Find the top rated hike trails in Pine Plains, whether you're looking for an easy short hike trail or a long hike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a hike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Rode the entire Farmington Canal Heritage Trail as part of a 2 day ride from Northampton to New Haven. What a fabulous experience! So much variety and New England splendor packed into one journey. It was very interesting to see how each of the towns maintained the trail differently. Everything from the paving to the signage changed as you moved from one village to the next. What an amazing treasure!
Settle grade difference between start to finish. All paved smooth.No bugs.Crowded with walkers, skaters, and bikers.Windy in the afternoon.
This is a great paved trail that connects New Paltz to the Walkway Over the Hudson and then to the Dutchess County Rail Trail. Done together, you can ride for well over 60 miles if you want. The Hampton Inn in New Paltz is a great place to stay with the trail starting just across the street. The hotel also provides easy access to the Wallkill Trail.
The trail was really nice if you went towards Wurtsboro, butttt we originally made the mistake of going the other way and wound up at the Texas Chain Saw House.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.
Parked at northern end just S of Orphan Farm Rd, NY; Trail surface is outstanding including numerous portions of elevated sections over wetlands. Did not see much in the way of wildlife. Quite rural with the 1st p potty 10 miles south; Turned back at Millerton; Shade 50% or so.
Update to my 8/2024 review: Remains a TOP trail; At northern end easy parking at the Adams Visitor Center; Saw many signs of beaver activity - dams and huts - but no beavers. The Appalachian Trail crosses at Church Road in Cheshire; At southern end I turn back at the Crane Ave. parking area as, in my opinion, there's not much of interest in the remaining mile or so.
I just rode the trail today and the weeds mentioned in a previous review have now been mowed and the tree leaning across the trail near Whaley Lake has been cut. The trail is now in excellent condition with none of the typical rail trail root bumps encountered today. BobG.
Awesome ride !!! total 24 miles just breathtaking !!! Trail was wonderful mostly flat , busy with walkers and bikers all friendly !! Pat &Kevin Bennett
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!!
A friend and I did this ride today starting from Brewster to Hopewell Junction, continuing on the Dutchess Rail Trail for ~4 miles and back. The ride was excellent, a little over 50 miles with a gradual decent (~10 miles) on the way to Hopewell and ascent back. The trail was very smooth, there were a couple of spots on the Dutchess side that had growth into the trail and one downed tree blocking the way.
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