Hike #1606: 5/20/24 Rosendale to Kingston with Mike Selender, Kirk Rohn, Justin Gurbisz, Robin Deitz, Brittany Weider, Diane Reider, Dan Lurie, Dan Asnis, and Everen
Now that I'd finished the D&H Canal, I was ready to finish the Wallkill Valley Railroad. I had never done any of it much further than Rosendale or near Lawrenceville.
It's amazing that I'd done hikes through Rosendale for so many years and yet I'd never done the northern end of such a prominent and popular trail.
So, this hike would complete the Wallkill Valley Railroad for us, although there were some spurs I've not done, and then it would take us on the next bit of the Empire State Trail north into Sojourner Truth State Park, a relatively new state park, which would be our meeting point.
I didn't know a whole lot about any of this except that the area we were meeting were former brickyard and quarry areas. I'd walked into some of it with Jillane several years ago during a hike.
The new parking area showed a trail going to it just north of Kingston, so I scaled off a trip that would take us there, and begin in Rosendale.
I'd already been in Rosendale several times, but I also had a few other things I wanted to do at the start.
There was a park on the south side of town I had never seen before, and there were historic photos from the south side of the Rosendale Trestle I wanted to try to emulate, so we'd have to walk through that. I planned the first less than a mile to cover some of this.
After meeting at Sojourner Truth, we shuttled to the south to Rosendale, and met at Rutsen Park, which is on the south side of the Rondout Creek off of Rt 213.
It looked like a good place to park with a large parking lot, and out buildings.
It was a little complicated getting to the beginning point. The directions I gave to half of the group were complicated to get to the spot. The phone navigation on most phones say to travel to a spot off of James Street, so it's complicated.
We eventually all got together at the park, and it provided for some time for Ev to go over to the little playground and have some fun before we actually really started.
Eventually, everyone got together and convened around the playground. I looked over the maps and made sure I had some of my photos ready for when we got up to the railroad bed.
We soon started walking to the north, toward a small out building. Near there, there was a strange cement statue of a Rhinoceros.
This was "Pumba", a cement rhino sculpture by Judy Digunik.
The piece is representative of the enormous cement industry on which the settlement of Rosendale was founded.
We turned to the northwest and began heading downhill a bit toward James Street. The steep hill inspired Brittany to lay down and roll the length of the hill. She did this on her first hike with me so many years ago, and it was hilarious. Ev watched her do this, and tried doing the same roll, but couldn't quite figure out the coordination of it.
When we got to James Street, we had a very nice view up and down the Rondout Creek, and got our first views of the Rosendale Trestle.
There was a good walkway directly along the edge of the road, which I figured must have been some sort of pedestrian improvement to getting people from the Rutsen Park area up to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
We continued up a rather steep hill, and into a small neighborhood heading west. There were a lot of folks around doing lawn work and such, usually friendly and waving.
As we approached the end of James Street, a lovely, enormous church came into view straight ahead.
This was St Peters Catholic Church, a Gothic Revival style structure completed in 1876. It replaced the original chapel known as "St Peters on the Rock", on present day school site. The Catholic faith grew locally with the arrival of the D&H Canal in 1825, until their own parish was needed.
I'm a bit confused on the history of the out buildings associated with this church. Some of what I read seems to state that the original chapel is still on the site, and others seem to suggest that the original building is gone. I'm still not sure.
That's always the problem when I'm looking up history of churches. Very few of them have much about the history of their buildings. Their official websites focus very heavily on their beliefs and what is preached in their church. I always found the details of each church to be endearing to the congregation, but these days most people don't seem to care.
We turned left on Keator Avenue, which went rather steeply uphill yet again. Across from the church, there was a bit of a clearing and a path into the woods.
I walked in to have a look, and it was an old cement mining area. I wasn't aware of any of those on this side of the river, and this far into the end of the Shawangunk Ridge, which sort of disappears into the earth at Rosendale and the Rondout.
I saw signs saying to stay out of there, so I made my way out quickly and began pushing Ev up the hill while the rest of the group continued to explore a bit more.
