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Looking for a bike path in NY, NJ, or CT that passes through interesting towns

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Looking for a bike path in NY, NJ, or CT that passes through interesting towns

Old 04-24-22, 05:42 AM
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macgyver60
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Looking for a bike path in NY, NJ, or CT that passes through interesting towns

My wife and I just bought a couple of eBikes from the electric bike company and are looking for a nice (preferable off road paved) bike path where we can travel 15-30 miles and maybe stop at a nice town or two along the way. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've been looking at the North County to Putnam Trailway which seems interesting. I've gone to their website which has some basic information and maps but I'm having a hard time getting any good info on the best parts of the trail way for what we want to do. The Heritage trail seems interesting too but again would love to know if anyone has experience there and of course any other recommendations would be welcomed. Thanks in advance
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Old 04-24-22, 06:46 AM
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NCT has Mahopac and Carmel as local towns the path routes through. You're call on how interesting, Mahopac has a nice park on the lake, good spot for a picnic.

Another option is ride the Old Croton Aqueduct from Dobbs Ferry up to the Mario Cuomo Bridge, then cross the bridge on the beautiful path and ride south on the Old Erie RR Path south to Piermont, pretty town. Good scenic views of the Hudson along the way.

Or the Duchess Rail Trail, Hopewell Junction to the Walkway Over the Hudson, or for a shorter distance, pick up the trail somewhere along the way. Stop in Highland, NY on the west side of the Hudson for lunch, or push on to New Paltz.

Or the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, park at Amenia, stop in Millerton for food, then push on north to Copake Falls, good deli and stop. (44 miles RT)

All these paths are shown on Ride With GPS so you can create a route and estimate distances.
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Old 04-24-22, 07:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Steve B.
NCT has Mahopac and Carmel as local towns the path routes through. You're call on how interesting, Mahopac has a nice park on the lake, good spot for a picnic.

Another option is ride the Old Croton Aqueduct from Dobbs Ferry up to the Mario Cuomo Bridge, then cross the bridge on the beautiful path and ride south on the Old Erie RR Path south to Piermont, pretty town. Good scenic views of the Hudson along the way.

Or the Duchess Rail Trail, Hopewell Junction to the Walkway Over the Hudson, or for a shorter distance, pick up the trail somewhere along the way. Stop in Highland, NY on the west side of the Hudson for lunch, or push on to New Paltz.

Or the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, park at Amenia, stop in Millerton for food, then push on north to Copake Falls, good deli and stop. (44 miles RT)

All these paths are shown on Ride With GPS so you can create a route and estimate distances.
Wow, lots of good suggestions there. Thank you. When you say "Ride with GPS" I assume you mean just use Google Maps or Apple Maps and the trails show up on them?
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Old 04-24-22, 08:07 AM
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Rails to Trails Conservancy

A really good resource for state-by-state trail maps is Rails to Trails Conservancy. I've been a member for decades. Here is the link for New Jersey. https://www.railstotrails.org/our-wo...-jersey/#state and New York state https://www.railstotrails.org/our-wo...ew-york/#state. Take a look at the top ten trails for each state.
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Old 04-24-22, 09:06 AM
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Originally Posted by VegasTriker
A really good resource for state-by-state trail maps is Rails to Trails Conservancy. I've been a member for decades. Here is the link for New Jersey. https://www.railstotrails.org/our-wo...-jersey/#state and New York state https://www.railstotrails.org/our-wo...ew-york/#state. Take a look at the top ten trails for each state.
Another great suggestion. Thank you for the link
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Old 04-24-22, 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted by macgyver60
Wow, lots of good suggestions there. Thank you. When you say "Ride with GPS" I assume you mean just use Google Maps or Apple Maps and the trails show up on them?
No, Ride With GPS is a free on-line mapping program, mostly cycling oriented, can be used for other things. They have versions for the phone and a tablet, you can pay for a (worthwhile) subscription, or just use the free version online to determine distances on bike paths, etc.... It's a very good program for this. You can as well, generate navigable routes that can be downloaded to a phone with the app, or to a dedicated Cycling GPS device such as Garmin, Wahoo or Hammerhead. That can give you turn-by-turn directions, though you don't really need that when riding a bike path.

As follow on, on the NCT there's also Yorktown, nice stopping point, has deli's, Starbucks, etc.... and a park to stop and take a break.

On the Mario Cuomo bridge path you can detour into Nyack, also a good town for a break.
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Old 06-18-22, 08:00 AM
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The NCT and the connecting trailways are lovely. Well maintained, lots of shade, and beautiful path bridges. Easy riding too, all the grades are gentle. When the path crosses roads, I'm constantly amazed at how polite the drivers are. Nearly every time I've been given the 'go ahead' wave by drivers stopping at the crossover when they see bikers. Even a roll-off truck stopped and waved me across!

Photos from this spring, now the greenery is lush and full.


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Old 06-18-22, 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by BTinNYC
The NCT and the connecting trailways are lovely. Well maintained, lots of shade, and beautiful path bridges. Easy riding too, all the grades are gentle. When the path crosses roads, I'm constantly amazed at how polite the drivers are. Nearly every time I've been given the 'go ahead' wave by drivers stopping at the crossover when they see bikers. Even a roll-off truck stopped and waved me across!

Photos from this spring, now the greenery is lush and full.


Thanks for the info. Looks nice
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