Explore the best rated trails in Hancock, NY, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the O&W Rail Trail (Ulster County) and Catskill Scenic Trail . With more than 21 trails covering 208 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
My wife & I ride from the north end to just south of Steven’s Point. From Steven’s Point south we experienced rough trail conditions including trail-wide mud puddles and ballast stone, nothing like the stone dust conditions to the north. There were still a lot of downed trees along the path from earlier storm damage. Consider becoming a member of the Rail-Trail Council of North East Pennsylvania. They could use your financial help so the trail conditions I mentioned above can be completed. We will definitely be back to rude more of the D&H.
We decided to start across from the winery, and end our trip there. We went one way and hit roots and railroad ties immediately. We turned around and got the same. Needless to say, the winery was great. Would be a perfect hiking trail. It was beautiful.
This trail is lovely there's a little water fall halfway through it we're the railing is and its beautiful
Nice scenic ride . The mountaindale side goes through several abandon like towns nice ride mostly dirt / cinders / crushed stone lots of nice scenery for about 3 miles then you end at the Neversink River where a bridge is out so you have to pedal 7 miles via road to hook up on the Fallsburg side which is paved ,nice trail for 4 miles . Would do again , tables , benches and bike tool areas . No road bike for gravel part
started in hancock went 6 miles on rocky dirt road then hit nothing but rocks and impassable biking . no warning signs. please do not attempt
Wife a I ride this rail trail every chance we get. Very easy ride. Always start in Simpson and ride north to the red caboose and loop back to Simpson. Best part there is a downward grade back to Simpson so it's a breeze with some great relaxation.
Perfect for my elderly dog since we have not been on long walks for the past year. Beautiful scenery of the river, geese flying close to the water, a place to let your loved dog get close to and into the water, and places to sit and just enjoy nature!! Great for MAHA 15 minute walks!
The trail was really nice if you went towards Wurtsboro, butttt we originally made the mistake of going the other way and wound up at the Texas Chain Saw House. I thought we were going to be killed by a rapid dog. The trail was very confusing, maybe we weren't going the right way??? It did look like the trail indicated to go straight, but there was a car parked in the middle of the trail and crazy dogs not fenced and only on a rope. I thought it would get loose and tear myself and my dog apart. There's got to be better markings. Or someone needs to figure out a way to make this homeowner happy, because clearly he is disgruntled.
Sunny and warm July Sunday. Started from the handy parking spaces across from the Wurtsboro firehouse (corner of Pine St. and Canal St.) The informational signs in the little park back toward Sullivan St. are worth checking out before heading north on the trail.
The trail is really nice in that beginning stretch: some gravel, mown grass, hard dirt. Easy on a hybrid or mountain bike ... probably too rough for a road bike. Riding along the long-forgotten, but still totally visible, D&H canal is very pleasant. Some lengths of the canal itself are totally dry and filled with mature trees; other lengths have water. (We didn't stop to read them, but there is fun signage along the way that tells a narrative story about the area.) Mixture of shady tree coverage and open skies. Very, very nice!
BUT THEN! Big surprise. As the towpath crosses McDonald Rd and continues north, which is maybe only 1 mile from the start, the bike path is fully flooded by water and completely unpassable. This is due to a total blockage of water in the canal by a massive beaver dam. (This is right where a home, yard, and outbuildings are visible on the satellite view. And, yes, there are some scary dogs on long ropes ... that come lunging.) The beaver dam is interesting to see, but there is no way to continue on the towpath at that point.
It turns out that the Mamakating O&W rail trail also has an entrance right on McDonald Rd. We chose to ride that back to Wurtsboro. There is a supposed continuation of Mamakating that heads northeast (the satellite view shows it), and it might be possible to jump back onto the D&H trail on the other side of the beaver dam blockage. But the official listing for Mamakating shows that this length is not developed ... so we decided not to chance it.
The Mamakating trail back to Wurtsboro is a straight shot ... no problems. That unintended shorter loop was maybe 3 miles total. But worth it!!
I've ridden the trail from Simpson to Buck's Falls which is outside of Starrucca. The trail is well groomed until you hit the other side of Ararat. Then you run into ballast stone and coal silt. No ballast stone or coal silt from Simpson to Ararat.
Rough in spots but really nice ride !!! Would do it again ! Tough around the steep hill x2 , Tressel bridge !!! But nice scenery and cool breeze Pat and Kevin B
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