I got so far ahead of everyone else that they didn't know where I went, and they didn't even see on which road I had turned.
I simply continued up Keator Avenue, which climbs up to where it used to cross the Wallkill Valley Railroad at grade, where a station used to stand to the right.
The last time I was at this site, I got a good then and now featuring the former station, but I'd since found another one from the Hudson Valley Revisited collection via John Rahl, and so I did that one.
Just at this crossing is the southern end of the Rosendale Trestle, an amazing, long railroad bridge over the Rondout Creek and the roads and former canal below.
I had to get up on a stony slope on the south side of the crossing to get the shot, but I was pretty happy with how it came out.
We waited at this point for the group to show up so I could do a little history talk about the bridge.
There's certainly a lot to say about it, and I've read or heard a whole lot more details than average at this point.
The first bridge here was built in 1872 for the Wallkill Valley Railroad, which was established in 1866. The line began at Campbell Hall and was completed to Kingston by the mid 1870s.
It fell into ownership of different lines including the New York Central over the years, but decline came in the 1930s. Passenger service ended in 1937.
The line remained open for freight service until 1982 when track removal began.
Local businessman John Rahl purchased the right of way in 1984 with hopes of establishing an excursion line on it. Work began on the decking of the Rosendale Trestle, and it was half open to pedestrians under his private ownership until around 2010.
In an unprecedented move, Ulster County moved against Mr. Rahl with condemnation proceedings, claiming the line was needed for utilities and new access to an adjacent prison property. The land was seized and the trail developed.
I've become friendly with Mr. Rahl over the years, and he's given me some insight on what has happened to him when it came to the county, and it was quite shocking.
Mr. Rahl had some plans of re-establishing a rail line for excursions in this area, and apparently had the means to actually get it done. He also wanted to do a bungee jumping operation from the bridge, which they gave him a lot of problems with.
He is extremely passionate about this line and how he purchased the franchise, which apparently gives him far more rights to the property than any government agencies were acknowledging. Many people who hear from him on this dismiss him as crazy or something, but we had some phone conversations and I gave gave him time to explain things. I didn't want to dismiss him like everyone else had because I too had faced some serious harassment on the part of some of the local politicians.
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My challenging the county and municipal leaders based on their lies and inappropriate conduct led to my driving privileges being revoked in the State of New York based on a falsified traffic ticket. I would never have thought some little rail trail plan would lead to such major underhanded actions.
Mr. Rahl has had people harassing him as well, including working on the property when he still had clear title to it (as per railroad law, which is an entirely different school of law than anything else, it is still on the books that he owns it to this day, but lawmakers don't want to acknowledge any of that old law, regardless of whether or not it still stands).
The first point that is in question is the safety of the trestle itself. The railroad claimed that it was unsafe because one of the piers had shifted on its base, and could no longer hold trains. Rahl had his own study done on the same bridge, by the guy who inspects the Brooklyn Bridge and other very prominent ones, who gave it a clean bill of health.
Mr. Rahl always focuses on this criteria, but what bothers me most about the entire ordeal he went through is the fact that they never built the buried utility at the prison on the south side of the county. This was the entire justification they finally made to seize the property from him, and they never went ahead and built it.
Another horrible misfortune is that the old station building still stood until recent years, and it sadly burned down. It has been hinted that it might have been arson, another move against the owner to strongarm him out.
I went over much of that store before we set foot on the bridge, and then went to cross. Ev was very happy to run across the thing by himself.
This bridge is kind of neat in that it gives shocks to those who touch the hand rails because of some static electricity thing.
The views are pretty exceptional from the top, of the creek and roads in both directions, but also on the former route of the Delaware and Hudson Canal.
The canal was completed here in 1828. It traveled from Kingston NY to Honesdale PA, beyond which a gravity railroad served coal interests in the Lackawanna River Valley. The canal was abandoned in 1899 for the most part, but this segment remained in use into the early 1900s due to cement industry.
