Hike #1278; Highland to Hopewell Junction

Hike #1278; Highland to Hopewell Junction

12/8/19 Highland/Poughkeepsie to Hopewell Junction with Jennifer Berndt, Justin Gurbisz, Brittany Audrey, Kirk Rohn, San Westermann, Daniel T Westermann, Diane Reider, Robin Deitz, Ken Zaruni, John DiFiore, Sue Bennett, Annika Krystyna, Polly Delafield, and Michael Krejsa

Franny Reese State Park

This next hike would be a point to point back in the Hudson Valley.
It had been quite some time since I’d run a trip up in the area, and I’d wanted to get back to the Poughkeepsie area to continue with the trails of the area.
I want to move up and down both sides of the Hudson eventually, and of course use the rail corridors heading both east and west.
The last time I was out there, I did a loop on the old Maybrook line through Poughkeepsie as well as some of the Vassar College Campus and its trails.

Franny Reese State Park view

The time before that, we had crossed the Walkway Over the Hudson and headed west to New Paltz.

Franny Reese State Park

This time, I decided I wanted to try to do the Dutchess Rail Trail, which was the old Maybrook Line to the east of the city of Poughkeepsie. I came up with two new hikes I’d wanted to do. The first one included the Illinois Mountain Park to the west of Highland, on the west side of the Hudson.
That has a couple of mountainous loops in it, and I would make it a full loop using both the Walkway over the Hudson and the Mid Hudson Bridge. We could then also wander around through Poughkeepsie itself, which sounded like a fun plan.

Franny Reese State Park

The other hike I had planned would start with Franny Reese State Park, also on the west side, and then continue east over the Walkway Over the Hudson, and continue on Dutchess Rail Trail to Hopewell Junction.
I figured this seemed like the smartest move because there was the possibility of a good amount of snow cover. The paved Dutchess Rail Trail might even be cleared for us.
I somehow looked at the planned route a bit wrong. I saw 13 miles of the Dutchess Rail Trail, and figured the short bit through Franny Reese State Park would put us around 16 miles.

Franny Reese State Park

I ended up accidentally making it about seven because of a loop that I thought was minimal within the park, and because I brought everyone under the bridges rather than right up to the walkway.
What happened here, looking over my notes, was that I put components of the other of the two hikes I’d planned into this one. I didn’t realize I’d done it until I went over the maps when I got home. So this made it out to be twenty miles instead of sixteen.

Hudson cliff edge fun

I feel a little better knowing what happened, because I was at first thinking my brain was fried on the Lyme disease I had recently contracted again.
I had recently been having episodes of extreme dizziness and collapse, and didn’t know what was going on. After a doctors visit and a series of blood tests, I got a phone call that revealed it to be another version of Lyme disease.
I started on the Doxycyclene that night, from Rite Aid, but the relief wasn’t as quick as before.

A view to Mid Hudson Bridge

The last time I had Lyme, the relief was almost immediate. While this time around, the Lyme was not as bad overall, at certain moments it was terrible. The medication seems to have curbed that, though I’m not yet feeling at 100%. I decided to forego having a night hike during the week just to be sure I would be alright.
I wasn’t feeling too bad for the start of this hike. I’m very sore when I wake up in the mornings, which I was just blaming on getting older, because that’s just what I’m always told, but that wasn’t the case.

Along the precipus

In fact, even after this twenty mile jaunt trudging through the snow, I actually felt overall pretty good in the morning for the first time in a while I’m still sore, but not as bad.

Franny Reese State Park

I planned this hike to meet at the end point at Hopewell Junction.
I figured this would be a really small one. Over the course of the week, maybe only five signed up for it.
I was delighted and surprised to see when we had a total of 15 participants at the meet point.
We used the Acme supermarket in Hopewell Junction, and while people were going into the store and using the restroom, I checked out the snow depth out back. I was very happy to see that it was so negligible that we could walk on top.

Ruins in Franny Reese State Park

Unfortunately, the depth in Hopewell Junction and the depth at Poughkeepsie and all around it would be two totally different things, and this hike would turn out to be a real workout.

