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  [Hiking]

Yesterday my friend Steve and I went up to Bear Meadows, which is just off the MST near Little Flat. To get there, we drove by Tussey Mountain ski area on Bear Meadows Road, and made a right crossing a bridge onto the dirt road which took us up towards the fire tower at Little Flat. This was my first hike of the Fall season. We began our hike at about 1:15 in the afternoon.

We headed North on the MST along Fourth Mountain, first passing the Tom Thwaites Monument on our right. Taking a break for peanuts and water after our first 2 miles, we decided we would make a loop around Bear Meadows instead of backtracking to Steve's truck. We continued another 1.5 miles along the ridge, where the trail curved left with the mountain, crossed a gravel road, and began to drop into the valley that holds Bear Meadows.

Coming down the left side of the ridge, the MST took a sharp right, while we continued forward on the blue blazed Gettis Trail. About a quarter mile later, Gettis Trail curved to the right, and we continued to the left on the unblazed Bear Meadows Trails. Bear Meadows itself was off to our left along the trail, with the ridge of Fourth Mountain we had just hiked sitting behind it (dropping off the ridge with Gettis Trail had looped us back in the direction towards Little Flat; so at this point we were in parallel with the ridge we just hiked). The trail was fairly open to the woods, with less brush and a rock-free path in comparison to the ridge-top we just left. Numerous rhododendron groves clustered both sides of our path. We only made our way to the marshy area of Bear Meadows once (see our pictures), taken there by a path unintentionally left by other hikers. For the rest of our hike, the trees hid the view of the marshy meadows.

Towards the end of the Bear Meadows trail, we made a "T" at a parking lot at Bear Meadows Road. A monument stood at parking lot, stating that Bear Meadows was named in 1966.

We took a left turn onto Bear Meadows Road, crossed a bridge, and made another left onto the Jean Aron Trail. This crossed North Meadows Road (which we actually encountered previously before coming off the ridge of Fourth Mountain), and turned into Lonberger Path. About 20 minutes later, and we made a left onto the unblazed Kettle Trail. This was the hike's first physical challenge, and it gave us both a workout as we made our way up the ridge-side to Little Flat. At the top, we arrived at the MST with a "T", just across from the Tom Thwaites monument. Here we sat on a bench and caught our breath. Back at the car, we concluded our hike around 4:30. From my MST topo maps, we estimate the loop was about 8 miles. A great hike to start the Fall!

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