The Rosendale cement was discovered in this area in 1825 during the construction of the canal, which led to the growth of the area, and the canal was already in service in this area earlier on. It made it to Port Jervis by 1827, to Honesdale by 1828, and then the gravity railroad was completed in 1829.
The road, especially to the east of the trestle, is much built over the old canal. To the west, there was a lock within view, now among the trees.
I set up a couple more then and now compilations on the bridge, and we made our way off the other side.
I had already done this first segment before, up as far as the first parking on the left to the north. This area was once known as Lawrenceville, and Rosendale was actually a bit more to the east.
The mountain to the right of us as we walked off of the trestle is known as Joppenberg Mountain, and it used to be full of cement mines. Many of these are collapsed today.
I've climbed up the mountain to take in the great views of the trestle in the past, but I wasn't going to make any side trips for that this time. I'm deathly afraid of Ev getting too close to the edges of things and falling.
The next point of interest we would come to is one of the old cement mines on the right side of the rail grade. There is a well worn path over to it, and I have been iside it a few times before.
In the past, I had parked at he parking area just to the north of town here, and so we'd hit these spots. Before there was ever even a parking area in that location, I used to use the old roads that go through from there to get back to the old Lawrence Mine, and connect to the Widow Jane area.
I understand that's all more secure these days, and we might not easily get away with it.
I left Ev with the group for a few moments and climbed down to the mine opening, which had freezing cold air. Ev got out of the stroller to walk around for a bit.
Justin came down with me, because I don't think he'd ever gone into this one before, and Brittany followed. I think Kirk and Mike also came in with us.
To go in, it's necessary to climb in through the opening around a corner, up, and then down a bit to continue. I've not gone further than a big drop to the right. This mine was probably much larger but had collapsed, so I don't want to take any chances going too far in.
I made my way out while the others checked out more of it, and we had a nice little break.
Pretty soon from here, we passed by the parking lot and access trail down to the lot. From here on for a while, everything we would see would be new to me.
There was a large mine area just to the right of the trail, and a bridge structure for access. The mine is totally filled with water today.
We continued to the north, and the rail bed rather closely paralleled Binnewater Road. This is an old Dutch term that would mean "side water", probably as a tributary to the side of the Rondout.
In the historic atlas maps of Ulster County, there are First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Binnewater, which today are the same except the term "lake" is used for them.
The next settlement north of Rosendale Trestle was known as Binnewater.
I was feeling extremely relaxed at this point, got out a drink, and we meandered to the north. I got pretty far ahead of the group again.
The next crossing was Breezy Hill Road. We crossed, and then continued straight on the railroad bed at first. Somewhere in this area was the historic site of Binnewater Station.
The Binnewater Station was built in 1883, and it amazingly lasted until 1989 when it was demolished because it was too close to the edge of Binnewater Road and vehicles would hit it.
A part of the building had apparently fallen off just before the decision to demolish it.
The railroad bed was a driveway at this point, and the trail went off to the left side. It remained on the rail bed just slightly into the woods beside Binnewater Road, and then then the trail turned abruptly to the right ninety degrees.
We left the railroad bed, and then there was a fence to the right.
There were some stone ruins to the left where the trail left the rail bed, and the rail bed was mowed and looked private ahead. Behind the fence, there were some enormous old stone kilns.
There was a large brick stack just off of the trail, and then another old stone ruin on our left.
Google maps seemed to show that the trail continued closer to the road here, but now it went off to this area to the right, then left, along the edge of disturbed areas.
The trail climbed then to the right to remain on the outside of an area where there was obvious recent construction. It climbed uphill a bit, and seemed to join another level grade that might at one time have been an industrial siding.
Binnewater Road moved away to the west, and Williams Lake Road was closer to the right of way.
I couldn't tell when we were on it or off of it through some of this area. The trail made turns that the railroad could not have made.
We came to an area of much larger and taller kilns than the ones we had seen before. These were incredibly impressive.
An historic marker appeared to our right that referred to this as the Lawrence, the cement works at the Fifth Binnewater, which is now Williams Lake.
