N41° 17' 4.1" | W73° 59' 32" — (May 19, 2007) At the top of what someone on the blue rectangle trail said is called Bald Mountain. The wind is blowing a rain storm in from the northwest and I can see its dark head approaching quickly. The rain is already coming down on the Bear Mountain lookout tower, which is just to the north. Below, among the trees, are the ruins of Doodletown, which was first settled in 1762 as a small settlement north of Stony Point, N.Y. In the late 1800s, the area was mined for iron ore. In the early 20th Century, developers began to work on forming Bear Mountain into a park. The park began to expand and between the 1920s and 1950s, the park, known by then as Bear Mountain State Park, began purchasing land from residents. Around that time, most of the mines had been cleared out and many residents left. Some refused to sell and ended up losing their land to eminent domain by the late 1960s. These days, you can walk among the ruins and someone even installed markers. There's also a cemetery there where former residents and their relatives have recently been buried.
The rain is closer and the wind is even stronger and the temperature is dropping. But it's beautiful up here and worth the hour-and-a-half hike. Earlier, I sat behind a tree for shelter and listened to the wind swaying the trees, which creaked and sounded like an old bird trying to call out a warning to trespassers. I'm glad I took a wrong turn and ended up here. The trail I sought was for the way to Doodletown, which is down there, along the Timp and Doodletown Brooks that empty into the Hudson River.
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