what's here
see also
- VO2 VELO
-- riding around the northern tip of the
Shawangunk Ridge and New Paltz in Ulster County NY.
- Mid-Hudson
Bicycle Club -- riding around Dutchess and Ulster Counties. Some members
live elsewhere but show up on weekends to join in the great road riding in the
Mid-Hudson area.
List of maps for New Paltz - Wallkill
Valley region
Map of Gentler Places for bicycling
around New Paltz
- Farms and Orchards around New Paltz -- 49 miles, gentle-to-moderate
hills (with shorter variations). Beautiful farms and
orchards, a covered bridge, sweeping views of the Wallkill valley and the Shawangunk
ridge. 2100 vertical feet, hill
index 2.6. Start points
New Paltz, Wallkill, Tillson / Rosendale. [
Description | Map ]
- New Paltz to Kingston Waterfront -- 44 miles. Moderate
hilliness.
Also a 31 mile variation. Variety of
interesting settings -- beautiful farm
country, three towns with shops and food, into the woods, and the
Rondout waterfront. 2400 vertical feet, hill
index 3.7. Start points
New Paltz, Kingston, Port Ewen, Rosendale. [
Description | Map |
GPS
| Cue sheet ]
- New Paltz to Ashokan Reservoir -- 58 miles, big hills.
Several great descents and climbs with sweeping views over three major watersheds (Wallkill, Rondout,
Esopus), lots of quiet back roads and fun little downhills -- and the biggest cliffs, the largest lake,
and the highest summits in the Hudson
Valley. 5200 vertical feet, hill
index 6.9. Start points
New Paltz, Kerhonkson, Ashokan Reservoir, Stone Ridge. [
Description |
GPS | Map
| Photos ]
- Lloyd - Highland Rail Trail -- about 5 miles on pavement with
return. Very gentle.
Pleasant off-road riding on a paved path -- additional unpaved section also
open. A good place to ride for families with children. 60 vertical
feet, hill index
0.9. Start point Lloyd (near Highland and Mid-Hudson Bridge). [
Photos ]
- New Paltz North : Trail + Roads -- 15
miles. Half on an unpaved "rail trail" mostly off-road, the
other half on roads.
Mostly flat, except for one hill (not that long or steep -- and avoidable). Start point
New Paltz. [ Description
| Map
]
- New Paltz South : Trail + Roads -- 17 miles. Mostly
flat, except for one hill on the rail trail and one on the roads. Half on an
unpaved "rail
trail" mostly off-road, the other half on quiet roads. Start points
New Paltz or Gardiner. [ Details
| Map |
GPS |
Cue sheet
]
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- Ashokan Reservoir Dam -- 2 miles or 5 miles.
Flat, on wide pavement most of which is closed to motor vehicles -- with first
mile out-and-back all car-free. Beautiful views across the largest lake
in the Hudson Valley, and of the highest summits in the Catskill
mountains. Hill index
0.1. Start point Ashokan Reservoir. [ Description
| Map
| Photos ]
- Ashokan Reservoir Views -- 20 miles
(or 29 miles). Gentle-to-moderate hilliness. Beautiful views across the largest lake
in the Hudson Valley, and of the highest summits in the Catskill
mountains. 900 vertical feet, hill
index 2.6. Start point Ashokan Reservoir. [
Description | Map
| Photos ]
- New Paltz to Ashokan Reservoir -- 58 miles, big hills.
Several great descents and climbs with sweeping views over three major watersheds (Wallkill, Rondout,
Esopus), lots of quiet back roads and fun little downhills -- and the biggest cliffs, the largest lake,
and the highest summits in the Hudson
Valley. 5200 vertical feet, hill
index 6.9. Start points
New Paltz, Kerhonkson, Ashokan Reservoir, Stone Ridge. [
Description |
GPS | Map
| Photos ]
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gentler places, mostly off-road
-
Ashokan Reservoir --
2.3 miles (as of May 2004) -- 1 mile, flat, on a wide paved path, plus an
additional 1.3 miles on a wide paved road closed to motor vehicles (as of May
2004) -- but access to the second
section from the usual "Frying Pan" parking area requires traveling
up to 0.1
mile on a road open to motor vehicle traffic. Beautiful views across the largest lake
in the Hudson Valley, and of the highest summits in the Catskill
mountains. Also suitable for inline skates, roller skates,
wheelchair -- or walking with a stroller. Start point Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster county.
See [ Details |
Administration
| Map
| Photos
]
-
Lloyd - Highland Rail Trail -- about
5 miles on pavement with return (out
2.5 miles and then back). Very gentle.
Pleasant riding on a wide paved path, mostly off-road. Additional unpaved section also
open. Also suitable for inline skates, roller skates,
wheelchair -- or walking with a stroller. In town of Lloyd in Ulster
County (near Highland and Mid-Hudson Bridge). See
[ more Details
|
Photos
].
-
Walkway Over The
Hudson
-- Bridge across the Hudson River between
Poughkeepsie and Highland, a rather wide walkway open for bicycling and walking.
Big views up and down the river, especially nice of the road bridge and
river to the south. [
official website ]
Off-road, paved (concrete and asphalt) about 1.5 mile long.
As of 2009 there is no
off-road connection between the Walkway and the
Dutchess Rail Trail or with
the Lloyd-Highland Rail Trail -- but as of 2010 there is a project to
connect with the Lloyd-Highland Rail Trail.
For a 4-mile loop that goes crosses the River twice,
once over the sidewalk of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, but includes more than a mile
on public roads with significant motor vehicle traffic, see
Mid-Hudson / Walkway loop - (loop could also be
used for walking or running, especially for those starting from the Poughkeepsie
train station).
Access to the Walkway is roughly one mile on streets
from the Poughkeepsie train station (service by Metro North and Amtrak from New
York City).