After the closure of the cement industry here, the Williams Lake Hotel operated here, and the brick office building from the cement company became their honeymoon suite.
The sign claimed that the brick office building was going to be reused with redevelopment of the property, but I didn't see any brick building standing there. Either it was at the top, out of sight, because the trail goes so close to the kiln walls, or they went ahead and tore it down anyway, which would not at all surprise me.
Ahead, the trail weaved behind a recently built stone wall for a bit, which was obviously not the railroad bed. This brought us behind more recently disturbed lands. I'm not sure what they're building, but it won't be small.
After a little weaving around, we got a great view of the Fifth Lake/Williams Lake, and then the trail seemed to regain where the railroad bed actually was, hugging a shelf on a low hill.
We continued walking, and then came to another clearing with more kilns. This time, there was also a tall stack of brick below it.
We made our way across a gravel road, and then entered cooler, deeper woods heading north.
We weren't in the woods for too long before we came to another mine entrance to the right of the rail bed, with mesh fencing blocking it off.
The mine looked pretty incredible, like so many others I'd done in the region years ago, so I had to go in and check it out.
The entire thing was on a slope. Not so steep that I might slide down into it, but still too steep for me to chance taking Ev down with me. He waited with the others above.
I got more than 100 feet down and to the left, where I came to water. There was no steep dropoff there, just reached the edge of the water. It was typical of the other cement mines I'd come across, with large columns left in place to brace the roof.
What was different and interesting about this one, as well as a bit unnerving, was the fact that it had props at the entranceways. Large wooden bits that looked like tall railroad ties.
I don't recall ever seeing the roofs of cement mines braced in such a way, so I didn't dare go near those.
This mine also had a sign out in front of it interpreting the history. There was orange mesh fence to block the entrance, which of course keeps no one out because it was all laying on the ground.
Justin and Brittany came in right after me, but where I went down to the left, Justin explored the length of the wide mine to the right.
I soon climbed up a bit and followed them over that way. It looked like there was certainly further we could go, and when the water table was lower, we could get in further. That's how it always goes with these mines.
Some mines are so extensive that one could get lost for hours. One of my first times in one, we laid down glow sticks to find our way back out.
This cement mining industry sort of died out around the turn of the twentieth century, or it began to anyway, with the creation of Portland Cement starting in Coplay PA.
The manufacturing of Portland Cement also took place in this area, but to a lesser degree than the Lehigh Valley I understand, and the success wasn't nearly as big.
After some looking around, we made our way back to the surface and the rail bed.
The right of way passed through some rather dramatic cuts in this area that were really nice. In the rocks of the cuts, there were some of those odd set ups that tend to happen on rail trails.
I've seen gnomes in several places, but in this case it was ladders, bridges, horses and dinosaurs. Ev was particularly enamored by all of it, and he didn't want to leave the spot.
No sooner did we get out of the rock cut, the Fourth Lake, or Fourth Binnewater, came into view down below the trail to the left.
There was a good path leading down to it, and so I couldn't resist going to have a better look.
The rest of the group stayed with Ev again, and I ran down to a spot where there was a beautiful rock outcropping directly on the lake.
At this point, I also could not resist taking a dip. I think this might have been my first real swim of the season. It was hot enough for certain, and the water felt great.
I made it quick, and soon ran back up to resume my stroller pushing duties.
The First, Second, and Third Lakes don't really come into view of the rail bed, so this would be my last swim spot for a while.
We continued along the trail to the north, and it was quite pleasant.
The next little community area is known as Hickory Bush. It is a sort of colloquial name that everyone seems to have forgotten these days, but it appears on the historic atlas maps of Ulster County from 1875.
Just after the Fourth Lake, still in very close proximity, we were still passing plenty of cement mines.
Ev got out of the stroller to walk for a little while, and we passed through another cut where there were obvious more cement mines.
There was a large rock outcropping to the right, and then a dip down to deeper mines, fenced in well enough as not to be a liability, directly to the left of the rail bed.
There was another historic marker about the cement industry, and the original plank roads that served them before the railroads came to the area.
