View of Bear Mt. Bridge from Camp Smith Trail - Hudson Highlands State Park - Photo: Walt Daniels View of Bear Mt. Bridge from Camp Smith Trail - Hudson Highlands State Park - Photo: Walt Daniels

Without a doubt, the most rugged trail in Westchester County is the Camp Smith Trail, which rewards a hiker with many panoramic views along its route.

41.301419, -73.951288

The blue-blazed Camp Smith Trail starts behind historic Bear Mountain Bridge toll house, 0.7 mile north of the entrance to Camp Smith on Bear Mountain Road, Route 6/202. At first, the trail parallels the road, climbing steadily. It drops steeply through a rock field and turns left before reaching a massive cliff. Staying within sight and sound of the road, it works its way gradually uphill,...

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Trip Reports

rate experience
April 27, 2014
0
Fixed a bit
<p>Thanks for pointing out the confusion. I also added the GPS coordinates of the toll house starting place.</p>
Walt Daniels
April 27, 2014
0
Camp Smith Hike
<p>My husband Tim and i hiked the Camp Smith Trail today, and it is just so gorgeous! We printed out these directions and brought them along. We took just 3 hours to do the whole thing, from the Bear Mt. Bridge Toll House to where our other car was parked on Rt. 9D, and found the directions easy to follow. The only place we had trouble was when I didn't realize i was at the top! We had climbed up the AT section from Rt. 9D so many times in the past, retracing our steps to return, that i assumed that the lovely area to the RIGHT of the woods road (coming up from Rt. 9D) was the "summit." So today when we dropped off the ACTUAL summit "to join a woods road," as the directions state, i was confused: Where was the "summit" that i knew and had been on so many times, almost directly above the Bear Mt. Bridge?</p> <p>The directions don't say which way to turn when you "drop down off the summit to join a woods road." The answer is, you should turn RIGHT. It's confusing there, because as soon as you drop off the summit you see a tree with three blue blazes as though it's the end of the Camp Smith Trail, <strong>and also</strong> 2 blazes indicating a right turn. &nbsp;If you go straight ahead (the directions say, "A left turn takes you..." but we both felt it was more like staying straight) you get to the false "summit" that i love so well, in about 2 minutes ... and from there, to get back down to your "other" car on Rt. 9D, you retrace your steps to that woods road and then turn LEFT.</p> <p>Anyway, we figured it out and had a fabulous, albeit very strenuous, hike. Thanks!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>
GenieA1
October 23, 2013
0
Decent hike with views
<p>I hiked this trail from the bear mountain toll house to the last view from the top of Anthony's nose and then hiked back to the parking lot. Total distance is about 6 miles and the elevation gain is about 2000 feet. &nbsp;The trail is well marked and easy to follow. It took me about 3 hr 15 mins including a 10 min break on Anthony's nose. The Manitou mountain portion of the hike is very rocky -- having stiff soled hiking shoes will prevent sore feet. Although you can hear cars for most of the hike, I met only one hiker on the trail until I reached the view on Anthony's nose (there were several hikers there). Overall it is a good strenuous hike -- the only part I didn't enjoy was the rock hopping on Manitou mountain.</p>
steppenwolf
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