Papa Tom

I put this dopey little ride together to do with my wife last weekend. It was "pleasant," but definitely not worth the drive up from Long Island and the expense of a hotel.

We rode from Morgan Lake Park in Poughkeepsie, over the Walkway, and to Tony Williams Park in the Black Creek area. Short and sweet.

Has anybody else done this? Am I missing something spectacular about it? The online descriptions seemed so cool.

Jay H

I have never biked across the Walkway but I did walk across it on a drive back to NJ... it's unique in that it is a non-motorized way to go across the hudson, unlike the other hudson river crossings and is pretty unique in that regards. There is/was talk about making the old tappen zee another and longer walkway when the new tappen zee bridge is made but I certainly have no idea if that will ever get off the ground.

I think the uniqueness is what makes the walkway kind of special and the fact that the state actually went ahead and made it happen. It is pretty short but you can also ride the north walkway of the Mid Hudson Bridge south of the walkway. In fact the mid hudson is/was the previous route of the Atlantic Coastal Trail from ACA. They might of rerouted it over the walkway but I'm not up to date on that trail...

Jay

Steve B.

Ditto Jay.

It has great views up and down the Hudson, which for me was special as I spent my youth hiking all over the Hudson Highlands and Catskills, as well as growing up in Westchester, so the Hudson has been part of my life forever. Thus I enjoyed having the ability to bike over the bridge. It is crowded, which takes away from some of the fun of biking, but as we had started in Hopewell Junction, we got enough of that.

I will eventually plan a longer ride, HJ to Kingston of so and will include the Walkway.

The new Tappan Zee bridge is getting a bike path according to this site:

"The bridge will also include a bike and pedestrian path."

https://www.newnybridge.com/about/

Jay H

Of couse, there are walkways on the Rip Van Winkle, the Mid-Hudson, the Bear Mtn Bridge and I think the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge (it's been awhile since I've been on that one) but the Walkway is unique because it is only pedestrians/cyclists and other non-motorized transportation... Also, as a kayaker who has paddled underneath the structure before it became a walkway, I think it's also 212ft above the hudson and was a pretty good engineering feat for it's time.

I have heard that the old tappen zee bridge has a slight chance of not being removed and converted to a walkway. I think that it might prove to be too costly to convert since the bridge is already seemingly almost ready to fall into the hudson but perhaps they might be able to just make it safe for walkers and cyclists as opposed to loaded 18-wheelers and cars...

Jay

Social Climber

There is some beautiful riding in the Hudson Valley. While the Walkway is is nice, sticking to the bike trails may have been a mistake as you miss much of the scenery off the area. Check out this site for some really nice road riding suggestions:

Bike Hudson Valley -- Roberts

Hornplayer

I think you should extend the ride on the east side of the river. The Dutchess rail trail goes 13 miles south from Poughkeepsie to Hopewell Junction. Need even more connections and extensions for longer rides.

Steve B.

Having shared the forum with Tom for a few years now, I can state that he's a somewhat "picky" rider in how he chooses where to go. He has a desire to ride in interesting places, with scenery if possible, but certainly with places to stop, nice towns, places to eat, etc.. Those are stated priorities and is one reasons he loves the eastern/southern Connecticut shoreline.

This becomes a problem somewhat, when choosing rail-trails, most of which take you through the boonies, with few stops in nice quaint little towns. Unless the train line was a passenger line and was used for freight, it rarely takes you downtown. Thus the Duchess trail, other then starting in a area of Hopewell Junction, doesn't really get you into interesting area's, skipping Poughkeepsie as example. Other then detours to local highways, there's nothing along the 12 miles.

If you think about the entire length of the South and North County trails, which was a passenger line, from Van Cortland Park, you can detour along side streets into area's of Yonkers that have zip. Next stop is Ardsley, which you have to detour off the path for about 3/4 a mile, then Elmsford, not much there, then Yorktown, which has possibilities, then Mahopac, also with possibilities, then Carmel, also OK and finally Brewster That's in better then 50 miles. It's mostly woods and trees.

And that's the nature of a lot of trails. I've read this about the Erie Canal trail. It's been described as remote, even though it's a corridor that passes a lot of towns. In many cases you need to get off the canal for a while to explore what's in town and I've read tour posts where folks just simply abandoned the canal path for quiet local roads. The likelihood for more interesting scenery was higher.

One of the few paths I've been on recently was the Delaware-Raritan canal trail on the Delaware river in NJ. It actually passes thru the towns of Frenchtown, Stockton, Lambertville and Washington's Crossing, thus you are IN TOWN while riding the path. That's not common at least, on rail-trails.

Hornplayer

Living in Jersey I'm very familiar with the Delaware-Raritan trails. Used to do them all the time with the whole family, and yes there are plenty of places to stop. Never rode the Dutchess trail, so I don't know what's between Po-town and Hopewell Junction, but probably not much. I'm very curious about the Catskill scenic trail - west side of river, 26 miles long, seems to go through multiple towns. Anyone have any experience there?

Jay H

I've ridden the CST before, from Grand Gorge out to stamford and beyond... It's a nice trail, dirt path so a hardtail is a nice bike to use but it goes through farms and stuff and it's pretty quiet out in the western catskills...

Places to eat and stuff in the towns you go by, like stamford and grand gorge but not much in between...

Jay

Papa Tom

I run into a "problem" when I ride with my wife, in that she didn't grow up with a bike, so she's not a very confident rider. This means I have to keep her on "safe" bikeways and rail trails, away from traffic. Unfortunately, as many of you have said, most of these rides can be deadly boring. That's why I try to pick the ones that have the most distractions off the path, such as places to eat and things to see.

When I ride by myself, I still prefer scenery, water views, and lots of activity along the way. But my solo rides don't have to be limited to bikeways, rail trails, or ANY type of bike-specific routes, so there are many more options.

Anyway, I guess the Dutchess-Walkway-Hudson ride just reaffirmed my dislike of rail trails.

scolist

If anyone decides to ride The Trail, I would suggest you stop at the Overrocker Road crossing and check the map at the kiosk. You'll find that you're about two blocks from Vassar College and the Arlington District, where you can relax and grab something to eat/drink. You can ride through Vassar College starting at their golf course, and continue throughout the campus.

Papa Tom, you were too far west from Overrocker Road by a mile or so.

berner

I grew up in the mid-Hudson Valley and still have family there so I get back about once a year. Lately I've been thinking about bringing the bike on the next visit. I worked on a dairy farm as a boy in high school. The farms are long gone but there are many quiet country roads in the area. The entire area west of New Paltz and east of the Shawngunk Mountain ridge is flat with pretty roads. If a climb is wanted, ride up and over the mountain to Kerhonkson. That ride can be extended to take in the Ashokan resevoir. One could easily spend several days riding in the area. New Paltz area Bicycle Routes -- Overview Map -- Bike Hudson Valley

Jim Kukula

I live in Kingston - there is plenty of great riding around here! Some other good sites:

Riding the Catskills | Gravel road cycling rides and routes in Ulster, Dutchess, Greene, Delaware, Orange, and Rockland Counties, New York
The Hudson Valley Randonneur

I want to do a loop down to Poughkeepsie but that's still a little long for me.

I would say in general that Dutchess County south of Poughkeepsie gets rather busy. Go north or west! Yeah the rail trail goes to Hopewell Junction. One of these days I should explore that. But really just too much fun up here... especially if you like hills!

e. g. Lapla - Boyce in Lincoln Park, NY, United States | MapMyRide

Jim Kukula

oh and yes you can ride across the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge. You're just on the shoulder, not separated from traffic, but it's wide and clean.