A plank road for the ease of carrying material east to Eddyville on the Rondout Creek was constructed in 1850, from about where we were at Hickory Bush, north to the next settlement of White Port, then down to the Rondout.
This plank road was soon redeveloped as the Hickory Bush-Eddyville Railroad, an at first horse drawn railroad. Two different cement companies joined forces to make this happen.
The Wallkill Valley Railroad at this point was established in 1875 and improved movement much more.
I posted all of my photos of the area on the Metrotrails facebook, and some girl came on saying "there is no Hickory Bush NY. Maybe get a map of Ulster County", as if I don't research what I'm posting.
We continued walking ahead from here, and transitioned again from a cut and mines to a nice level area with a small pond which we crossed on a fill.
Soon after, we crossed Hickory Bush Road at grade. Based on the maps, this road was once the plank road that became the railroad bed later.
Another pleasant section in the woods was a head, as we made our way above the little settlement of Hickory Bush. Several homes are still standing, and we were looking down to the left on the roofs. I was pointed out campers to Ev, and there were several of them in the area. He immediatly began recognizing them, and has been pointing out campers to me ever since.
We started to approach the NY State Thru Way/Interstate 87, and then came out to a grade crossing of Hickory Bush Road again.
At this point, the highway obliterated the railroad bed, so the trail had to turn right to pass beneath the interstate through the culvert. This road was still the route of the older Hickory Bush-Eddyville Railroad as well.
Once on the other side, a path went uphill gradually to the left to get back on the Wallkill Valley line.
We continued on the rail bed to the north and soon crossed a little bridge over a tributary known as the Green Kill.
The plank road/railroad continues to descend to the northeast a bit, along the shore of DeWitt Lake, and then it seems DeWitt Lake Road is built on the old right of way down to the landing on the Rondout in Eddyville.
Soon, we crossed DeWitt Mill Road above that location at grade, all through the area that was once known as Whiteport.
Ev was getting tired and cranky just as we reached a sign that read "quiet zone" along the trail. Probably posted by one of the trail hating neighbors that like to claim they bring drug addicts and dealers.
There was a long, pleasant section ahead through woods with good shade, through some cuts and along shelf to the end of the trail on Rt 32. We crossed Rockwell Lane just before reaching that point, and there was parking below the trail with an access to the right.
We re-grouped at this point, because the hike would get to be more complicated from here.
The Empire State Trail continues to the north, and much of it must be routed on roads because of the inability to use the railroad bed.
The former Wallkill Valley Railroad crossed the highway at an angle, and we could sort of see the grade with stuff parked along it directly across the street.
The Empire State Trail is just routed along this busy highway at this point, and there was no better way for us to continue on at this point.
We turned along the highway, which had a good enough shoulder at the moment. Pretty soon, there was a business on the right, and we descended to the lot. It was a sort of thrift store called Boulevard Attic.
I figured some of the group might want to go in and look. If I didn't have Ev with me, maybe I would have as well. Dan went in right away to look around.
The building had a front awning, and so we all sat down there to take a break while Dan was inside. I considered going inside myself after a bit of sitting there.
While there only a few minutes, an old guy came out and said something about this not being a hangout, and I told him that someone in our group was inside shopping and we were waiting for him.
The rudeness of this guy, when the fact that one of the group was patronizing his business, was such that I decided I wouldn't go in after all. It's not like anyone was on line to approach the front of the store, and at least with us sitting there, it sort of looked open.
It also turned out that the place was cash only, and Dan had none. One of us could have loaned. After all that hooey going on, we just decided to leave, and the rude old man got no business from our visit.
Some of the buildings in the area were painted up with
We continued up the road a little bit more, and this was where I had to take some liberties with the actual route of the Empire State Trail, because I didn't want the day to suck.
We passed the intersection with Albert Street, which leads to the Ulster County Sherriff's office. I had initially thought to go down there, because the railroad bed soon parallels that road and becomes very visible.
