Trailside Museums and Zoo at Bear Mountain State Park

05/09/2026

Trailside's May Hike CANCELLED

The hike scheduled for tomorrow, May 9 at 10AM is cancelled due to rain.

05/06/2026

Trailside's Monthly Hiking series continues!

This Saturday, May 9th, at 10AM we will be meeting at the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area parking lot for a hike to the West Mountain Shelter by way of the Appalachian Trail and the Timp-Torne Trail.

This will be a more challenging hike with total time estimated at 4 hours, so we encourage you to wear comfortable boots with ankle support and highly recommend a hiking stick or trekking poles if you have them. Please also bring plenty of water and trail snacks or a quick lunch.

Registration required, please visit our Eventbrite link to sign up.

See you on the Trail!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bear-mountains-may-hike-tickets-1987397095211?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/14/2026

**We're hiring!**

We are looking for a Parks and Recreation Aide 3 - Maintenance. This is a Temporary/Seasonal Full-time position. Hiring rate is $18.19/hr; work week is 40hrs/week, schedule varies and may include evenings, weekends & holidays. Application deadline: 4/20/26.

Duties include, but are not limited to: performing upkeep of grounds, including operation and basic maintenance of hand and power tools, making repairs to a variety of structures and buildings, completing maintenance tasks such as cleaning restrooms and picking up litter, etc.

Please visit our Careers page for a complete job description and details on how to apply!

https://trailsidemuseumsandzoo.org/get-involved/careers/

CareersCurrent job opportunities at Trailside Museums and ZooPark & Recreation Aide 3 – MaintenanceDuties DescriptionTrailside Museums and Zoo is a 30-acre site located within Bear Mountain State Park. This location includes 15 outdoor animal exhibits, 5 stone buildings, 4 regional nature museum b...

03/27/2026

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to two Trailside residents this month.

Bub, our male great-horned owl, arrived in 2011. He had a broken wing that was fused and could not be repaired. Originally housed with Big Mamma, we were getting ready to introduce him to our new female Great Horned owl, Hera (Ra for short). Unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer. Bub stayed in the shadows of his exhibit during the day, making him all the more impressive when visitors finally spotted him on his perch behind the tree.

Filbert, our male muskrat, arrived in the Fall of 2024. He was nuisance trapped and instead of being destroyed he came to Trailside to educate visitors about aquatic rodents. He also passed from of cancer.
Filbert was small in size but big in personality! He would squeak at his keepers when he wanted his favorite food…corn on the cob.

Thank you, Bub and Filbert for being part of the Trailside family and educating countless visitors.

03/11/2026

Check out this special visitor spotted at closing time today: an American mink! Part of the Mustelidae family, the mink is related to weasels, badgers, and otters. It is semi aquatic, meaning it spends a fair portion of its life in the water, and is a fierce predator! Mink feed on fish, amphibians, crustaceans, rodents, and birds.

02/22/2026

Congratulations to the athletes of the 2026 Winter Olympics!

Here at Trailside we held our very own Winter Zoolympics, and are honored to present the winners of our events. Please join us in congratulating these amazing Zoolympian medalists:
- Hockey, Gold: The Angel Wing Team, Mr. A, Mrs. A, Sharky, Pokey, and Franky, the Canada geese
- Singles Figure Skating, Gold: Swan Princess Jr. the Mute swan
- Ski Jump, Gold: Perry the Peregrine falcon
- Women's monobob, Gold: Sylvia the Bobcat
- Cross-country skiing, Gold: Chazy the Rough-legged hawk
- Snowboarding, Gold: Rosie the Porcupine
- Doubles Luge, Gold: Coriander and Sage, the Striped skunks

Once again, we would like to congratulate the Trailside Winter Zoolympians and we look forward to witnessing more excellent performances in the future!

See you on the Trail!

02/22/2026

**CLOSURE NOTICE**

Trailside Museums and Zoo will be closed all day on Sunday 2/22/2026 and Monday 2/23/2026 due to inclement weather.

02/18/2026

Peekaboo, we see you! Welcome back, skunk cabbage! 🥳

In late winter, you may notice pointy, purple-green buds like this one popping up out of the ground and shallow water in wetland areas. This is the bud of the Eastern skunk cabbage plant, one of the earliest blooming plants of the year! 📆This intrepid plant has a special superpower: producing heat within its buds to emerge from icy soil and frozen shallows, thawing its way through the frost to greet the world. 👋

The tough exterior of the bud, pictured here, is called the spathe. As the bud grows through the frozen surface, the spathe protects a cluster of small flowers inside called the spadix. Once the bud is big enough, the coat-like spathe will open on one side to reveal the pale yellow of the flower cluster within, like the sun shining brightly after a long winter. ☀

As weather warms and days lengthen in spring, wide, green leaves will begin to unfurl near the bud's base. Eventually, the main body of the Eastern skunk cabbage will become a cluster of these large leaves, overtaking the original bud completely. 🌿

If you'd like to see some of these special buds yourself, Trailside's Fernery area always has plenty this time of year! How many can you find when you visit? Check it out and comment below how many buds you found!

See you on the trail!

02/14/2026

Happy Valentine’s Day from Rosie, and thanks to everyone who helped assemble her Valentine treats! Our Valentine’s Day event, I ❤️ the Zoo, runs today, 2/14 from 11-2pm.

02/06/2026

Did you know that Bald eagles migrate too?

While present year-round in the Hudson Valley, this region often sees more Bald eagles flying along the Hudson River in the winter. Many Bald eagles travel here from Northern regions in search of open water for fishing.

If you want to try to spot some of these majestic birds yourself, come visit Trailside's Geology Point and try out our spotting scope, which was used to take this amazing photo of a group of Bald eagles!

See you on the Trail!

📸: Dr. Edwin McGowan, 2015