Bear Mt. hikers rescued, issued tickets

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ha, at first I think this can't be the Bear Mtn in Rockland County..... but then I saw the link... :p

Ticketed for failure to use the trails :p :p

Hahahahaha, it is illegal to bushwack in Harriman/Bear Mtn State Park... This is the first I've heard of folks getting ticketed for being off the trail. That is so bizarre..

Jay
 
That is bizarre...geez..I guess I should be counting my blessings...I've been all over that place!

You know, I can't really think of anywhere in there that someone couldn't conceivable get out of, I mean really. I'm glad they were ticketed, imagine how much it cost the park/state/whatever agencies??
 
might be protected area...

It might have been an area that is protected due to wild life such as rare birds nesting on the cliffs. Possible Parigan Falcons. Although it seems you can obtain a permit to enter the area. It sounds like a way of restricting the amount of impact on the area and it's wild life.
 
Thats just PIPC at work... read the fine print at any of the parks they manage and its clear ANY travel off established trails is verboten.
 
It mentions climbing in a restricted area and being on a sheer mountain cliff. I wonder if they were actually doing some sort of techincal climbing, and that is why the PIPC decided to issue the tickets...

Outside of the Peterskill area at the Gunks, the PIPC is not too keen on techincal climbing on most of their land sadly... And they have some sweet cliffs too...

But then again when hiking is mentioned, they almost always say they were climbing....
 
I think they were hiking the cliffs above Perkins Drive, on the south western slope of Bear Mt. The big issue there would be the possiblity of knocking rocks down onto cars. Yes, technically, hiking off of marked trails is against the regulations, but this is enforced very seldom, and many exceptions are granted. Orienteers and Adventure racers run sanctioned events off trail. The NY/NJ Trail Conference maps show dozens of unmarked trails that would not be allowed if this rule were enforced. They obviously know that these trails are used frequently. The rangers never do foot patrols, they only patrol in their pickups. They only go on foot when responding to an incident that they can access in no other way. This regulation is a tool to punish what the authorities perceive to be reckless or irresponsible behavior. I don't agree with the idea of punishing people for calling for assistance, this will only lead to people getting into deeper trouble, but if their behavior puts "civilians" at risk, it should be sanctioned.

Emergency First Responders choose to go into harms way, to help others and because they find it personally rewarding. The cost to the public is very small, most of the responders are volunteers, we are only talking about some overtime for Park Rangers, which they insist on in their union contract, they need the extra money and most of them would admit that they like this kind of work if they could do so off the record. Most of the SAR community is against the movement to punish subjects of searches or rescues, except in the most egregious instances.
 
Last edited:
AMF said:
Thats just PIPC at work... read the fine print at any of the parks they manage and its clear ANY travel off established trails is verboten.
I think it's only _hiking_ off trails that's illegal and _hunting_ off trails is allowed. At one NC-managed preserve nearbly hunters are _required_ to be off trails to minimize user conflicts - I planned to say I was scouting good hunting spots but of course wasn't caught.

Are hunters really more knowledgeable or better equipped given that they are usually out in colder weather?
 
Harriman and Bear Mt is closed to hunting. They probably have an off trail hiking rule due to the amount of people the area gets and because of the ledges close by or it could be a sensitive/rare habitate. As for rescue cost, it is very little since like John said it is volunteers and a few Rangers who get paid to do this. It gets expensive when you start using the helicopters and the searches go into days.

I found most hunters to be the worst when it comes to the outdoors. You see more calls for lost and unprepaired hunters than hikers. The worst part is Hunting season is usually only a week to a month long. Why do you think they use flagging every ten feet and only go 100 yards off a road. This is when all the empty beer cans come out as well. Are hunters more knowledgable when it comes to off trail travel, I doubt it.
 
Last edited:
Top