Find the top rated bike trails in Poughkeepsie, whether you're looking for an easy short bike trail or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a bike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The 3.1-mile Kress Family Trail in Roxbury occupies the former route of the Shepaug Valley Railroad (the Shepaug, Litchfield and Northern Railroad). The railroad was famously known as the “crookedest...
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For family riding and walking, the Tannersville Bike Path offers a 2.7 mile stretch of graded dirt path starting on Clum Hill Road directly across from Cortina Valley. The opposite end is on Bloomer...
The Klara Sauer Trail (formerly known as the Beacon Riverside Trail) runs for 1 mile along the Hudson River on the west side of New York's village of Beacon. The trail occupies the same corridor as...
With vistas of the Catskill Mountains and a vast blue lake, the Ashokan Reservoir Promenade is a stunner. The paved pathway begins in Olivebridge, a hamlet in southeastern New York, and spans just shy...
Tallman Mountain State Park Bike Path is partially paved and bisects the Tallman Mountain State Park. The route provides a motor-vehicle-free way for bicyclists using US Route 9W to connect with...
The first phase of the New Milford River Trail runs southeast from Gaylordsville via the scenic but lightly traveled River Road, through Sega Meadows to Boardman Bridge, a distance of about 5 miles....
The Middlebury Greenway provides a paved, off-road option for a self-propelled journey across suburban Middlebury. The trail touches on several business districts and parks, ending at an amusement...
While not a "rail-trail," the Hook Mountain/Nyack Beach Bikeway is a very scenic trail along the Hudson River in Rockland County. The southern half of this trail is flat and runs right along the...
The D & H Canal towpath is nestled within the 300-acre D & H Canal Park in the New York hamlet of Cuddebackville. The crushed-stone trail, stretching just over a half mile, is one section of a larger...
The Bashakill Wildlife Management Area is located on the Orange County-Sullivan County border just south of Wurtsboro, New York. It consists of over 3,000 acres of wetlands and uplands which were...
The City of Port Jervis is the latest community to save a portion of the former D&H Canal and turn it into a greenway for use by residents and visitors. A section of the canal, which is approximately...
When completed, the Norwalk River Valley Trail will run from Danbury to Long Island Sound in southwestern Connecticut, for a total of about 27 miles. Currently, several disconnected sections totaling...
Harlem Valley Rail Trail provides a scenic ride through rolling farm fields and dense woods on the bed of the New York and Harlem Railroad that ran from New York City to Chatham. The rail-trail is...
The Jones Point Path occupies an abandoned motor vehicle route (old US Route 9W). The path provides bicyclists with a relatively safe bypass to a dangerous section of busy US Route 9W near Bear...
The Naugatuck River Greenway will one day span 44 miles from Torrington to Derby in western Connecticut, but is currently open in a few short disconnected segments totaling just over 5 miles. The...
The William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail is a local treasure in the Hudson Valley region of New York, and for good reason: the 13-mile trail runs through what seems like a perpetually green...
This rustic unpaved trail, just over three miles in length, runs along a route formerly used by the New York, Ontario, & Western Railway's Main Line through Parksville in Sullivan County, NY. The...
The Bronx River Greenway offers 23 miles of paved pathway in New York's Westchester and Bronx counties. The developing trail is open in disconnected segments largely paralleling the Bronx River...
The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail extends 21 miles between Kingston and Gardiner along the route of the old Wallkill Valley Railroad, which, in the late 1800s, carried produce from Ulster County farms to...
Shawangunk, Walden, and Wallkill Rail Trail is built on a railroad right-of-way that was abandoned by Conrail in the late 1970s. Conrail and its predecessors, Penn Central, New York Central, and The...
The Pequonnock River Trail is not a name you will see on the ground along this developing trail in southwestern Connecticut. Formalized in 2001 by the state, the regional trail pieced together...
The Bashakill Wildlife Management Area is located on the Orange County-Sullivan County border just south of Wurtsboro, New York. It consists of over 3,000 acres of wetlands and uplands which were...
For family riding and walking, the Tannersville Bike Path offers a 2.7 mile stretch of graded dirt path starting on Clum Hill Road directly across from Cortina Valley. The opposite end is on Bloomer...
The first phase of the New Milford River Trail runs southeast from Gaylordsville via the scenic but lightly traveled River Road, through Sega Meadows to Boardman Bridge, a distance of about 5 miles....
The Klara Sauer Trail (formerly known as the Beacon Riverside Trail) runs for 1 mile along the Hudson River on the west side of New York's village of Beacon. The trail occupies the same corridor as...
