I’m grateful to Rich for the following guest post, taken from an email message to our friend Dave!
~Zhanna
Well, we ended up in the ‘Gunks again yesterday. This time we wanted to check out the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. We had a fun-filled day riding a really fun trail. Needless to say, Zhanna and I were both impressed with it. We always knew that the New Paltz area had a lot going for it. This trail was just one more attraction that we’ve gotten to experience lately.
Our drive began around 9:00am and we took a slightly different route to New Paltz than we normally would, just for kicks. We stopped briefly at The Bakery to grab a toasted onion bagel with veggie cream cheese and a coffee when we first arrived in town. We parked at the Huguenot Historic Center in New Paltz, rode the bikes north for 7 miles (to the Rosendale trestle), headed back, rode through New Paltz and south toward Gardiner for another 6 miles, and then took a little break for some soft ice cream before returning on the trail to the car. I believe that we could’ve ridden several miles further south but we were already feeling kinda beat and figured enough was enough (arseritis!), if you know what I mean. The town of New Paltz was really abuzz with people. There were groups of road cyclists everywhere, too!
Our total distance was a bit over 26 miles, and we still didn’t finish riding the whole trail. (On one website I had seen, the trail was described as being 17-18 rideable miles.) Mostly we rode the main section, which is comprised of the “official” 12.2 miles between the Gardiner-New Paltz town line, to the south, and the New Paltz-Rosendale town line, to the north. There’s an additional 3.5 miles going north to the middle of the old Rosendale railroad trestle across Rondout Creek. Only half of the trestle is accessible to trail users at this time, because the other half is still privately owned and has little or no decking on it. It spans 975 feet and it’s 100 feet in height. Very spectacular and a little scary! Unfortunately, this was the only spot where we had any ambition to take photos during the ride.
There’s also a really interesting restored steel girder bridge, left over from the railroad, that spans the Wallkill River, with some benches along either side, affording a pleasant respite and relaxing views. Along the rest of the trail, mostly south of New Paltz, are some amazing views of the Shawangunk Ridge and cliffs. Between the towns the trail is lined mostly with farms and fields. All in all, this is a very scenic trail and well worth the trip. I’m sure it won’t be our only visit!
It was Zhanna’s choice yesterday to have supper at the Mountain Brauhaus, once again. The food there really is great, but it’s the German beers on tap that keep drawing us back! I’m sure you know and understand. We behaved ourselves a little better this time. We each had a tall Spaten Octoberfest beer, then we each shared an appetizer (Bavarian Pretzel for Zhanna, and Potato Pancakes for me), and we shared one entrée, the Jaeger Schnitzel. This was more than enough to satisfy our huge appetites after such a long ride. As usual, we ended up having a very adventurous and very memorable day! We got back to Jessup around 8:00pm.