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    Hudson Valley Rail Trail

    4.3 (3 reviews)

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    10 months ago

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    6 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    The Ashokan Rail Trail ART

    The Ashokan Rail Trail ART

    4.7(9 reviews)
    20.8 mi

    Although this rail trail was billed as being paved, calling it paved is a misnomer & it's a good…read morething our bikes could handle it because it is actually an all-gravel trail. We parked at the Woodstock-Dike Trailhead & the views of the reservoir & surrounding hills near there are beautiful, as is the fresh smelling air & green, green trees. Most areas you pass are pretty, such as wooded hillsides that slope down towards the reservoir, sounds of birds, lots & lots of forested spaces, a small residential area with KEEP OUT signs & small streams of water running alongside the trail. Tons of chipmunks crossing the trail. We saw lots of walkers, a few, fellow bikers & stopped briefly at a few of the large signs that tell of the history of how the reservoir was created as well as the rail trail. We misunderstood & thought this was a loop trail going all the way around the reservoir, but we were wrong. It only skirts the northern side of it, so we rode 8 of the 11 miles, turned around & ultimately rode 16 miles total. Good, bumpy, gravelly ride. Good signage, good parking, benches one the side of the trail as well as distance markers.

    I loved walking this trail! Miles and miles of beauty, fresh air, tall trees and water views. It's…read morean 11.5 mile flat trail along the Ashoka Reservoir. Bikes and dogs allowed, and port-a-potties at each of the public trailheads. Plenty of parking. Beautiful and peaceful! If I lived here, I would go regularly.

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    The Ashokan Rail Trail ART - Water reservoir

    Water reservoir

    The Ashokan Rail Trail ART - Ashokan Trail

    Ashokan Trail

    The Ashokan Rail Trail ART - Ashokan Trail

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    Ashokan Trail

    Ramapo Mountain State Forest - View from the top

    Ramapo Mountain State Forest

    4.3(24 reviews)
    42.4 mi

    A nice area for hiking with castle ruins and a lake and changing elevations. There are some paved…read moreroads but also trails off that path. You can hear the sound of cars on the highway both at the end and beginning of the hikes. Lots of dogs off leash even though there are signs that say to leash all dogs. The parking lot can get crowded later in the afternoon especially in the spring and summer, but there were plenty of spots on a Sunday morning at 9:30.

    My 350th Yelp review is a banger…read more I try to stop by Ramapo at least once a year, usually at the beginning of hiking season; there's a nice 5- or 6-mile route I do in there that helps me build up for the more hardcore hikes later in the year, and it's unusual for me to do this one so late into the actual summer. Boy, is this a different hike in June. Ask the gazillion bears I saw. Yesterday I did about 6 miles, starting at the Ramapo Lake Trailhead parking lot, going on the blue trail to the aforementioned lake and then turning left onto N Shore Drive. I then veered off toward the castle ruins but made a pretty quick right before the path up to said ruins onto Cannonball to Skyline Drive, joining up with the Castle Point Trail back to and through the castle ruins, before heading down back to the lakefront and continuing all the way around the lake until getting back to the blue trail and the parking lot. The official hike in my book says it's 6.6 miles when you include an additional loop to the south of the lake that gets you very close to 287, but i bypassed that today. One of the big issues with this section of Ramapo is the parking situation. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pivot and do a different hike because this Ramapo Lake parking lot was completely full by mid-morning, and the powers that be insist on plastering no parking signs in every other conceivable area going literally miles down Skyline Drive. I get that Skyline is a busy road but there ARE sections where you can theoretically park safely on the shoulder without bothering anyone else - I think there's a compromise here somewhere, but because they don't have one, this lot is usually full by 8:30am on a nice day, and then you have vulture cars just lurking in the middle of the lot for ages waiting for hikers to come back so they can immediately grab the new spot. You can't tell me that's much safer than the alternative. Anyway. The other mild annoyance for me is that you can often hear car traffic, especially in the southern section by 287, but it is what it is. The lake and the castle are the real selling points here, especially the castle. Ruins are one of my all-time favorite hiking kinks, and this adventure has them in droves. The one drawback (again, because of the time of year) is that it gets overgrown with foliage very quickly, so this is a rare instance where I would recommend exploring it in the early spring before you're bushwhacking to get through. Very cool optics though, and a definite must at some point if you're in the area. The wildlife situation? Man. This was one for the books. I usually see one or two bears a year, but I saw that many today, and numerous hikers told me they'd encountered others as well. It was insane and I've never seen anything like it. I got a picture of the biggest one I saw (attached) as I was slowly backing away, and I'd guess this was a 700 pounder? Big boy, and wasn't particularly fazed by my bear horn (though he did ultimately wander off after a few toots on it). Absolutely would not do this hike without a bear horn. I don't even want to ponder what would have happened otherwise. Neither of the bears seemed aggressive but you just never know, and if cubs had been around? Ugh. I encountered a park ranger toward the end of the hike who said it had been insane bear-wise the entire summer and they're just getting more comfortable with humans so again, be careful, use common sense, etc. The trail conditions were pretty decent. Some of the blazes/markers were not the best, and a few sections of Cannonball were one way (meaning you had to keep turning around to confirm the markers because they were only on one side of the trees/poles). As mentioned, the trail section by the castle is overgrown right now but I'm not crazy about advocating for maintenance in an area that by definition should probably be preserved and as authentic as possible. To me there aren't too many significant inclines on the trail (there's one small section very close to the parking lot where you have to take a minute for footing on the rocks, as well as the climb up to the castle if you're going on that trail) but it's definitely rocky and not particularly flat except by the lake. This is one of the better hikes in the area but it's not my absolute favorite - it's crowded and a little too close to civilization. But arguably the bears cancel some of that out. Memorable day.

    Photos
    Ramapo Mountain State Forest - The lake

    The lake

    Ramapo Mountain State Forest - Van Slyke castle ruins

    Van Slyke castle ruins

    Ramapo Mountain State Forest

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    Hudson Valley Rail Trail - hiking - Updated May 2026

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