Today I did Bearpen and Vly from the north side.  Most people, in fact all the people I ran into today, will start this hike from the south side where county 3 turns into a dirt road.  Myself, I went in from the north side where county 3 turns to a dirt road mostly because it was closer to home.  The theme of today's hike was woods road.  The hike from the car to the "hunters cabin" where the herd path off to Vly and the snowmobile trail split off of county 3. 

First, I did Vly.  This was about 0.8 miles following the boundary of the park.  The trail was rather obvious and well worn.  a couple steep parts, but nothing too challenging.  I found the canister, signed the book, and went back to county 3 since there were no real views on top.

I then went and followed the snowmobile trails to Bearpen.  Realistically, about 1/2 of the way there was a proper woods road.  There was about 0.7 of the 1.7 miles that was more of a forested path... but still technically a snowmobile trail.  The actual peak is nothing special, someone built a carin there, but go a bit past, and there was a nice fire ring and a beautiful view of the Schoharie reservoir to the north west.  I was told if I went a bit further, I could find even better views, but I didn't feel like going any further today...

I was a bit tired at that point, so I turned around, and basically booked it back to the car.  I stopped and had a nice chat with the owner of the cabin in the col.  Nice guy, and doesn't mind the hikers tooooo much, as long as they leave his property alone.  I got back to my car after about 7.8 miles and 4 hours of hiking.  It was a good day overall.