Ruins in Franny Reese State Park

We all got into three vehicles to get to our start point, and Annika ran a bit late so she drove there. We used the Hannaford Supermarket at Highland NY as our starting point.
After we all went in to look into some snacks and drinks, we headed out on our way.
We cut through the parking lot to the south, and then along Wingate Way to a building to the south of the supermarket. We turned left around the back of it and came out to Macks Lane where we turned to the left.

Old foundation ruin at the estate

At this point, Polly noticed that Dan Westermann was missing. We held up for him there for a bit, and then headed the bit further down the road to the entrance of Franny Reese State Park.
This park is named for Francis “Franny” Reese, and environmentalist who was very involved with the non profit organization Scenic Hudson, which owns a lot of very nice properties throughout the region. She was born in 1917, and passed away in 2003 just about when the property closed.

Old ruins at "Cedar Glen"

The access road used to be some sort of through public road, but I didn’t know much about the place just yet. The website didn’t say much about what was in there, only that there were trails and such. There was the yellow trail that went right through, the white trail which made the longer loop, and the blue trail which made a short one. Each had overlooks on it, so I wanted to see all of them.
We reached a gate where there were maps and pamphlets, and we continued gradually up hill a bit on the old road, which is now marked with the yellow Scenic Hudson blazes.

Ruins at "Cedar Glen"

Although the property is now officially a state park, it is still maintained by Scenic Hudson.

Cedar Glen Estate ruins

We reached a crest in the hillside and started going down slightly. Then, we can to an intersection of trails where the white trail went right, just after a power line, and a blue trail went left.
We turned to the right on white and started climbing up hill gradually. The snow cover wasn’t bad on the yellow trail, the old carriage road, because there had been a lot of people beating it down, but the white trail was a little tougher. It took us near a private home on the right and continued through woods.

Estate ruins

The ground leveled off and it became gently rolling. We continued to follow a woods road, and passed an intersection with a connecting trail to the left. Most of the foot prints went that way, and the path we followed ahead got to be far less traveled. That meant getting some snow in our shoes, but I didn’t mind that much.
I was wearing brand new waterproof shoes that Annika had sent me as a Christmas present, and I’d never given them a try yet. Some snow could get over the top, but overall they were quite warm and comfortable, and they had pretty good tread on them.

Estate ruins

Annika also sent me a new Carhardt jacket that was actually far too warm for the conditions of the day. I was expecting it to be extra cold, because the forecast was saying cold specifically, so I decided against wearing one of my signature suits.
The high was 35, and it ended up just being far too warm for me in it, but I suppose I was glad to have it later. The pockets were good too.
We followed the trail to a point where a woods road seemed to end, and the trail went off to the right to descend, and then turned hard to the left to reach the edge of the steep slope.

Estate ruins

The trail continued up and down on these varied slopes as a foot path, with good seasonal views of the Hudson River as well as the Mid Hudson Bridge through the trees.

Estate ruins

When it got a bit steeper going down, it was kind of like skiing. We continued walking and made our way back up slope a bit and through a line of stone rows.

The mansion ruins

There, the trail turned to the right and continued along the mountain.
It made its way closer to the steep slope down toward the Hudson, and I could see the tracks of the former West Shore Railroad straight below us. A slip could have meant a very dangerous and probably deadly fall we wouldn’t have been able to stop.
Still, the old road route was quite beautiful as it weaved along very close to the edge of the embankment, always with views of the Mid Hudson Bridge an beyond to the old railroad bridge, the Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge beyond.

Mansion ruins

The road started to turn back in land a bit more, and then we came upon a surprising ruin on the left side.
It was definitely an old house ruin. There was a spot where a chimney had been, and one window and north wall still standing pretty well. I was surprised to see this, because nothing I saw on the official Franny Reese State Park web page made any mention about any ruins.
I would have been happy to see just this, but we walked further down the trail, and there was an even more extensive ruin on the right. I was blown away by all of it.

Roberts' mansion ruins

Most of the state park used to be a large estate known as “Cedar Glen”. It was the home of painless dentistry pioneer Charles H. Roberts.
Roberts was born into a farming family in Saratoga County, but he was savvy enough to do farm work part of the year and save money, then go to medical school during the Winter months. He attended the Albany Medical College and earned a degree in 1846. He spent another Winter in 1848 studying chemistry in Philadelphia, and then settled in Poughkeepsie where he opened up his dentistry practice in 1853.

