan friary. Bill Menke, who walked from Bear Mountain to the Connecticut line in May 2009, slept at Graymoor in a soccer-field kiosk the friars let through-hikers use; SectionHiker’s Philip Werner used the picnic pavilion in 2011.

North of Graymoor, Menke camped at the Dennytown Road group campsite, a grassy field in Fahnestock State Park. Beyond, Menke passed a stone trestle from an old mining railway, and the trail climbs above Canopus Lake, where Backpacker describes panoramas over the lake. Menke passed a 9/11 memorial on Shenandoah Mountain, and the ATC places the Shenandoah Tenting Area at mile 1,430.6.

RPH Shelter, at mile 1,431.9, sits right off the Taconic State Parkway; Menke describes a cinderblock shelter with a patio, and N2Backpacking says it was once a residence. Werner calls it “a Hiker Hilton with takeout delivery,” with a porch, picnic tables, and a small library, and says RPH stands for Ralph’s Peak Hikers. Backpacker lists it as sleeping six.

The trail crosses Stormville Mountain and passes under I-84 to Morgan Stewart Shelter at mile 1,440.9, which Menke describes atop a hill with a west-facing overlook. Next is Nuclear Lake, a former nuclear research site that Backpacker says was once thought to be contaminated; Menke ate lunch at its earth-fill dam. Telephone Pioneers Shelter sits on a 0.1-mile side trail 0.7 mile south of West Dover Road, according to the ATC, and Werner found its waterfall and stream running hard in a wet April.

At West Dover Road (County Road 20, mile 1,452.5) is the Dover Oak, which the ATC calls the largest tree on the A.T. and Backpacker estimates at about 300 years old. North of here, Menke crossed the Great Swamp on puncheon to the Appalachian Trail train station on NY 22, which the ATC says offers direct service to New York City, then went on to Wiley Shelter (mile 1,457.5) and the Connecticut line at Hoyt Road.

For the Harriman miles south of the bridge, see Lake Tiorati to Bear Mountain.

Tips

Camping

The ATC says camping on the New York A.T. is limited to designated sites and campfires are allowed only in designated rings. Along this stretch, those include the Graymoor hiker area, Fahnestock’s Dennytown Road sites (reservations may be required, per forum posters), the Shenandoah Tenting Area, and RPH, Morgan Stewart, and Telephone Pioneers Shelters. Backpacker lists Morgan Stewart and Telephone Pioneers at six each. A 2011 SectionHiker writer found no steel bear boxes at southern New York shelters, so hang food or carry a canister.

Inside Intel: Philip Werner, who slept alone at RPH in April 2011, called it “by far, the best shelter I slept in or saw during this entire trip.” He was harder on Wiley, about five miles past this section’s end: “one of the worst shelters I’ve ever come across on the AT.” Bill Menke describes Morgan Stewart’s hilltop and the barred owls he heard there at sunset.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Pizza at RPH, trail food everywhere else:

Hikers order takeout to RPH Shelter, but the other nights east of the Hudson mean cooking your own. See which backpacking meals testers keep packing.

See the picks →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.