Russ Nelson's blog

On Sunday, I rode Terry Gordon Trail in Plattsburgh. It's a rail-with-trail, but it follows the railbed the entire way, so it counts.

As of riding this trail, I have now accomplished my goal of riding all 100 named rail-trails in New York State. Been working on it since June of 2004. In that time, I've ridden trails 144 times, for a total of 3247 miles over 470 hours (that's two months of daily rides). That double-counts some trails because I rode them twice. It also counts every day of both Erie Canalway Trail rides, not all of which are on trail-trails.

There are many more railbeds not used for trains anymore which are also ridable. They are usually unnamed, unsigned, and unpublished. 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.

Trails I've ridden:

1. Albany County Rail Trail
   • Albany County Rail Trail (Elsemere west to Slingerlands),
   • Albany County Rail Trail (Elsemere east to Normanskill),
   • Albany County Rail Trail (Normanskill to eastern end),
2. Andes Rail Trail (footpath)
3. Auburn Fleming Trail,
4. Auburn Trail,
5. Ballston Bike Trail,
6. Bashakill Railroad Trail (NYO&W;),
7. Big Flats Rail Trail,
8. Black Diamond Trail,
9. Black River Recreational Trail and the unofficial eastern end between Felts Mills and Carthage,
10. Bog Meadow Brook,
11. Canalway Trail (Rochester/Greece),
12. Cycling The Canalway Trail 2012, a supported ride sponsored by Parks and Trails NY.
    • Sunday, Buffalo to Medina
    • Monday, to Pittsford
    • Tuesday, to Seneca Falls
    • Wednesday, to Syracuse
    • Thursday, to Rome
    • Friday, to Canajoharie
    • Saturday, to Schenectady
    • Sunday, to Albany
13. Cycling The Canalway Trail 2013
    • Saturday, Buffalo
    • Sunday, Buffalo to Medina
    • Monday, to Pittsford
    • Tuesday, to Seneca Falls
    • Wednesday, to Syracuse
    • Thursday, to Rome
    • Friday, to Canajoharie
    • Saturday, to Schenectady
    • Sunday, to Albany
14. Catharine Valley Trail,
15. Cato Fair Haven Trail, (again, partially),
16. Catskill Scenic Trail
    • Catskill Scenic Trail (west of Stamford),
    • Catskill Scenic Trail (Stamford to Grand Gorge Station),
    • Catskill Scenic Trail (south of Grand Gorge Station),
17. Charlie Major Nature Trail,
18. Cheektowaga Bike Path,
19. The Chautaqua Rails to Trails has a group of rail-trails all built on the same railroad.
    • The Village of Sherman Recreational Trail,
    • The Ralph C. Sheldon Jr. Nature Trail,
    • The Paul and Nancy Webb and Nancy B. Diggs Nature Trail,
    • Village of Mayville Nature Trail,
    • The Laurie A. Baer and Alison Wells Ney Nature Trails and the Brocton Area Recreational Trail,
20. Clarence Akron Pathways and Clarence Newstead Trails, (earlier partial ride),
21. Cohoes Black Bridge Trail,
22. Corning Bike Path,
23. Corry Junction Greenway Trail,
24. D&H Canal Heritage Corridor North (which seems to be called the Marbletown Rail Trail now, the extended part),
25. D&H Heritage Trail,
26. D&H Canal Heritage Corridor South, (partially)
27. D&H Trail Southern Section (to the VT state line, south into VT),
28. D&H Trail Northern Section, only a tiny bit of which is in NY,
29. D&H railbed (not a named trail, but it's a snowmobile trail and bicyclable.)
30. Dutchess Rail Trail,
31. The East Ithaca Recreational Trail,
32. El Camino Rail Trail,
33. Erie-Attica Trail,
34. Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Rail Trail,
35. Genesee Valley Conservancy Trail,
36. Genesee Valley Greenway
    • Genesee Valley Greenway 1 (Scottsville to Piffard and back),
    • Genesee Valley Greenway 2 (Mt. Morris to Rochester),
    • Genesee Valley Greenway 3 (Nunda to Cuba),
    • Genesee Valley Greenway 4 (Hinsdale),
37. Gorge Trail, (again),
38. Groveland Secondary Trail (not very bicyclable),
39. Great Bend Park Trail,