Cedar Grove estate

The medical and chemistry education served Roberts very well. He used pure crystalline white oxide of arsenic, morphine, and tannic acid to develop a process that destroyed exposed nerves of teeth.
This painless dentistry practice proved to be very successful, and by 1859 the process was being used all over. This success and other investments earned Roberts enough to purchase this land on the west side of the Hudson. His Cedar Glen estate included two mansions, a carriage house, greenhouse, workers quarters, dance hall, and a wind mill.

Cedar Grove Estate

Charles H. Roberts and his wife Katharine raised six children on the estate, and were considered to be the Vanderbilts of Ulster County.

A view to Mid Hudson Bridge

Roberts retired from dentistry in 1868, and filled his time pursuing agricultural and horticultural interests on the estate property.

Mid Hudson Bridge view

In the 1870s, Roberts went to North Carolina and served as President of the Carolina Central Railway Company. He had begun buying railroad stock when he first started making money on his dentistry innovation which led to this second career.
Roberts retired again in 1880, and lived out the rest of his years back at Cedar Glen. He passed away in 1909.
The Roberts will left the property to only two of the children, Franny and Grace Roberts, and the rest of the children contested the will. In the end, courts found in favor of Franny and Grace, and they lived in each of the two mansions for a time.
Grace, like her father, had a love for the agriculture, and raised cattle on the adjacent farm land. At the 1899 National Dairy Show, she won gold metals for her cattle, milk, cream, and butter.

Bridge view from 1900

Grace moved later on to the Reuben-Dayo Halfway House further north on the property, the large Reuben-Deyo Halfway house which served as a stage coach stop between New York City and Albany, built in 1819.

View to Walkway Over the Hudson

I suppose the sisters were unable to care for the large property themselves, and it fell into great disrepair over the years. A piece of Cedar Glen was taken for a the current highway.

View of Mid Hudson Bridge and the rail bridge

The property sat vacant for many years until it was preserved by Scenic Hudson in 2003, and then made a state park in 2009, though Scenic Hudson still maintains it.
We walked the trail past the amazing ruins, which had some aesthetic split rail fences along the edges of them.
I can see why the state park might not want to promote the fact that this awesome area of ruins exists out there, because it would probably get a lot of negative attention. It was amazing that I saw absolutely no graffiti at all through the site.

A walled spring

The second building might have been the dance hall or something. There were no signs for it.
Just a little bit past this, a handsome mansion was on the left.
The walls of this building were still in fine shape, and I could clearly see where the outline of the stairs went up from inside the front door. There were pipes sticking up from the former floor of the building, and the outside was covered in a stucco, probably done after 1900. There was what appeared to be an old gate entrance as well.

Yellow trail in Franny Reese State Park

This was just a fantastic place to check out. I’ll have to revisit it again one of these days maybe on a future trip.
We continued on the trail back out to the yellow trail where we turned left, back up hill just a slight bit to the other intersection with the white trail, and then the blue trail to the right. We turned to the right on blue, went down, and then back up a bit.
At the peak of this slope, there was an outstanding, unobscured view of the Mid Hudson Bridge dead ahead. We could also see Walkway Over the Hudson to the Hudson.

Approaching Mid Hudson Bridge underpass

The Mid Hudson Bridge, designed by Polish immigrant Ralph Modjeski, was completed in 1930. At the time, it was the sixth longest suspension bridge in the world.
The grand opening was attended by then New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor. The bridge was renamed the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid Hudson Bridge in 1994. Until its completion, there were no fixed highway bridges between the Bear Mountain Bridge and Albany.

Under Mid Hudson Bridge

The bridge is 3000 feet long with 135 feet of clearance above the Hudson.
We stopped and enjoyed this view for a good while, and then continued on down the trail which weaved to the right.
There was another building foundation on an outcrop to the left. I’m not sure if that was another of the mansions, or if it was the aforementioned halfway house.
We passed a walled spring on the right, and then the blue trail ended at the yellow trail, which was still descending along the old carriage road toward Mid Hudson Bridge.

