Papa Tom

If I can manage to get out of work this weekend (Sept 21-22), I am considering a ride on the various trails from Brewster, NY to the Bronxville Metro North Station. The Google Maps directions for getting off the S. County Trail and getting on to Palmer Avenue show a roundabout route that appears to add some unnecessary miles to the trip. However, I see on the street-view map that, right where the S. County crosses Palmer Avenue, there is a set of steps leading from Palmer Avenue to SOMEWHERE; however, I can't get a street view of the trail and, therefore, can't see where these steps go.

Can I get off the S. County where it crosses Palmer, walk my bike up the steps, and continue on Palmer to Bronxville?

zacster

The only stairs I've ever encountered on the trails are the ones down to the A train at Dyckman/200 St. After the ride from Brewster I would stop at one of the Dominican places with the outdoor seating. It is quite the scene but the beer is icy cold. After 2 or 3 beers the A train takes me the rest of the way to Brooklyn.

LarryS

The only stairs directly on the South County Trail that I'm aware of is at Yonkers Ave. by the Gateway Motel. This is just north of Tibbetts Brooke Park.
Use Ride With GPS or your preferred poison to come up with a route from the Gateway Motel to Bronxville. Part of this route will probably be on Palmer Rd.
That should at least give you some ideas to play with.

Have fun!

MaxKatt

I’ve parked at the Acme at 660 McClean Ave, Yonkers and rode my bike the few blocks to Wakefield Station.

Had to switch trains at White Plains.

Continued on to Brewster and rode the whole trail back.

Had to carry the bike down the stairs to train at Wakefield, but obviously I lived to tell about it. :-)

UniChris

Once upon a time, Palmer road was a grade crossing near the location of the Bryn Mawr station.

Later, an overpass was built. I believe at some point there were stairs, probably so you could hop off a bus on the overpass and walk down the stairs and get on a train. I'm not sure if the stairs still, exist, but there's a much better solution anyway.

The former grade crossing route still exists! To the west, it's the private driveway to the reconstructed and now abandoned green-roofed former Bryn Mawr station.

But to the east, it is a trail entrance with the the traditional vehicle gate, running in to the trail as an extension of the alignment of Kingston Ave right where it branches off of Palmer. Switch from map mode to satellite and you'll be able to see it quite clearly. Streetview out at the bend in Kingston will let you see into it past the two vehicle gates and right across the trail to the station building on the other side.

So basically if riding southbound, around a mile after Mile Square plaza, you'll cross under Palmer ave, see the station building on the right, and you want to take an immediate left of more than 90 degrees to the exit. Although it's paved and wide the retrograde angle it leaves at means that if you're charging up that last gentle hill it would not be hard to miss - even knowing it is there it tends to surprise me though I know it's right after the underpass. If you get to the grade crossing of Mile Square Rd. itself, you've gone too far.

Palmer is a long curving downhill with bad visibility, to be honest the two times I've used that to end century rides late in the evening I ended up walking the sidewalk, but I'm weird like that. Once down the hill or at least when nearing town most would find things are more reasonable. You'll go over the thruway, it's possible you'll hit some construction on a bridge right before Bronxville but at least the sidewalk should be passable and they're probably done by now.

Beware you may hit some (at least official) paving closures on the North County trail itself.

Your best water/food stops are probably in Yorktown Heights, Millwood, and if you need it Elmsford. Beware that the miles from Elmsford down to Barney Street in Yonkers can be a bit bumpy. If you need to bail earlier, from Eastview take the mile-long Tarrytown Lakes branch and then it is another mile on roads downhill to the Hudson Line. You can also get to Pleasantville on the Harlem Line a bit further north but the roads are anything but pleasant.

Allegedly the Old Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park now has fences up for the long awaited paving project. But if you decide not to leave the trail earlier you can still exit at Alan Shepard place in Yonkers, do the McLean Ave thing and the Caryl ave climb and come down the bidirectional lane beside the park on Broadway to within sight of the 242nd 1 train.

Oh, actually I just found your stairs. The lower end comes out at the outer vehicle gate where the grade exit joins Kingston. Since Kingston itself merges right into Palmer there's no need to haul your bike up them.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.9451...7i16384!8i8192