While not a "rail-trail," the Hook Mountain/Nyack Beach Bikeway is a very scenic trail along the Hudson River in Rockland County. The southern half of this trail is flat and runs right along the...
Built in 1888 to link New York and New England to the coal beds of Pennsylvania and the West, the steel cantilever truss Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge was the longest bridge in the world for a...
The Ramsey Bike Path is a recreational path built on the former Paterson to Suffern trolley line right-of-way. The path extends along a north-south route from one end of Ramsey to the other....
Shawangunk, Walden, and Wallkill Rail Trail is built on a railroad right-of-way that was abandoned by Conrail in the late 1970s. Conrail and its predecessors, Penn Central, New York Central, and The...
The South County Trailway is a zippy paved trail heading north from Yonkers through the Hudson River Valley communities of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Greenburgh, and...
Open in several disconnected segments, the Billings Trail is a dirt path that traverses a lovely scenic and wooded landscape outside Norfolk in northern Connecticut. Built on the abandoned railbed of...
The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail extends 21 miles between Kingston and Gardiner along the route of the old Wallkill Valley Railroad, which, in the late 1800s, carried produce from Ulster County farms to...
The William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail is a local treasure in the Hudson Valley region of New York, and for good reason: the 13-mile trail runs through what seems like a perpetually green...
Owned by the Metro-North Railroad, the Maybrook Trailway starts at the Connecticut state line in Farringtons Park, and spans 5 miles into the town of Brewster. The trail follows what was once part of...
The Jones Point Path occupies an abandoned motor vehicle route (old US Route 9W). The path provides bicyclists with a relatively safe bypass to a dangerous section of busy US Route 9W near Bear...
The North County Trailway is the longest of the four connected rail-trails breathing new life into the former New York Central Railroad's Putnam Division line. The "Old Put" provided passenger and...
The City of Port Jervis is the latest community to save a portion of the former D&H Canal and turn it into a greenway for use by residents and visitors. A section of the canal, which is approximately...
The Railroad Ramble occupies a corridor abandoned by the Central New England Railroad, which provided service from 1871 through 1967. In Lakeville, the trail can be found just off of Route 41 behind...
Connecting the Walkill River and Shawangunk Ridge, the aptly named River-to-Ridge Trail, which opened in September 2018, runs from New Paltz to the Mohonk Preserve. Begin at the Carmine Liberta Bridge...
Harlem Valley Rail Trail provides a scenic ride through rolling farm fields and dense woods on the bed of the New York and Harlem Railroad that ran from New York City to Chatham. The rail-trail is...
For family riding and walking, the Tannersville Bike Path offers a 2.7 mile stretch of graded dirt path starting on Clum Hill Road directly across from Cortina Valley. The opposite end is on Bloomer...
The Pequonnock River Trail is not a name you will see on the ground along this developing trail in southwestern Connecticut. Formalized in 2001 by the state, the regional trail pieced together...
Connecting the Walkill River and Shawangunk Ridge, the aptly named River-to-Ridge Trail, which opened in September 2018, runs from New Paltz to the Mohonk Preserve. Begin at the Carmine Liberta Bridge...
The Bashakill Wildlife Management Area is located on the Orange County-Sullivan County border just south of Wurtsboro, New York. It consists of over 3,000 acres of wetlands and uplands which were...
While not a "rail-trail," the Hook Mountain/Nyack Beach Bikeway is a very scenic trail along the Hudson River in Rockland County. The southern half of this trail is flat and runs right along the...
With vistas of the Catskill Mountains and a vast blue lake, the Ashokan Reservoir Promenade is a stunner. The paved pathway begins in Olivebridge, a hamlet in southeastern New York, and spans just shy...
The O&W Rail Trail follows the route of the former Ontario & Western Railroad in southern New York. In Ulster County, nearly a dozen miles of trail are available and, in Sullivan County, another 7.5...
Shawangunk, Walden, and Wallkill Rail Trail is built on a railroad right-of-way that was abandoned by Conrail in the late 1970s. Conrail and its predecessors, Penn Central, New York Central, and The...
The Liberty Rail Trail extends about 2.5 miles through the village of Liberty, NY, between Chestnut Street/SR 52 (near West Street) and the old rail trestle in Ferndale. The trail occupies a portion...
The first phase of the New Milford River Trail runs southeast from Gaylordsville via the scenic but lightly traveled River Road, through Sega Meadows to Boardman Bridge, a distance of about 5 miles....