Mid Hudson Bridge

The trail passed through a big stone arch under the west abutment to the Mid Hudson Bridge.
There was a historic marker that told the story of Franny Reese and how she was a founding member of Scenic Hudson, and a bit about the Cedar Glen estate. I was also surprised to see that they had a donation box affixed right under the bridge.
The yellow trail turned left to climb steps to the walkway on the Mid Hudson Bridge, but we continued down the old carriage road just a little further toward Oakes Road.
This was the next of my mistakes. I should have gone up the stairs and through Johnson Iorio Memorial Park instead of the way we went, because that would have been probably a couple miles less distance. I was just mixed up because I’d changed around the two hikes I’d come up with based on the snow and didn’t realize the distance we had once we headed onto the rail trail.

Some little falls

We passed a little cascade and then went around the gate out onto Oakes Road.
This was the start of what used to be the major settlement of Highland Landing.
Before any of the railroads or bridges, it was in this area that the ferry once took people across the Hudson.
When the West Shore Railroad arrived, much of the original settlement was knocked out for the use of the railroad, and other buildings ended up burning down or getting destroyed. The main area of industry and commerce for the settlement of Highland switched from being along the river to being up at the top of the slopes.
We turned left on Oakes Road, where we had great views of both the Mid Hudson Bridge and the Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge/Walkway Over the Hudson.

Mid Hudson Bridge

The Walkway Over the Hudson, with its interesting trusses, was now the focal point. It was pointed out that there was an elevator they had to add for ADA compliance on the other side.

Walkway Over the Hudson

I wonder why they had to do that; both sides of the bridge are totally ADA compliant right now. The only thing I can think of is an emergency exit type of thing.
Prior to the completion of this bridge in 1888, there were no fixed span crossings of the Hudson south of Albany.
Ferry and car float operations for the railroads were necessary previously. It remained the only fixed crosssing between New York City and Albany until the completion of the Bear Mountain Bridge in 1924.

Walkway Over the Hudson

The first train crossed the bridge in December of 1888.
The bridge is seven spans long, and total length is 6,768 feet. The top of the deck sits 212 feet above the Hudson.
The bridge was majorly important in its day, but in May 1974, 700 feet of track and superstructure burned in a questionable fire.
Many believe the bridge was intentionally burned by an arsonist because freight was already being routed away from this route by way of Albany and such.

Mid Hudson Bridge

Despite some efforts, the bridge was not fixed, and Conrail eventually removed the remainder of the Maybrook line track in 1983 and 84.

Walkway over the Hudson

The bridge was a really interesting point for a very long time. I had been reading about it long before I ever saw it, because its destruction meant the end to many other lines.

The bridge

The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway for example, is one of them the pretty much was done when the bridge was done.
I had friends who would periodically be allowed to go out onto the bridge for special tours and such, which must have been awesome.
It finally opened as a state historic park in 2009. At that time, it was the longest pedestrian bridge in the world (although it has since been surpassed).
I had come up and walked across it once not as part of one of the longer hikes, and then did two other hikes where we visited after that. I had been wanting to come back and head east, as I had already headed west from the bridge.
We continued along the waterfront, with great views of the bridges and Poughkeepsie on the other side, to where we started reaching the buildings in the little settlement of Highland Landing that still remained. This probably was the original ferry site.

Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge

Looking back at the rail bridge was dizzying because the cantilever superstructure made it feel like everything was out of focus, even though it wasn’t.

The bridge

We made a left turn on Mile Hill Road heading up hill to reach the bridge. It was a rather steep bit. We passed the intersection with Ransom Road and continued up hill a bit more to where there was a small wooden foot bridge over a brook to the left. The bridge was pretty new, and served as a connection to the Hudson Valley Rail Trail just above.
We passed this way and made our way up to the railroad grade, then turned right briefly to check out the caboose parked next to the parking area to access the bridge.

Historic view of Highland Landing before the bridge

We turned back to the west toward the bridge, and took a pit stop at a new restroom and visitor center building that had been built in the style of an old station.

Highland Landing today

This building was under construction the last time I’d gone through, so it was cool to see it finished. I gave a little history of the bridge, and Mike added some good points.

New bridge

We started making our way across. Brittany had fallen behind, but she caught up much more quickly because she went the direct way that I was supposed to have gone from the start.
There were some signs for the Empire State Trail at the entrance.
This has already been a series I’ve been working on.
Empire State Trail will eventually connect New York City with Buffalo on Lake Erie.
The route utilizes various trails including the Erie Canalway Trail, and various little trails heading south along the Hudson toward Kingston area.

Empire State Trail

The route then picks up from Kingston Point to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail down to New Paltz, then the Hudson Valley Rail Trail to the bridge. It continues on the Dutchess Rail Trail to Hopewell Junction, and then gets rather interesting.
Russ Nelson first told me about the plan to do a long distance of rail WITH trail along a track from Hopewell Junction to Brewster, where the trail would then use the Old Putnam line south to New York City.
I’d already done the Putnam Line and the NY section to the south as far as the Croton Reservoir, so I do need to head north from there.
The missing bit is being referred to as the Maybrook Trailway. Apparently it was originally double tracked through this area, but the track was placed in the center of the right of way when they did away with the double tracking.

Empire State Rail Trail map

It was agreed to that the railroad would move over to one of the original track beds, and the new trail would follow alongside the track to Brewster.
This is a big game changer for what I was originally planning. We can now do hikes on through after finishing with the Old Put, which is fantastic. And I can totally be supportive of this trail plan because it doesn’t mean removal of the active railroad.
This means I need to get back to doing the Old Put as a series and start heading north from Croton Reservoir!
We continued out onto the bridge, and there were some fantastic views of the river in both directions.
We moved out toward the center of the bridge where we got our obligatory group shot. It was nice being up there, because the snow was all plowed away from it, and the breeze was not hard to deal with.

Caboose in Highland

The sun was coming out, which obscured some of the views to the south of the Mid Hudson Bridge, but it also made it much warmer being out there.
We could also see over to the Hudson State Hospital, which is pretty much all abandoned around there, on the north side of Poughkeepsie.
We continued out across the bridge, took a quick break at a restroom, and then made our way to the east a bit while I was taking some more photos for then and now compilations.

Mid Hudson Bridge

I had originally planned that we would stop at the Mexican restaurant we had eaten at the last time we were in the area.
Unfortunately, in looking it up, Dan W realized that it was actually closed.
We would have to bag that idea and continue to something else.
We ended up taking the first set of steps down from the bridge, and then walked up and down the street looking for a lunch stop. Unfortunately, the places we went to were all small, took only cash, or would take far too long.

View north from the bridge

I figured we would stop somewhere else. I went into a mini mart and got a little bottle of Johnny Bootlegger apple drink, and we were on our way.
When we got back to the top, I realized just how late it was. I think it was after 1 pm.
I had seen a sign on one of the posts that read 13 miles. If that was so, we would still have thirteen miles directly from this point to the end of the hike, because that would mean the end of the trail in Hopewell Junction where we were finishing!

View form the bridge

It was then that I really realized the magnitude of the mistake I’d made in reorganizing where the hike was going to go at the start. At this point, there wasn’t much I could do about it without cutting it short. It would be the hike to about twenty miles.
We wouldn’t have time to stop for lunch. At this point, we were already inevitably going to be walking until after dark. I accepted this and just tried to get over it to move on.

View to Hudson State Hospital

After we got to the next parking area for the trail after the bridge, the nice snow plowing that we had gotten accustomed to was over with.

Fish!

On the bridge, there were even people out shoveling the snow off at opening spots to allow for drainage of melt off, but this section ahead had absolutely nothing.
We had to start trudging right away.
At first, we were walking in the well packed middle of the right of way without too many problems.
We crossed Fairiew Avenue and Buckingham Avenue, and one of them had an old metal signal tower still in place, now all nicely painted up.

Mid Hudson Bridge

We passed beneath Parker Avenue, then through a long section in a cut, then under Creek Road.
I hoped that there was only so much snow because we were down in a cut, but it was still hard to push on through.
The group was starting to get farther apart. Some had to stop and fix their shoes, or use a restroom, or whatever. It wasn’t easy to stay together.
I pointed out along the way how the original 1888 New York and New England Railroad right of way could at times be seen to the left of the main line weaving along the trail.

Plaque on the bridge

The earlier line had been straightened out at some point. I had walked some of the earlier route the last time I was hiking this area.
Just after crossing the Fall Kill, where we could see the original bridge abutments, we passed the St. Peters Cemetery, which was among the early public park versions of cemeteries, where it was being used as a social public recreation facility.
We crossed over Rt 115 on a bridge, and then crossed Grand Avenue where there was still a signal tower still standing, and well restored.

Mid Hudson Bridge

We continued across, and the group started to get a bit segmented. We had a long way to go, and not enough daylight to get us there in reasonable time.

Bridge view of Hudson Landing

We passed beneath Van Wagner Road, and then a bit after that, the Dutchess Turnpike. The reprieve we got walking through the underpasses without the snow was wonderful. The trudging was really starting to get to us.
We soon came to the grade crossing at Overocker Road. Everyone waited up at this point, so we ended up back together for a time.
Ahead, we crossed Page Park Drive, and then got segmented again quite a bit. We were now in the settlement of Arlington, where the railroad used to cross over Wappinger Creek and Route 55.

Walkway shadow

This area was known as Manchester Bridge.
I had a historic photo of it taken in the early 1980s by Austin McEntee, which I wanted to set up a modern view of.
We continued on the grade as it ascended slightly to the pedestrian bridge that was built to replace the earlier Manchester Bridge.
I slid super fast down the slope to the left of the grade so that I could try to get the same photo that McEntee got just before the Manchester Bridge was removed.

The group

The Manchester Bridge itself was a concrete arch bridge. Two large arches carried the railroad over the Wappinger Creek, and a couple more over Rt 55.

Annika was pushing on, but still had problems from previous injuries sustained on hikes, and didn’t want to push herself too hard, so she called an Uber.

Dutchess Rail Trail

Kirk stayed behind with her and waited until the ride came to pick her up so she would be okay.
Annika had the driver bring Kirk ahead of the rest of us maybe a mile or so beyond, at the parking area for Old Manchester Road, and then got a ride back to her own car back in Highland from there.
Kirk waited for the rest of the grup to catch back up with us from over at that next lot.

On the bridge

I think the Manchester bridge was torn down some time around 1983, but possibly a bit later. Some of the rail lines were kept in place as industrial spurs for a while after the burning of the Poughkeepsie Bridge.
This Manchester Bridge and its alignment was actually not the original route taken by the railroad at this point.
Like the spots a bit further to the west where we had been walking from, the earlier line took a slightly more curved route.
Just before the fill that carries the rail bed up over the bridge, the original route kept moving in a route that is now parallel with Rt 55. It then crossed over the Wappinger Creek in a more eastern fashion, then turned hard to the right to head more southeast. When I climbed down, I could see the original abutment to the bridge that carried the New York and New England Railroad over the creek back in the 1880s.

Bridge view

I did my best to match up my photo with the earlier one, and then climbed back up the edge of the bridge and over the railing to reach the trail.

History on the piers

The foot bridge was a truss structure that took us over the highway, and then a more open and longer structure beyond over Old Manchester Road.
Everyone was ahead of me at this point because I had taken the time to go and get my photo.
Just on the other side of the bridge was the trail access and parking where I had started one of the previous hikes through the area.
From this point on, I had not done any of the rail bed before. The trail is still paved beyond this point, but it was not well traveled enough for it to be easy walking.

Me on the bridge

There were more foot prints in the snow when we got to places with more parking, but that typically didn’t go on for long.
We had the ability to walk through some tire tracks on the previous bit, which were narrow and often quit slippery from it re-freezing.
There were a lot of historic markers and such along this trail. A lot were nature type of things, but some of them were really interesting bits about local history. There was one here about the creamery and dairy business.
We continued on the rail bed to the south, which was always lined with benches with names. One particularly funny one read “Digestive Disease Center”, which just looks funny somewhere you’d park your ass.
The right of way went out onto a wetland, and I could see some of the earlier right of way slightly to the left, with an earlier bridge site.

Photo by Jen

We continued on, and the trail again made a slight climb to go up and over Titusville Road to the south of Arlington, then descended to the rail grade again.

View of Poughkeepsie

It was in this area where we finally got a little bit of reprieve again.
A snowmobile track joined the right of way and continued the way we were going south.

Bridge view

The center of what it had packed down was much easier to walk on than what we had been doing, so it was still harder walking than it would have been otherwise, but far easier than what we had been doing.
Somewhere near a farm overpass, Polly, Robin, and Sue decided to cut out and get an Uber. I can’t blame them, as it was tiring.
The rest of us continued to the south and crossed a bridge over Maloney Road.

