Suffer’n to Bear Mountain Trail run

The First Annual 26 Mile Irishman’s Suffern to Bear Mountain Run.  This run was conceived of by Alan Young, an Irishman who is a very, very fast runner, but he says he is out there for fun and will run with the group.  He knows the way and I am mush slower, but I will have a map.

Run will start at 8 AM on November 16th and is about 26 mile of very difficult trail (Category 5 on the technical scale).  The run will be entirely on difficult mostly single-track trails.  Expect trail times between 6 to 8 hours. This run is ONLY for experienced trail runners for the following reason:

• It is very technical with constantly changing elevations, starting at about 300 feet at the lowest to 1,300 at the highest. Total height gain is about 6,000 feet. See map / route here (http://caltopo.com/map?id=210E)
• There are NO cutoff points and the trail does NOT cross any roads until near the end of the run.  In other words, you better be sure you can finish this run or you will be stuck in the wilderness.  We are going to try to have one or two aid stations if we can get volunteers, but don’t count on it.  That means you must be prepared to carry EVERYTHING you need for the entire run. If we don’t get volunteers we will drop aid materials the night before. We are asking for a donation for the food and water supplied, $10 each, cash to be given to us before the run.  You must “register” with us before the race. Gary Scarano gary@reachoutcom.com or 914 907 2785,  Please call after 5pm.

Some rules of the run include:

• No runner will be allowed to run alone (to separate from the group).  It is very easy to get lost out there and it literally could take hours before you find your way back.  We may break up into slow and faster groups, but this is a run where you may want to bring a friend along just in case.
• If you at all doubt your ability to finish this or your ability not to hurt yourself, this is not the run for you. Many runners fall and sometimes they hurt themselves.  Please no first time trail runners, this is a serious run.
• You must bring a set of trail maps (http://www.nynjtc.org/product/harrimanbear-mountain-trails)( http://www.nynjtc.org/pdfmaps#MapsAvailable   maps 118 and 119) a fully charged cell phone and all runners will need to share their numbers with each other.
• You Must bring a Head Lamp, just in case with charged batteries.
• The weather may be a factor. Dress warm and with layers. Be sure to wear gloves, not only will they help you in the cold, but they protect your hands should you fall.  Cold and dry we’ll be good to go. Wet with wind or snow we’ll have to play it by ear and make a call the days beforehand. Stay tuned
• Everybody must look out for each other, and stay focused.
• Sunrise is 6:44am, Sunset is 4:37pm. Starting promptly at 8AM, this is a 19:53 pace, which is NOT slow considering the terrain. Moon Phase, Full Moon.  If we start promptly at 8 will have just enough time to finish if we don’t dally. You don’t want to be running on technical trails in the dark, believe me.
• Please consider these warnings as real, this is run not for the meek hearted.

Some benefits of this run:

• The sites are great.  You will be able to see NY from Suffern.  We will pass the Big Hill shelter (just a lean to) with a great view.  If people are interested, we could take a 2-mile detour to see the site of the 727 Baltimore Colts Plane crash site from 1974. (I don’t think, however, we will have time). We will climb the fire tower on the second highest mountain in Rockland County, Jackie Jones Mountain (can you guess the highest, hint, it’s NOT Bear Mountain).  The view is just amazing on the tower since you are higher than the tree line and can see NY City.  We run on Irish Mountain and see the famous Irish Potato (hence the name of the run). A very large rock just planted on the top of a mountain. We will run past the remains of some old homes where people used to live in the wilderness and of course, we will finish at Bear Mountain.
• We plan to have cars parked or people at Bear Mountain to drive us back, so we will NEED to have a count of people coming

If you are interested, please email or call Gary Scarano gary@reachoutcom.com or 914 907 2785,  Please call after 5pm.  For NYC residence. There is a train that leave Hoboken at 6:25AM on Saturday and arrives in Suffern at 7:40 AM

http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesFrom

The last train back to Hoboken leaves at 1:21 AM, with others at other at 19 after the hour at 8, 9, 10, and 11

http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesFrom