I have a goal of riding every named Rail-Trail in New York State.
There are many more railbeds not used for trains anymore which are
also ridable. They are usually unnamed, unsigned, and unpublished. I
speculate that this is because the owner is either indifferent or
away. I've ridden some of these but I'm more interested in getting
the named trails ridden first. I'm uploading them to
OpenStreetMap as I go.
Rode three more trails: Charlie Major, Harlem Valley Hillsdale, and Harlem
Valley Copake Falls northern extension. It's snowing right now, so I think the
rest of these are going to have to wait for next year.
The first trail ride for which I have a date is June of 2004. So this has been a ten-year project for me. Given that I'm not done yet, and they're continually making new trails, it looks like I've got another set of trails to ride.
Trails I've ridden:
- Albany County Rail Trail (Elsemere west to Slingerlands),
- Albany County Rail Trail (Elsemere east to Normanskill),
- Auburn Fleming Trail,
- Ballston Bike Trail,
- Black River Recreational Trail,
- Bog Meadow Brook,
- Canalway Trail (Rochester/Greece),
- Cycling The Canalway Trail 2012, a supported ride sponsored by Parks and Trails NY.
- Cycling The Canalway Trail 2013
- Catharine Valley Trail,
- Cato Fair Haven Trail,
(again, partially),
- Catskill Scenic Trail (west of Stamford),
- Catskill Scenic Trail (east of Stamford),
- Cayuga Hojack Trail,
- Charlie Major Nature Trail,
- Cheektowaga Bike Path,
- The Chautaqua Rails to Trails has a group of rail-trails all built on the same railroad.
- Clarence Akron Pathways and Clarence Newstead Trails, (earlier partial ride),
- Corning Bike Path,
- D&H Canal Heritage Corridor North (which seems to be called the Marbletown Rail Trail now, the extended part),
- D&H Canal Heritage Corridor South, (partially)
- D&H Trail (to the VT state line, and south into VT),
- D&H railbed (not a named trail, but it's a snowmobile trail and bicyclable.)
- Dutchess Rail Trail,
- The East Ithaca Recreational Trail,
- El Camino Rail Trail,
- Erie-Attica Trail,
- Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Rail Trail,
- Genesee Valley Greenway 1 (Scottsville to Piffard and back),
- Genesee Valley Greenway 2 (Mt. Morris to Rochester),
- Genesee Valley Greenway 3 (Nunda to Cuba),
- Gorge Trail,
(again),
- Great Bend Park Trail,
- Harlem Valley Rail Trail,
- Harlem Valley Rail Trail (Hillsdale),
- Harlem Valley Rail Trail (extended north from Copake Falls),
- Heritage Park Rail Trail,
- Hilton Hojack Trail,
- Hoosic Greenway Trail,
- Hudson Valley Rail Trail,
- Jim Schug Trail,
- Jim Tedisco Fitness Trail,
- Joseph B. Clarke Railtrail,
- Kaaterskill Rail Trail,
- Kennedy Rail Trail,
- Kerhonksen Railtrail,
- Lackawanna Trail,
- Lehigh Memory Trail (Williamsville),
- Lehigh Valley Rail Trail (Naples),
- Lehigh Valley Trail North (Rush),
- Lehigh Valley Trail North (Crittenden),
- Lehigh Valley Trail (Rochester/Rush/Mendon - but not all the way into Victor),
- Lehigh Valley Trail (from Mendon to Victor),
- Maple City Trail,
- Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail (which is also the Erie Canalway Trail),
- North County Trailway,
- NYO&W Liberty Rail Trail,
- NYO&W Parksville Rail Trail,
- NYO&W Hurleyville Rail Trail,
- NYO&W Woodridge Rail Trail,
- Oneida Rail Trail,
- Ontario Pathways Rail Trail,
- Orange Heritage Trailway (the unimproved eastern end),
- Orange Heritage Trailway (the official paved section),
- Oswego Recreational Trail,
- Outlet Trail,
- Pat McGee Trail,
- Philip A. Rayhill Memorial Recreational Trail,
- Pittsford Railroad Loop Trail,
- Pittsford Rail Trail,
- Putnam County Trailway,
- Railroad Run,
- Rivergate Trail,
- Rochester, Syracuse & Eastern Trolley Trail,
- The Rutland Trail (many many times. Also see the Rutland Trail website),
- South Cazenovia Rail Trail
- South County Trailway (southern portion)
- South County Trailway (northern portion)
- South Hill Recreation Way,
- Spring Run Trail,
- Stillwater Rail Trail,
- Tannersville Bike Path (Huckleberry Multi-Use Trail),
- Tarrytown Lakes extension,
- The Uncle Sam Bikeway,
- Town of Edwards Nature Trail,
- Vestal Rail Trail,
- Wallkill Valley Rail Trail,
- Wallkill Valley Rail Trail North of Rosendale,
- Walkway Over The Hudson (and the new part of the Hudson Valley Trail and more parts of the Dutchess Rail Trail which I hadn't ridden earlier),
and again, only end-to-end this time, 40 miles in total.
- Walden-Walkill Rail Trail (which I had called the Shawangunk Rail Trail),
- Warren County Bikeway (first rode it many years ago, before I had my GPS),
- Webster Hojack Trail Extension,
- White Plains Greenway (bicycles prohibited, so I walked this),
- Zim Smith Trail (and again),
Trails I haven't (yet) ridden:
Allegheny River Valley Trail (not a proper rail-trail),
Andes Rail Trail,
Avon's Genesee Valley Conservancy Trail,
Ithaca's Black Diamond Trail,
Groveland Secondary Trail,
Hojack Trail Hamlin,
Hojack Trail Hannibal,
John Kieran Nature Trail,
Kings Park Hike and Bike Trail,
Laurel Hill Rail Trail,
Lancaster Heritage Trail,
Long Pond Greenbelt,
Ridgeway Trail,
Sodus Point to Wallington Trail (not even mowed),
The Port Jefferson-Wading River Rail-Trail,
Wellsville's WAG Trail.
posted at: 21:30 |
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2.45 km 8046.76 feet 1.52 mi
1240.00 seconds 20.67 minutes 0.34 hours 4.42 mi/hr
The Charlie Major Nature Trail is not a terribly long rail-trail, but it has
plenty of history (ruins) to be appreciated, along with three railroad
bridges, several dams, and a pretty creek.
posted at: 21:23 |
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6.91 km 22677.91 feet 4.30 mi
2018.00 seconds 33.63 minutes 0.56 hours 7.66 mi/hr
Rode a brand-new section of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. So new, in fact,
that the construction workers had to pause to let me through. :-) They were
very nice, and I was trying to be as polite as I could about interrupting
them. But I got to ride it!
It's a portion of the railbed between Copake Falls to Fado Road, Hillsdale.
It extends from Copake Falls to Orphan Farm Road, where there is a nice
trailhead being developed.
posted at: 21:13 |
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5.82 km 19108.49 feet 3.62 mi
2054.00 seconds 34.23 minutes 0.57 hours 6.34 mi/hr
Rode an undeveloped section of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. It's open to
the public but not paved (yet). It's a portion of the railbed between Copake Falls to Fado Road, Hillsdale.
I was able to ride from Ford Lane in Hillsdale south to just shy
of NY-22. Unfortunately, the railroad bridge was removed, and Black Grocery
Road's bridge was also removed, so there is currently no way across the
Roeliff Jansen Kill.
Philip Glick says on Facebook's Abandoned Rails group: "...All I can tell you is the following... The southern abutment
and bridge was removed under a NYSDOT project in the early 1990's The three
things were low bridge clearance, narrow lanes passing under and poor sight
distance around the Northbound NY-22 curve. The bridge that was removed was a
Deck girder bridge that was silver in color and the dirt fill was cut back
also.
posted at: 20:59 |
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