After looking at street views from here and from nearby, I didn't think we would be able to follow the rail bed through this area, so I made alternate plans prior to the hike.
Instead, we continued just slightly uphill, and a tiny road known as Boulevard Ct broke off to the right. It was a legal public road, not gated, but really beat up.
Why the Empire State Trail was not simply routed onto this, I do not know, but it was quite lovely.
As we walked, we could see Albert Street below us, and the railroad bed just beyond that, somewhat overgrown. If we'd not had the stroller, this would have been something I would have been bushwhacking through, but that wasn't an option this time.
We continued on along the road, below someone's house who just waved and said hello, and continued to climb very gradually until we came back out to Rt 32. We turned right there, and continued on the actual Empire State Trail route beside the busy highway.
It wasn't very far we had to continue on this until we got to the intersection with Condie Street where we turned to the right.
To the left of this road, a building on top of a rock looked at first abandone. It turns out it was just vegetation growing from below, and it was a sort of restaurant or something called the Chateau, and is very open.
Condie Street went downhill steeply, and I had to hold on tightly to Ev's stroller.
We passed two houses on the left, and after the second one, there was a gated access road to the right to the City of Kingston Transfer Station, and to the left was a long driveway. This was where the railroad had crossed.
Not able to access the rail bed here, and uncertain of how it would look if we could, my plan was to continue down Condie Street. It changed names to Albert Street at a ninety degree bend, probably because that road used to continue through beyond the Sherriff's Office to this spot.
The road took us rather steeply downhill once again, and soon reached the intersection with Wall Street. I had forgotten initially that I'd hiked this road with Jillane years before, when we'd done a long loop around the city of Kingston and out to Kingston Point.
We continued along the road for a bit, and the rail bed was parallel with it, but high above where we couldn't see it.
Some of the land on the slope to the left of us, which might include some of the railroad bed, is known as Lawton Park, but I have never tried to walk through any of that. I'm not sure if anything through there is clear.
I suppose I can see why Empire State Trail wasn't routed down here. Even though the road is narrower and more lightly trafficked, it does have more blind corners.
We continued uphill a bit, and soon we came to the entrance to the old Mount Zion Cemetery of Kingston. I had also explore this with Jillane several years ago as well.
This is the final resting place for prominent individuals and families who were part of Kingston's African American community from 1856 to 1967.
Many veterans are buried here including 26 from the Civil War.
There are 104 known grave markers.
There is a somewhat steep approach from the road, and a small gate. I was able to push Ev's stroller right up and it barely fit through the gate entrance.
We went up in to the top of the cemetery, and it feels much more odd. The burial ground is situated on a giant outcropping, with graves at some point going well down the slope at places it would have been extremely inconvenient to do a burial. I suppose some of that has collapsed downward over time.
Ev and I got all the way to the back of the cemetery before anyone else barely got into it. I think everyone was quite happy with the opportunity to get a break here.
We made our way back the way we came and onto Wall Street, where we continued to the north. From there, I did find one spot with a little access to the rail bed at one point. I climbed up the hill to it to see the condition, and it really wasn't very fit to be walking so we all continued on the road.
We started approaching a couple of houses as we got more into town, and the railroad bed was closer to the road. In a short distance, we came to where the railroad used to cross over the road. It was a somewhat obscure spot to those not knowing what they're looking for.
Originally, the Wallkill Valley Railroad continued north to reach the Ulster and Delaware to the north, as the West Shore Railroad of the New York Central had not yet been built in 1875, and it took on some of that route when it came into town.
The line we saw to the right would have been more of a southbound connector to the West Shore. We continued ahead and turned right on Winchell Street.
Dan Asnis had fallen behind at this point, and so I let him know our trajectory.
It was so hot out, and Brittany had been talking about ice cream a lot. I think just about everyone could have used some ice cream at this point, so no one was complaining on that one.
Brittany found a place that was open not too far out of our way, so we planned to go there, but I still wanted to try to follow much of the official trail route, which was great, and I learned quite a lot too.