The bridge

Just after the road, I could see where the original right of way seemed to turn off to the right, now used by ATVs.
We continued pushing on on a long stretch, and then reached a switchbacking little descent to cross over Diddell Road. This location was apparently once a little station stop, and the settlement is known as Diddell. We continued across, and Robin had come back to this parking lot to see if anyone needed a ride out. Diane, Jen and Brittany all opted to take that out, and the rest of us continued on.

Poughkeepsie view

Fifteen of us started out, but at this point there were only eight of us left. Sandy and Mike got super far ahead, and we didn’t see them until we got to the end.

On the bridge

The original 1880s rail grade was again visible turning away from the trail to the right after we crossed over Diddell Road.
The grade got to be a bit harder to walk again as the snowmobile trail turned away.
We soon crossed a bridge over the Sprout Creek, which was quite a pretty spot. The sun was setting, which shone a great light on the trail.
The trail climbed once again to cross over Rt 376, and then descended once again back to the railroad grade.

The new Manchester Bridge

We passed the Van Wyck trail access area to the left, then crossed over Lake Walton Road before entering one more long swath of deeper woods. It was starting to get pretty dark, and the sun was setting beautifully to the right.
The railroad grade soon went out onto a bit of a causeway over Lake Walton, which was particularly pretty at this time. I pulled out a little glass container of the apple flavored Johnny Bootlegger drink I’d picked up a while before and gave some to Justin, which he loved.

The original Manchester Bridge site

We eventually emerged from the woods and into a modern development setting. The trail took us under a modern concrete box culvert beneath Governor’s Boulevard.

Getting darker

We soon crossed Bridge Street, and then passed through a bit of woods before approaching the original site of Hopewell Junction.
This was a pretty little area, with a tower to the left of the trail, which might be authentic, and a lovely old rail station. I will have to revisit this spot to see it in the light.
The trail continues ahead, and will continue ahead along more of the Maybrook Line, but to the left and right was originally the Newburg, Dutchess, and Connecticut Railroad.

The station

The railroad is abandoned to the left, and has been for a long time, but to the right it is still used out toward Fishkill and the Hudson River.

Underpassy thing

We turned right to parallel this route, and the tracks soon started up. I had originally planned to walk that, but hen changed my mind for the easier back road.
The trail we had been following did start to get easier within the last two miles, to where we could just walk on top of the very shallow snow. I just wish it had been like that much sooner. one little bit of it had actually been cleared completely by someone with a snow blower!
We continued out Railraod Avenue, which turned ninety degrees, crossed the tracks, and then a side road to the right led out behind Saint Columba Religious Education Center.

Sunset

Polly waited up for us so we could get some dinner as a group. She recommended a place directly across the street from where we met, called Tiramisu, an Italian place.

The sun goes down...

Ken headed out from this point, but the rest of us just walked directly across the street to the place where Polly had already reserved us a table much earlier. It was a good thing she did too, because the place was totally packed.
It took a really long time to get our food, but it was quite delicious. We ended up stuffing up on bread while we waited, which was fine.
I felt pretty stuffed before we left.
Just before heading out, Dan picked up the bill for everyone. I definitely owe him some good beers for that one.
The last order of business was to get back to the cars. We had a really tight squeeze.

Dutchess Rail Trail

We had to rely on only Mike and Kirk’s vehicles to get us back, which was just about as tight as we could cram, but it went alright. We had just enough seats.
It had been overall a really great day. Even though it seemed like we were going to be super late, the last of us got finished with the hike at exactly the time I had posted on the meetup: 5:30 pm.
We ended up doing about 21 miles because I’d mixed up the routes I had scaled between the two different hikes at the start, but fortunately everyone got through it okay. Now, I’ll have to plan on closing in this Empire State series by returning to where we left off on the Old Putnam line heading north, and then come south on the Maybrook Line, both of which end in Brewster, in Polly’s neck of the woods.

HAM

It seems to me that this is a pretty good series to start pushing for since we’re putting the Delaware and Hudson on hold for a little bit until Spring, and the routes should be amenable to the weather so long as it doesn’t get too bad.

HAM