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E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingCross-country skiingand more
The Hudson Valley Trail Network strings three trails into one paved crossing of the mid Hudson Valley: the Hudson Valley Rail Trail from New Paltz through Highland, the Walkway Over the Hudson, and the William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail from Poughkeepsie to Hopewell Depot. All of it follows the New Haven Railroad's Maybrook Line, so the grades are rail flat. The Ulster side threads rock cuts and crosses the Black Creek wetlands on a high fill, then the Walkway carries you more than two hundred feet above the river. East of Poughkeepsie the trail passes Morgan Lake, Wappinger Creek, Sprout Creek, and Lake Walton to the restored 1873 depot at Hopewell Junction, where the Maybrook Trailway continues east.
Hudson Valley Trail Network
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Hudson Valley Trail Network has about 115 to 163 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, running, biking, birding, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Hudson Valley Trail Network!
In half of past years, color along the Hudson Valley Trail Network peaks October 21 to 29, typically around October 25. The trail has 46% deciduous coverage, with the majority being red maple, black cherry, northern red oak, sugar maple, and black oak.
A fire on the Poughkeepsie railroad bridge on May 8, 1974 ended train service on this entire corridor. The bridge had been finished on January 1, 1889, the first rail crossing of the Hudson south of Albany. In 1892 the Central New England Railway opened the Maybrook Line across Dutchess County to reach it, and Hopewell Junction, where a depot had stood since 1873, became a hub. The New York, New Haven and Hartford later ran the line as its Maybrook route, carrying freight and passengers between New England and the Pennsylvania roads. Highland Landing on the west shore was already a river settlement of factories, warehouses, and ferries when the rails arrived. After the fire, Conrail got permission in 1982 to abandon the corridor and pulled the tracks the next year. Dutchess County bought the right-of-way from Hopewell Junction to Morgan Lake in 1984. In 1991 Ulster County seized the stretch west of the bridge and gave more than five miles of it to the Town of Lloyd. The Hudson Valley Rail Trail opened in 1997 and reached the bridge in 2010. The Walkway Over the Hudson opened on the old span on October 3, 2009. Dutchess County opened its first rail trail section, Lake Walton Road to Route 376, in 2007 and completed the last stage to the Walkway in July 2013. The Empire State Trail project later extended the Ulster end two miles west past the Thruway toward New Paltz.
Wallkill Valley Rail TrailEmpire State TrailMaybrook TrailwayHudson Valley Rail Trail Northside LineWalkway Loop Trail