40. Harlem Valley Rail Trail
    • Harlem Valley Rail Trail (south and north),
    • Harlem Valley Rail Trail (Hillsdale),
    • Harlem Valley Rail Trail (extended north from Copake Falls),
41. Heritage Park Rail Trail,
42. Hojack Trails
    41. Cayuga Hojack Trail,
    42. Hilton Hojack Trail,
    43. Webster Hojack Trail Extension,
44. Hoosic Greenway Trail,
45. Hudson Valley Rail Trail,
46. Jim Schug Trail,
47. Jim Tedisco Fitness Trail,
48. Joseph B. Clarke Railtrail,
49. Kaaterskill Rail Trail,
50. Kennedy Rail Trail,
51. Kerhonksen Railtrail,
52. Kings Park Hike and Bike Trail,
53. Kingston Point Rail Trail,
54. Lackawanna Trail,
55. Lancaster Heritage Trail,
56. Lehigh Memory Trail (Williamsville),
57. Lehigh Valley Rail Trail (Naples),
58. Lehigh Valley Trail North (Rush),
59. Lehigh Valley Trail North (Crittenden),
60. Lehigh Valley Trail (Rochester/Rush/Mendon - but not all the way into Victor),
60. Lehigh Valley Trail (from Mendon to Victor),
61. Maple City Trail,
62. Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail (which is also the Erie Canalway Trail),
63. Moody Rail Trail,
64. North County Trailway, again, partially),
65. Northport Rail Trail,
66. New York, Ontario & Western trails
    65. NYO&W Liberty Rail Trail,
    66. NYO&W Parksville Rail Trail,
    67. NYO&W Hurleyville Rail Trail,
    68. NYO&W Woodridge Rail Trail,
    69. Verona Beach State Park Rail Trail,
70. Oneida Rail Trail,
71. Ontario Pathways Rail Trail,
72. Orange Heritage Trailway
    • Orange Heritage Trailway (the unimproved eastern end),
    • Orange Heritage Trailway (the official paved section),
    • Orange Heritage Trail Extension,
73. Oswego Recreational Trail,
74. Outlet Trail,
75. Pat McGee Trail,
76. Philip A. Rayhill Memorial Recreational Trail,
77. Pittsford Railroad Loop Trail,
78. The Portage Trail / Trolley Trail (separate railroad from but associated with Chautaqua),
79. Pittsford Rail Trail,
80. Putnam County Trailway and its extension,
81. Railroad Run,
82. Ridgeway Trail,
83. Rivergate Trail,
84. Rochester, Syracuse & Eastern Trolley Trail,
85. The Rutland Trail (many many times. Also see the Rutland Trail website),
86. Saranac Lake Recreational Path,
87. Shawangunk Ridge Trail (Erie),
88. South Cazenovia Rail Trail
89. South County Trailway (southern portion)
89. South County Trailway (northern portion)
90. South Hill Recreation Way,
91. Spring Run Trail,
92. Stillwater Rail Trail,
93. Sylvan Beach Rail Trail,
94. Tannersville Bike Path (Huckleberry Multi-Use Trail),
95. Tarrytown Lakes extension,
96. Terry Gordon Recreation Path,
97. The Uncle Sam Bikeway,
98. Town of Edwards Nature Trail,
99. Trolley Trail (RS&E in Victor),
100. Vestal Rail Trail,
101. Wallkill Valley Rail Trail,
100. Wallkill Valley Rail Trail North of Rosendale,
101. 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, and again, just the walkway,
102. Walden-Wallkill Rail Trail,
103. Warren County Bikeway,
104. Wellsville, Addison, and Galeton (WAG) Trail,
105. White Plains Greenway,
106. Zim Smith Trail, again, and again, but this time I also rode the connected "Route 9 Bypass" trail which uses part of the Hudson Valley trolley line.

Trails I haven't ridden:

Trails I have no plans to ride:

• Anything that's not a former railroad,
• Allegheny River Valley Trail. Only a portion runs close to an existing railroad,
• Hojack Trail Hamlin. Brushed over and posted. Published in a trail guide, but not rideable,
• Maybrook Trailway in Brewster. Not finished yet.
• Southampton's Long Pond Greenbelt Trail. No bicycling allowed,
• Sodus Point to Wallington Trail is a snowmobile trail, not mowed,
• Spring Valley's Monsey Recreational Trail, doesn't exist but I included it earlier,
• The Port Jefferson-Wading River Rail-Trail, not a trail yet.

posted at: 03:49 | path: /bicycling | permanent link to this entry