哈德逊河畔Bear Mountain State Park行

黄安年文  黄安年的博客/2011年10月17日(美东时间)发布

哈德逊河在美国历史文化上具有重要地位,是美国“东北佬”的发祥地， 不了解哈德逊河就难以懂得美国历史的发韧, 哈德逊河畔风景区，景色宜人, 哈德逊河谷（Hudson Valley）分上下两个地段， 上自Albany地区, 1991-1992年间,我曾在那里度过了一年时光，下至纽约港,上下之间的拐点在西点(West Point)，哈德逊河谷一线有着许多历史遗迹和名人庄园(如Kykuit The Rockefeller Estate, F.D. Roosevelt Home等), 每年夏秋节假日，这里云集许多游客， 或旅游团,或自家驾车游,或小道Walk，各取所好。当年我自Albany来NYC往往取道9号公路, 沿途欣赏哈德逊河谷美景并参观名人庄园。

昨天（10月16日）下午1：15—6：00PM，我们由Danbury, CT前往哈德逊河畔的Bear Mountain State Park游，驱车路线经84号公路进入9号公路沿着9号公路著名的风景区及哈德逊河谷南上，欣赏美东北地区典型的秋色风光, 在阳光照耀下观看那变化中的斑斓树叶,由于今日气候转暖, 估计迎来树叶变化的黄金时刻在10月下旬。3：00PM抵达具有重要战略地位的熊山(Bear Mountain)和熊山公园（Bear Mountain State Park）在公园漫步，游Hessian Lake和集市自由贸易， 4：40PM离开返回,走河谷另一岸并路过西点军校,沿着9号公路著名的风景区返回家中时6：00PM。,依据介绍Bear Mountain State Park is situated in rugged mountains rising from the west bank of the Hudson River. The park features a large play field, shaded picnic groves, lake and river fishing access, a swimming pool, a zoo and nature, hiking, biking and cross-country ski trails. An outdoor rink is open to ice skaters from late October through mid-March. The Perkins Memorial Tower atop Bear Mountain affords spectacular views of the park, the Hudson Highlands and Harriman State Park. Perkins Memorial Drive and Tower are open from April through late November, weather permitting. The Merry-Go-Round at Bear Mountain State Park features hand painted scenes of the park an 42 hand carved seats of native animals including black bear, wild turkey, deer, raccoon, skunk, Canada goose, fox, swan, bobcat, rabbit and more.

（http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/13/details.aspx）

照片第1-2张取自网上, 第3-7张取自美国地图； 第8-9张拍摄自河谷， 第10-11张拍摄自过桥处, 第12张拍自Hessian Lake， 第13张拍摄于西点。

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Bear Mountain State Park is located on the west side of the Hudson River in Orange and Rockland counties of New York. The 5,067-acre (20.51 km²) park offers biking, hiking, boating, picnicking, swimming, cross-country skiing, cross-country running, sledding and ice skating. It also includes several facilities such as the Perkins Memorial Tower, the Trailside Museum and Zoo, the Bear Mountain Inn, a carousel, pool and skating rink. It is managed by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

The park includes Bear Mountain as well as Dunderberg Mountain and West Mountain. Fort Montgomery is adjacent to the north edge of the park while Iona Island Bird Sanctuary is on the eastern edge in the Hudson River. The park is a separate entity from the adjacent Harriman State Park which runs along the western edge of the park. It lies within the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion.^[1]

View of Bear Mountain Bridge from the Perkins Memorial Drive mountain summit

During the American Revolution when control of the Hudson River was viewed by the British as essential to dominating the American territories, the area that was to become the park saw several significant military engagements. In 1777 British troops routed Patriots at Fort Montgomery. Anthony Wayne's attack of the British fort at Stony Point moved colonial troops to the west of Bear Mountain.^{[citation needed]}

In 1908 the State of New York announced plans to relocate Sing Sing Prison to Bear Mountain. Work was begun on the area near Highland Lake (renamed Hessian Lake) and in January 1909, the state purchased the 740-acre (3.0 km²) Bear Mountain tract. Conservationists, inspired by the work of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission lobbied successfully for the creation of the Highlands of the Hudson Forest Preserve. However, the prison project was continued.^{[citation needed]}

Mary Averell Harriman, whose husband, Union Pacific Railroad president E. H. Harriman died in September of that year, offered the state another 10,000 acres (40 km²) and one million dollars toward the creation of a state park. George W. Perkins, with whom she had been working, raised another $1.5 million from a dozen wealthy contributors including John D. Rockefeller and J. Pierpont Morgan. New York state appropriated a matching $2.5 million and the state of New Jersey appropriated $500,000 to build the Henry Hudson Drive, (which would be succeeded by the Palisades Interstate Parkway in 1947).^{[citation needed]}

Bear Mountain-Harriman State Park became a reality the following year when the prison was demolished and a dock built for steamboat excursion traffic; the following year a new West Shore Railroad station was built near the dock. In 1912, a replica of Henry Hudson's ship, the Half Moon was built and moored at the dock. Major William A. Welch was hired as Chief Engineer, whose work for the park would win him recognition as the father of the state park movement^[2] (and later, the national park movement).^{[citation needed]}

The park opened on July 5, 1913. Steamboats alone brought more than 22,000 passengers to the park that year. Camping at Hessian Lake (and later at Lake Stahahe) was immensely popular; the average stay was eight days and was a favorite for Boy Scouts. By 1914 it was estimated that more than a million people a year were coming to the park.