GPS: main access to Walkway east
end in Poughkeepsie from public roads (with parking nearby as of 2009)
[
on Google Maps ] -- latitude-longitude (approx)
= 41.71171,-73.92446 = N41.71171 W73.92446
main access to Walkway west end in Highland from
public roads (with parking nearby as of 2009) [
on Google Maps ]
-- latitude-longitude (approx)
= 41.71014,-73.95522 = N41.71014 W73.95522
-
Hurley
Rail Trail - (as of July 2007) - The paved section runs alongside the east side
of Route 209 near Kingston. Its north parking area is immediately south of
where 209 crosses Esopus Creek, a little more than a
mile south from Route 28. The paved section of the trail is flat, and it's
about 2.1 or 2.2 miles long (one-way). It crosses one public motor vehicle road. Parking
areas are on either end of the paved section, or sometimes we park alongside Russell Rd
(the one that crosses the middle of the trail). The
unpaved section continues south another 5 miles or so to Leggett Rd +
Rt 213 near High Falls (and we've heard that it continues some distance
further south from there). We've also heard that the trail follows the
former path of the Ontario &
Western Railway (O&W) and had some relation to the Delaware and Hudson canal
(D&H). See [
Map ]
Start point New Paltz
in Ulster County, which is conveniently reached from exit 18 of the NYS
Thruway or the Mid-Hudson Bridge and Route 9W. Bike shops and food in New
Paltz. Note that although
the Rail Trail itself is off-road, it intersects with public roads at several
points, some with possible high-speed vehicle traffic -- so special care is
required in detecting, approaching, and crossing those. [ Map
]
Start point
New Paltz
in Ulster County, which is conveniently reached from exit 18 of the NYS
Thruway or the Mid-Hudson Bridge and Route 9W. Alternate start point
Gardiner (on Route 44). Bike shops and food in
New
Paltz, food in Gardiner. Note that although
the Rail Trail itself is off-road, it intersects with public roads at several
points, some with possible high-speed vehicle traffic -- so special care is
required in detecting, approaching, and crossing those. [
Map
| KML |
GPX
]
Ulster County has three bridges across the great Hudson River, and
it's a special thing to ride across one of them. One is free from
motor vehicle traffic:
-
Walkway Over The
Hudson
-- Bridge across the Hudson River between
Poughkeepsie and Highland, a rather wide walkway open for bicycling and walking.
Big views up and down the river, especially nice of the road bridge and
river to the south. [
official website ]
Off-road, paved (concrete and asphalt) about 1.5 mile long.
As of 2009 there is no
off-road connection between the Walkway and the
Dutchess Rail Trail or with
the Lloyd-Highland Rail Trail -- but as of 2010 there is a project to
connect with the Lloyd-Highland Rail Trail.
For a 4-mile loop that goes crosses the River twice,
once over the sidewalk of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, but includes more than a mile
on public roads with significant motor vehicle traffic, see
Mid-Hudson / Walkway loop - (loop could also be
used for walking or running, especially for those starting from the Poughkeepsie
train station).
Access to the Walkway is roughly one mile on streets
from the Poughkeepsie train station (service by Metro North and Amtrak from New
York City).
GPS: main access to Walkway east
end in Poughkeepsie from public roads (with parking nearby as of 2009)
[
on Google Maps ] -- latitude-longitude (approx)
= 41.71171,-73.92446 = N41.71171 W73.92446
main access to Walkway west end in Highland from
public roads (with parking nearby as of 2009) [
on Google Maps ]
-- latitude-longitude (approx)
= 41.71014,-73.95522 = N41.71014 W73.95522
- Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Rip Van Winkle
Bridge, loop on both sides of the Hudson river -- 57 miles, moderate, from Rhinecliff to
Saugerties to Catskill, then Germantown and Tivoli. Shaded roads in the
woods, two fine Hudson river bridge crossings, sweeping views of farms with
the Catskill mountains beyond.
Downhill runs and Uphill challenges
Ulster County also some fun descents, including
and (for those who must) some notorious climbs:
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Here's some bicycle shops we found in phone directories around 2003:
Table Rock Tours
+ Bicycles -- Rosendale, NY Broadway Bike Shop -- Kingston, NY Kingston
Cyclery -- Kingston, NY Bike
Brothers -- Kingston, NY Big Wheel Bicycle -- Lake Katrine, NY Performance Pedal -- Ulster Park, NY Overlook Mountain Bikes -- Woodstock, NY
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Taxi services
Calling a taxi services can be very helpful for bicycling:
- when your bicycle gets messed up bad enough so you cannot ride
it -- or weather turns real bad -- and you still need to get home or
back to your car.
- to get to and from train stations.
- to set up one-way tours.
It's usually easier to call a taxi
if you have some phone numbers of taxi services in the area you're riding. A way to get a list is to do a search for "taxi" on a directory of business
phone numbers such as Superpages.com
-- Here's some towns and cities in this county on which might be helpful to
search:
New Paltz, Kingston, Saugerties, Woodstock, Kerhonkson, Wallkill
(all in New York state)
Here's some taxi services we found in phone directories around 2003:
New Paltz Taxi - - New Paltz, NY Discount Taxi of New Paltz - - New Paltz, NY
Taylor's Family Taxi - - Kingston, NY The Royal Taxi - - Kingston, NY New Cabs - - Kingston, NY Kingston Cabs - - Kingston, NY
other
- S & K Car Service :: Saugerties, NY
- Woodstock Transportation :: Woodstock, NY
- Accord-Kerhonkson Taxi-Limousine :: Kerhonkson, NY
- Chuck's Taxi of Plattekill :: Wallkill, NY
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Tourism in Ulster County
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|
