Tuesday, July 12, 2016

RIDING A HALL OF FAME TRAIL NETWORK
36.7 Mile Ride on the Dutchess Rail Trail, Walkway Over The Hudson, and Hudson Valley Rail Trail
Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Since 2007 the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has developed a rail trail Hall of Fame, choosing exemplary trails based on a variety of criteria. This year they called for voting to choose the 30th trail to be brought into the Hall of Fame - and the Hudson Valley Trail Network, consisting of three connected trails (the Dutchess Rail Trail, the Walkway Over the Hudson, and the Hudson Valley Rail Trail) won, earning almost 54% of the votes.

I've visited the Walkway Over The Hudson half a dozen times since it opened and always enjoy it. I've only ridden the adjoining trails twice - the Hudson Valley on the west side way back in 2010, and the Dutchess on the east side in late 2014. I've wanted to ride the entire system from end-to-end (and back) since that ride in 2014, and made the opportunity to do so today, by spending the night in New Paltz after running the Patterson's Pellet trail race at last night at Minnewaska.

I started out on the western end of the Walkway, taking advantage of my Empire Passport to snare a paid parking spot (there's actually enough free parking that most people don't bother with the few paid spots, so I'm usually all but assured a spot right near the western entrance... love my Empire Passport!) The Walkway was impressively busy for a summer Tuesday morning, but not so much to make riding difficult.

 The first part of the Dutchess Rail Trail goes gently uphill - so I ended up going pretty slowly, given that my legs were more than a bit tired from last night's running (and Sunday's ride and Saturday's race...) Much of the trail is wooded, which was really nice - when I was there in December 2014, it was hard to tell how shaded it would be in the summer. There are some impressive bridges and a few ponds, and there were people walking or riding pretty much the whole way - clearly the trail gets a lot of use. After about 90 minutes I reached the end of the line in Hopewell Junction, where the old train station has been restored as a museum. Stopped there briefly and then headed back. The ride back was definitely easier than the ride out, despite the accumulating miles - apparently I did more uphill than I realized on the ride out.

 The Walkway was even more crowded when I went back through, including a large tour group that came off the elevator just before I got there and made riding a bit hairy for a couple of moments. When I got back to the car I refilled the water bottles and grabbed an apple and a 2nd power bar for the short ride on the Hudson Valley trail (only about an 8 mile rough trip, compared to the 29+ miles I'd already done.)

 The initial bit of the HV goes uphill, then seems to level off (actually, it continues to go uphill at a much gentler grade.) The trail passes through some impressive rock cuts and goes past two caboose cars on display. It's an older trail than the Dutchess, so the pavement is a bit rougher, and it was definitely work to reach to turn around at Tony Williams Park. But I got a pleasant surprise when the trip back was much easier, showing that I'd actually been going uphill most of the the way out.

And then - I was back at the car again, my longest ride of 2016 (so far) was over, and it was time to grab a late lunch and hit the road back to Albany.

JMH
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