West Mountain Shelter Loop is a 5.1 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Bear Mountain, New York that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking and running. Dogs are also able to use this trail.
There is a fee of $10 per vehicle. Fees are collected on weekdays between 6/22-9/2. For the rest of the year, fees are only collected on the weekend. Empire Passholders can get in for free.
March 21, 2021Wonderful. Super views, varied terrain
March 20, 2021Tried variation from Seven Lakes parking: white to blue past West Mtn, then yellow up to white/1777 path. Benefit of the blue trail is it gives a ridge walk with lots of open spots to look out. Extra half-mile. Weather Mar. 20 was good, almost no ice on path. Some wet or muddy areas, but avoidable with hop or couple feet of detour. Lovely snowmelt waterfalls on yellow part. IIRC, 3 scrambles straight up, effectively climbing a ladder. I didn't look to see if detours were available for dogs. Yellow path was a bit choppier with scrambles and up and down, but some views in first half.
February 15, 2021February 15, 2021February 13, 2021after starting from the parking lot we need to walk few steps in 1777 W trail, at the first split, taking the A.T south way on to my right and continued on White trail markings, all the view points on Bear Mountain side are in white trail, then i continue to Blue Marked trail where we can see couple view points over PIP, and after blue we will enter Yellow and Blue intersection then in couple feet on our right we can reach shelter. up to shelter the trail was fairly used and bit convinient to hike, then from shelter i continued in Yellow trail where trail was not used so some areas foot steps going knee deep snow making it a bit difficult for moving quickly. then from yellow we will turn in to 1777W trail where again the trail is fairly solid with snow and comfortable to walk on. all in all without proper gear (micro spikes, gaiters) not advisable for at least 2 weeks.
February 10, 2021January 17, 2021Great trail
January 14, 2021Icy conditions. The cold weather has not permitted the snow to melt.
January 10, 2021Awesome! So many great views. A bit slippery with ice, would definitely need the proper gear. Blazes, white to yellow to blue to white when you start going left.
January 1, 2021December 28, 2020December 28, 2020December 19, 2020December 18, 2020November 30, 2020November 29, 2020Really beautiful, pretty easy scrambles in some areas, great views.
November 28, 2020A little muddy, a lot of rocky, slippery under the fallen leaves (a lot). But overall great trail. Loved it.
November 8, 2020November 8, 2020October 4, 2020Great hike and well maintained
September 26, 2020September 25, 2020September 14, 2020September 13, 2020Fairly rocky, loop around a lake. Not very crowded. The turn from the yellow to red Appalachian trail near the shelter was very difficult to find. You have to take a sharp left up boulders. Easy parking near entrance though
September 12, 2020Beautiful trail with some great vistas of Bear Mountain.
September 12, 2020August 17, 2020While there were beautiful scenery and the beginning started out nice once we got to the yellow trail everything was so steep, rocky, wet, and trees were all blocking the road. I would probably not do this hike again.
August 15, 2020Great trail. Mostly rocky, much of it pretty narrow, and some sections quite steep. Very cool shelter at the south end. For our first time hiking this trail, wish we’d done an out-and-back on the east side. West side full of downed trees and debris, maybe from recent storm but also likely from lack of trail maintenance this year due to the COVID pandemic. And speaking of, this was a great trail for social distancing. Saw almost no one else the entire time, though we hiked mid-day on a Saturday close to one of the most popular destinations around here (Bear Mountain). Would love to come back in the fall but might wait until next year in hopes trails will be cleared by then.
August 2, 2020Got rained on so we cut the loop short but it’s got amazing views, can’t wait to go back and do the full loop again
July 12, 2020This trail would be good for anybody starting out but wanting to go a little more. There were narrow trails we liked the the beginning of the trail. The highest points has a few views but nothing spectacular. The Brook towards the end is a good place to cool down.