Winchell Street, at its east end, crosses the original Wallkill Valley Railroad right of way. We turned left there onto South Pine Street, and the railroad bed turned to the right of the Binnewater Ice Company building.
We made our way to Greenkill Avenue, and turned right. Once again, we were on the route of the Empire State Trail on this road.
In a short distance, the railroad bed joined this route as well. The Wallkill Valley Railroad, at its northern end, went right on the street several blocks into downtown Kingston before the West Shore was built, as per the 1875 Atlas.
It looked like the work to delineate the trail through Kingston was very new, and it was quite nice.
We continued to the northeast, along the street, and soon the former West Shore Railroad, which is still active at this point, came in close on the right.
I'm not sure the exact year that it was built at this location, but it couldn't have been all that much later than the Wallkill Valley. Stuff I'm finding online is saying 1909, but I think it was established sooner.
We went off of the delineated trail route and onto some concrete and such that brought us a little closer to the active tracks. We were just in time, especially for Ev, because a southbound train was approaching fast. We could hear the whistle blow before we actually saw it.
We watched the train go by, and continued to the north a bit. There was a funny vehicle service place on the left side of us that had written along the edge of its roof "You Done Messed Up".
The road the trail followed changed names to Railroad Ave and brought us closer to the track. Pretty soon, both this road and the railroad crossed over top of Broadway reaching more of the downtown of Kingston.
This is not the original downtown of Kingston. The old town is what is referred to as the Stockade District, one of few original stockade districts still surviving from colonial days in America.
Once across, the trail continued to turn left on Fashion Lane. Then, it had its own paved route to the right, and then turned ninety degrees to the left on the old Ulster and Delaware grade.
I had not been on this part of the rail bed since it was made a trail. We followed it just a block out to Oneil Street, and then reached Boice Brothers Ice Cream where we would take a break.
The place was pretty crowded, but we got on line fast and were able to order. I think I got something that was sort of an equivalent to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, only better. The ice cream was delicious.
It was brutally hot in town, and more people showed up, so it was a good thing we showed up when we did or the wait would have been longer.
Still, we had to wait for Dan to catch up, and we gave him time to get his ice cream as well before moving on ahead.
I wasn't sure exactly how we would handle going through the town at this point, because I wanted to try to follow the Ulster and Delaware line as closely as possible.
When we left, we followed Smith Avenue east, which was a block north of where we had been walking. There is no grade crossing to the former West Shore Line where the Ulster and Delaware crossed.
The Empire State Trail turned from where we were on Fashion Lane and went onto Broadway to get beneath the West Shore line, and then picks up the Ulster and Delaware bed from Prince Street.
I think I stopped at a liquor store to buy a drink somewhere along the way, but I don't recall what it was. Actually, they might not have had anything good and I abstained.
When we crossed the tracks, there was a NY Department of Interior and/or DEC building on the right. It was a kind of funny thing because the lot had signs reading both "bump" and "dip" in it, and it seemed to me so accurate that government could just use the bump to fill the dip, but that's just now how things are done.
We turned right on Grand Street just one block to Hasbrouck Ave, which is built on the right of way of the Ulster and Delaware from this point. A hospital was built over part of it to the west where there was a cut at this point, and there's sort of a garage bay where the line used to go.
The U&D began construction in 1868, and by 1875 stretched all the way from Kingston Point to Oneonta. It is the only railroad ever to entirely cross the Catskill Mountains, which is one of the points that makes it so interesting.
I'd hiked the entire line on past trips going back as far as 2012, between the eastern terminus at Kingston Point and Bloomville way up on the far end of the Catskills, and I absolutely loved it.
The Ulster and Delaware Railroad continued independent service until 1932 when it was taken over by the New York Central. Passenger service continue until 1954.
Sections of the right of way were very badly prone to flooding, and sections in the heart of the Catskills were badly washed out. The connection between Phoenicia and Big Indian was first to be cut off.
Again in 2011, Tropical Storm Irene badly washed out a large section east of Phoenicia including the Boiceville Bridge, near the upper end of the Ashokan Reservoir.
