StarBiker

Some may find this informative. Probably could post it in the General forum......possible paywall

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ire-trail.html

dmark 

Paywall is a yes. (for the NY Times)

Steve B.

Its the Empire State Trail. Its only partly a "trail", theres likely 50% on road. They basically rushed the concept and thru up a lot of signage on existing trails and on road bike routes.

StarBiker

^
More scenic escape routes?

rootesgroup

NY seems to use old rail lines whenever possible. Sometimes they want the rail trail to go through a village where there is no old rail line. So, they add bike lanes to the local road or (and this is the cheapest) they put the shared road chevrons painted on the road surface (yeah, like auto drivers really will share the road with bikes when they can't even share the road with other cars). In the city of Kingston, NY, they do have an old rail/trolley line that goes right through the city and they are (right now) converting that to part of the rail trail system. The entire system is not perfect but is a really good first step and I am happy to have it. It is much better than it was without the improvements.

Papa Tom

Agreed. I've ridden most of it from NYC to Brewster and from Poughkeepsie to New Paltz/Rosendale. None of the other sections are screaming at me to take the long drive from Long Island to ride them, but I'm really glad to see progress being made on our bicycling infrastructure.

StarBiker

Although I have never road the trails in New York the article I thought was informative. Progress does not happen overnight.

Do I need to copy and past the article? If it's allowed I will. (I get the times for free through my Father who never met a printed word that he didn't wan't to read)

zacster

Even just putting up signs is a big win. How often have you come to the end of a trail with no way of knowing how to connect to the next one or the best road to take? Yea, we all have our phones, when they work, and I can get turn by turn on my Wahoo Bolt, but just have a sign point the way is easier.

I plan on doing the NYC to Buffalo (or vice versa) route next summer, even my wife thinks she'll do it. And as the article points out you don't have to do it all at once. Aside from having family along the way, conveniently in Albany and Syracuse, I also have the added benefit of free flights. I can drop my bike at my B-I-L and hop a flight back to NYC to pick up and drop off stuff and go back the next day. And in any case I would do the hotel to hotel route, I've never been a camper. And while I'd carry some snack type food meals would be at restaurants. Buffalo Chicken Wings anybody?

And here is the article as a "gift" share: Empire State Trail Article, NY Times (I've never tried the gift article feature, I'm sure someone will let me know if it works. It only lasts 14 days.)

Steve B.

My thought about it being rushed, was I wished they had put out the money to build an actual paved or gravel bike path in place of the on road segments. Then it would really be a bike "trail". Thats a huge undertaking as I'm not sure they have or could buy the right-of-way for this. It would be expensive to be buying land.

Pratt

It would also be nice if they had real road maps available. They would not be expensive.

zacster

Even where the right of way is available it can take decades to actually build anything. Just look at how long it is taking with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. I rode the first section from Millerton to Wassaic over 10 years ago and only this year did the connecting section to Copake open. There is still a disconnect between Hillsdale and Copake, it just dead ends at a washed out bridge, and the trail to Chatham? I'm not holding my breath.

Steve B.

I'm not sure there's any state money helping this along, I think it's been all county funded and is why it's taking forever. Duchess has been committed and has funded the southern segments, Columbia is not funding at the same level and it's not getting done, is what I see.

UniChris

Indeed, though a non trivial amount of actual building happened. An obvious example would be finally funding the long discussed buildout of the trail along the disused Maybrook line, essentially connecting the trail that ended in Brewster to the one that started at Hopewell Junction.

They also took a fairly tame section on the shoulder of route 100 south of Millwood and got it on its own side of the guardrail.

​​​​​​My impression is a lot was done in spots between Albany and Buffalo too, though more remains. While it sounds like the route north from roughly Kingston may be some of the least continuous.

indyfabz

I had done Millerton south twice before. During a tour in September I camped at Taconic Stat Park (Copake) and rode all the way to the end on the way to Hyde Park for the night. The new section is sweet. Interestingly I went down to the cafe/store along the trail after setting up camp and happened to meet one of the co-authors of "Younger Next Year." He was out for a ride at 87 years of age.

A guy I know just happened to have ridden the new section the day before I did and sent me a photo of a bugger he came across.

kaos joe

Great pic. They are definitely moving south. Just got back from a couple of days/nights backpacking in Harriman St. Park and saw none in the flesh but several big scats loaded with berry pits and hair. Also coyote leavings, mostly hair. I took no scat pics..

indyfabz

There were fliers in the park warning about bears. If you are unfamiliar with a place you sometimes don't know how much reality is behind them. One place I ride to regularly in S. Jersey has similar fliers. The chances of encountering a bear there are extremely slim and none. The big problem is trash pandas. But having had close encounters with bears in N. Jersey and PA while touring I decided to store my attractants in one of the shower/bathrooms while at Taconic.

We have had three bears come through Philly in the last 5 years or so. And those are only the ones that we know about. Last summer I was finishing a long weekend tour and ventured off a popular bike trail just outside the city limits for a nature break. It was a wooded area with a creek running through it. In the mud I saw what were clearly bear tracks.

Papa Tom

Ah!!! And you guys all laughed at me when I asked about bears on the Empire State Trail!

kaos joe

I spent Wednesday night this week in a tent in bear country. I'm still laughing, actually.

Papa Tom

[QUOTE=kaos joe;22305192]I spent Wednesday night this week in a tent in bear country. I'm still laughing, actually.


[/QUOTE

Where is this?
]

Steve B.

There's a reason they call it "Bear Mountain State Park".

kaos joe

Very close.......next door in Harriman. We did see a lot of coyote leavings and were hopeful to hear them at night, but no such luck this time.

indyfabz

There was a noisy owl on a limb right above my tent at Taconic.

dendawg

There was a bear spotted this summer at the Greenbrook Nature Preserve in Tenafly NJ. They took down their birdfeeders to try and discourage him from hanging out there.

kaos joe

This is not desirable.

indyfabz

I love to hear them as long as they move on and don't keep me awake. During my two-week tour in September I heard owls every night except two. Coyotes two nights.