In the 1930s the federal government under Franklin D. Roosevelt was developing plans to preserve the environment as part of the Depression-era public works programs; the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, spent five years on projects at the park. Pump houses, reservoirs, sewer systems, vacation lodges, bathrooms, homes for park staff, storage buildings and an administration building were all created through these programs.^{[citation needed]}

The park continued to grow after its creation. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission purchased nearby Doodletown starting in the 1920s and completed the acquisition with eminent domain in the 1960s.

Main article: Bear Mountain Inn

Originally completed in 1915, the Bear Mountain Inn is an early example of the rustic lodge style influenced by the Adirondak Great Camps and later used extensively in the National Park System. It closed in 2005 for extended renovations.

The Perkins Memorial Drive is a scenic road to the summit of Bear Mountain. At the summit, the 40 feet (12 m) Perkins Memorial Tower provides a view of four states and the skyline of Manhattan, 40 miles (64 km) to the south. The road and tower were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1932 and 1934. It is named after George Wallbridge Perkins, the first president of the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission.^[3]

The Trailside Museums and Zoo are located at the former site of Fort Clinton. Its name is a reference to the Appalachian Trail that runs through the complex. The zoo began as a bear den in 1926 and is currently the home of a wide variety of local injured or rehabilitating animals, including bears, otters, deer, bald eagles, and owls. The Reptile and Amphibian House has many species of fish, turtles, snakes and frogs. The Nature Study Museum was formed from the original exhibits created by the American Museum of Natural History for the Boy Scouts facility in the park in 1921. The Geology Museum covers the Hudson Highlands and other local geology. The History Museum has exhibits about colonial and Native American culture.^[4]

Ski jumping began in the park in 1928. On February 11, 1962, 35,120 spectators turned out to watch the New York State Junior Ski Jumping Championship.^[5] More jump competitions were held at Bear Mountain than at any other ski jump in the United States; however the ski jumps have not been used since 1990.^{[citation needed]}

There are over 50 official trails covering 235 miles (378 km) of trails. They cover a wide range of difficulty and elevation changes.

The first section of the Appalachian Trail, taking hikers from Bear Mountain south to the Delaware Water Gap, opened on October 7, 1923 and served as a pattern for the other sections of the trail developed independently by local and regional organizations and later by the federal government. The Bear Mountain Zoo, through which the Appalachian Trail passes, is the lowest elevation on the 2,100-mile (3,400 km) trail. There are 6 miles (9.7 km) of the AT located in the park. In 2010, sections of the AT within the park were rebuilt with stone steps to handle the 500,000 annual hikers.^[6]

Bear Mountain also regularly hosts cross country running events during the fall season. High school cross country teams compete on the 3.0-mile (4.8 km) course, which mostly consists of paved walkways. Bear Mountain is the location for the County's Championship race.

On July 15, 2011, Avrahom Lewinson set the record for finishing the Mountain Trail in a record time of 29:30, beating his previous record of 30:36. The record attempt can be seen in the log book in Perkins Tower.

The park is referenced in the Bob Dylan song "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues". Some believe^{[weasel words]} Kate Smith wrote her 1931 theme song “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain” while at the Bear Mountain Inn. If so, the mountain in question might be Anthony's Nose which lies to the east across the Hudson River. [1]

·                    List of New York state parks

·                    Bear Mountain Bridge

·                    Dunderberg Mountain

1.                              ^ Olson, D. M, E. Dinerstein, et al (2001). "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth". BioScience 51 (11): 933–938. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2. http://gis.wwfus.org/wildfinder/.

2.                              ^ "Major Welch Dies; Builder of Parks". New York Times: p. 17. May 5, 1941. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20D17F73559167B93C7A9178ED85F458485F9. Retrieved October 30, 2009.

3.                              ^ "Bear Mountain Park, NY". The Palisades Park Conservancy. http://www.palisadesparksconservancy.org/parks/5/. Retrieved 13 September 2010.

4.                              ^ "About the Trailside Museums". Trailside Museums and Zoo. http://www.trailsidezoo.org/about/about-the-museums. Retrieved 13 September 2010.

5.                              ^ The New York Times, February 12, 1962

6.                              ^ Applebome, Peter (30 May 2010). "A Jolt of Energy for a Much Trod-Upon Trail". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/nyregion/31towns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bear%20mountain%20state%20park&st=cse. Retrieved 12 September 2010.

·                    Myles, William J., Harriman Trails, A Guide and History, The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, New York, N.Y., 1999.

·                    50 Hikes in the Lower Hudson Valley
Written by New York-New Jersey Trail Conference members Stella Green and H. Neil Zimmerman - The Countryman Press. 296 pages, 2008, 2nd ed.

·                    Bear Mountain State Park

·                    Palisades Park Conservancy

·                    Trailside Museums and Zoo

·                    HarrimanHiker.com - With Many Hikes and Photos of the Area

·                    Bear Mountain Inn

·                    Bear Mountain State Park Railroad photos (November 12, 2005)

·                    Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks Trail Details and Info

·                    U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bear Mountain State Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Mountain_State_Park