The Middlebury Greenway provides a paved, off-road option for a self-propelled journey across suburban Middlebury. The trail touches on several business districts and parks, ending at an amusement...
The South County Trailway is a zippy paved trail heading north from Yonkers through the Hudson River Valley communities of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Greenburgh, and...
Coming in at just under 3 miles, the Sue Grossman Still River Greenway is anchored by the towns of Winchester to the north and Torrington to the south. It occupies the right-of-way of the Naugatuck...
The 3.1-mile Kress Family Trail in Roxbury occupies the former route of the Shepaug Valley Railroad (the Shepaug, Litchfield and Northern Railroad). The railroad was famously known as the “crookedest...
Open in several disconnected segments, the Billings Trail is a dirt path that traverses a lovely scenic and wooded landscape outside Norfolk in northern Connecticut. Built on the abandoned railbed of...
The Bronx River Greenway offers 23 miles of paved pathway in New York's Westchester and Bronx counties. The developing trail is open in disconnected segments largely paralleling the Bronx River...
The Klara Sauer Trail (formerly known as the Beacon Riverside Trail) runs for 1 mile along the Hudson River on the west side of New York's village of Beacon. The trail occupies the same corridor as...
The Jones Point Path occupies an abandoned motor vehicle route (old US Route 9W). The path provides bicyclists with a relatively safe bypass to a dangerous section of busy US Route 9W near Bear...
When completed, the Norwalk River Valley Trail will run from Danbury to Long Island Sound in southwestern Connecticut, for a total of about 27 miles. Currently, several disconnected sections totaling...
The Ramsey Bike Path is a recreational path built on the former Paterson to Suffern trolley line right-of-way. The path extends along a north-south route from one end of Ramsey to the other....
Great ride, very easy, anyone can do it. It can be accomplished on a Road Bike. Surface was flat, smooth and clean.
I rode this trail a week after it opened in September 2018 because I live here. In the village of New Paltz, the east end is at the bridge over the Wallkill River with a small parklet and benches. This is very close, maybe 100 feet, to get onto the 22 mile, unpaved Wallkill Valley Rail Trail which runs from Gardiner, through New Paltz and Rosendale, to Kingston, NY. Soon to be completed is a bike lane on nearby Henry Dubois Road which will lead to a 20-something-mile fully paved trail of various names New Paltz, Highland, Poughkeepsie, Hopewell Junction. Hudson Valley Rail Trail, Walkway Over the Hudson, and Dutchess County Rail Trail. Having ridden trails all across the Northeastern states, this combined trail is in my top 3 anywhere for quality, beauty and amenities.
The River-to-Ridge is not a rail trail, it is a newly constructed gravel and dirt trail to get bikers off the main roads. There is a nice parking lot, and after you cross the road going west there is a hill and beautiful views of the Shawangunk ridge. At the west end there is access to the private lands of Mohonk Resort. Maybe (maybe not) there will be someone collect fees to ride Mohonk property. The roads also lead to Minnewaska State Park where there are many carriage roads for biking.
We enjoyed the ride through the country side and found the trail fairly empty on a early October Wednesday morning. Several parts of the trail were muddy and narrow. The best stop was the Rosendale Trestle with spectacular view. Worth riding again.
We parked at Tony Williams Park rode past the Walkway over the Hudson down to mile marked 8 on the Duchess Trail where we stopped on a bench for lunch. The path is wide and mostly smooth and only one construction area (putting in a modern restroom on southside of the Walkway). We would rate this the best trail we have ever been on as far as access, parking, restrooms (including port-a-potties in some areas) and very few rode/driveways to cross. We rode on a Thursday morning early October and the path was not crowded. Our 20 mile round trip was Fantastic!
This is a beautiful paved trail for biking, running, walking, strollers, and wheelchairs. It is well-kept and offers scenic views--from rolling fields, to bridges, to train cars, to even an old cemetery. My husband and I biked the entire length and back on a gorgeous fall day. It was a really nice ride, but be aware that it is often a false flat trail. One other major thing to be aware of is that you CANNOT access this trail from Mary Harriman Park in Harriman. Your best bet is to access if from Monroe. If heading east on the trail toward Harriman, the trail comes to a dead end fenced off bridge with no access and you're forced to turn around and go back the way you came. Hopefully someday they will fix this and extend it into Harriman for better access. That is my only complaint about this otherwise beautiful trail.
I love to walk the trail and have since 1971, the cross over on Whitney Ave in Trumbull is Terrifying, The cars cannot see any one passing the road way until they are in the roadway. The line of sight is completely obscured by vegetation and the small sign in the middle of the Street??? I have seen people run right across the road with out even slowing down prior to or while crossing Whitney Ave. I personally saw a woman hit the side of a car as she could not stop running in time to avoid the car. This section is an accident waiting to happen. Whitney Ave. crossing needs to be safer for both motorist and trail user.
No meter parking along Kimball Ave before Palmer Rd.
To avoid getting lost trying to connect to the bike path after passing the Scarsdales Train Station: exit at the station go north on East Pkwy; Rt on Crane Rd; Lf on Fox Meadows Rd (after Fenimore Rd) it changes to Walworth Ave and Lf on Greenacres Ave. The 2nd entrance to the trail is about 1/5 mile on the right.
There are restrooms when you reach the Kensico Dam.
I have been on this trail for the last 10 years. I love this trail just for the scenery and the simple fact that its 10 minute drive away. But I recently discovered that there is a connecting rail trail. This is abandoned Erie branch line in Greycourt that passes through Washingtonville and rejoins the Erie Newburgh Shortcut at Vails Gate Junction in Vails Gate. This abandoned branch line runs directly in front of my house all the way to the orange Heritage trail. So instead of driving to this trail, I can actually can ride my bike and connect two trails.
Labor Day weekend, 2018
I had a hard time finding the entrance at Swamp Road, it is only marked “No authorized vehicles” and, more ominously, “Police are monitoring illegal activities.” My 7-yr-old son was alarmed and frightened by the signs and the broken down structures, rusty dumped machines and the lack of a path about 500 feet in. Instead it’s a broad overgrown cement yard - too broad to find the narrow throughway to continue south. We rode around a bit on the broken glass and shards, and left feeling unsafe.
I will probably return without him to try again, as I would really like to find a path off the street to get to Trumbull, but I can’t recommend this segment above Pepper.
Sunday, August 26, 2018, temperature 88F, mixed sun & clouds, moderate humidity.
This one review for 3 connected trails: Old Erie, Raymond Esposito, and Joseph B. Clark, where I started at the north end in Blauvelt.
This is a wonderful asphalt community trail that is a very gentle slope down from the northern village of Blauvelt. Nice scenery with a mix of open skies and shade. Near the southern end there is a public park with a side connection to the contiguous Raymond Esposito and Old Erie trails, that are unpaved and slope gently down to end at a park in Nyack. The trail looks down over streets and homes in Piermont and Nyack with occasional summer views of the Hudson River. You ride through a shady forest on a gravel road that becomes a dirt path for a short distance before getting bigger and gravelly again. It's fun.
On a warm Sunday afternoon at the end of the trail I decided to take the streets back through Nyack to Piermont and was not disappointed. Nyack along the Hudson River is lined with Victorian and old sea captain-like homes. It's a bike route so there other bikers not doing the trails and really not too much traffic, so I felt safe. The street leads to Piermont, a beautiful little tree-lined village right on the Hudson river offering piers, marinas, restaurants, coffee shops and specialty stores. It really is spectacular. Then the streets lead from a small park over a creek back to the other little park where you meet the trail again. Without signs or knowledge I just followed my instincts and and found my way. Worth a return visit. 16+ miles round trip.
Sunday, August 26, 2018, temperature 88F, mixed sun & clouds, moderate humidity.
This is a wonderful asphalt community trail that is a very gentle slope down from the northern village of Blauvelt. Nice scenery with a mix of open skies and shade. Near the southern end there is a public park with a side connection to the contiguous Raymond Esposito and Old Erie trails, that are unpaved and slope gently down to end at a park in Nyack. The trail looks down over streets and homes in Piermont and Nyack with occasional summer views of the Hudson River. You ride through a shady forest on a gravel road that becomes a dirt path for a short distance before getting bigger and gravelly again. It's fun.
On a warm Sunday afternoon at the end of the trail I decided to take the streets back through Nyack to Piermont and was not disappointed. Nyack along the Hudson River is lined with Victorian and old sea captain-like homes. It's a bike route so there other bikers not doing the trails and really not too much traffic, so I felt safe. The street leads to Piermont, a beautiful little tree-lined village right on the Hudson river offering piers, marinas, restaurants, coffee shops and specialty stores. It really is spectacular. Then the streets lead from a small park over a creek back to the other little park where you meet the trail again. Without signs or knowledge I just followed my instincts and and found my way. Worth a return visit.
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