Two different excursion railroads, the Delaware and Ulster in Delaware County, and the Catskill Mountain Railroad in Ulster, operated (and continued to operate) on the line.
Washouts on the Delaware County side were repaired, but Catskill Mountain Railroad had to operate in two separate locations.
Despite having available FEMA grant money for repair of the railroad, owner Ulster County would not allow for the repair. Instead, they pushed for trail only alignment at Boiceville site.
The county claimed that the right-of-way was impassable, and that the railroad was not maintaining the right of way. They posted photos claiming to be taken in West Hurley, that were actually taken by a missing bridge at Big Indian. When confronted on this, the county banned me, the whistleblower, from all associated county social media pages.
Motorized Speeders used for maintenance of the right of way traveled along the rails within the month of removal.
Just a few blocks from where we were walking on this hike, the city of Kingston would park their town maintenance vehicles across the tracks to keep the railroad from being able to move machinery.
The conduct of those involved in this project severely damaged good trail initiatives throughout the region.
I found myself in a very strange position, being a strong supporter of trails and trail connections, opposing this particular trail because of the manner in which it was developed.
The many grade crossings on this section of the right of way would have made it difficult to operate trains, but to many, it is viewed as an extension of the bad experiences trying to save the rails west of town.
For a long while I stopped talking about what I had experienced when the rail versus trail fight was going on.
When I was to attend a Save the Rails Rally in Kingston, a couple of days before, I received notice that my driving privileges had been revoked in the State of New York.
I was shocked. I had already been harassed by weird Facebook profiles on this matter, and banned for multiple government pages despite always maintaining a professional demeanor.
It turns out, the revocation was due to a falsified traffic ticket that was supposedly unpaid. It had been issued on a weekday when I was not even in the state, and I was able to prove with my work time sheets that I was not even in the state when it was issued.
I backed off from the topic at the time, because I can't afford to have so many factions of government after me. I didn't keep totally quiet, and started using puppet accounts to make my points.
One of the only good things to come from having been victim of heavy online harassment, is that I learned to play at their games with the phony profiles and such. It is sad that it was necessary.
I made a statement after the trail was built, that maybe this small railroad in New York state might not be big enough, but there WILL BE a landmark case where government agencies will be forced to answer for their media manipulation.
Then, the pandemic hit, and my predictions were only partially right. It was a bigger case, but media and government still have not had to answer for their misinformation campaigns, and far too many people continue to follow all of it based on fear or general disbelief.
I look at Kingston and can't help but feel betrayed. I love the city, and it was where I completed my then 20 year goal to walk over sixty miles in a day.
A rail trail initiative, pushed heavily by Democratic politicians, led to harassment and underhanded, inappropriate government strongarming. I was not only betrayed by the trail movement, but my own political party. That was the moment I flipped and gave up on the Democratic party after having been registered as one my entire adult life.
I found that the corruption in these plans ran deep, and that it was not limited to New York.
While I don't see Republicans as saints by any means, and I have had plenty of criticism on that end, I could not ignore the fact that my county Freeholders continued to appoint me to their Board of Recreation, and followed through with just about every initiative my board and I felt appropriate.
That olive branch, that had already been extended for a few years, and the betrayal of the rail trail initiative led me to re-register.
I got rather quiet with the group, and all of this personal history was running through my head while we walked, and so now, hopefully there is a somewhat better understanding of my experiences.
At Prince Street, the Empire State Trail joined and continued down Hasbrouck Avenue to the east. The railroad bed turned into parking lots on the south side of the road for a bit, but we just stayed on the sidewalk along the road at this point.
We and the EST turned to the right when we got to Foxhall Avenue, and then we and the trail turned left onto Jansen Avenue, which was the route of the railroad once again.
After just over a block, we crossed Chester Street and continued on the rail bed as paved trail to the east, at first along the edge of a Walgreens parking lot.
The trail descended slightly, and soon reached the mouth of the Hasbrouck Tunnel, the only actual tunnel on the entire Ulster and Delaware line.
This wasn't a tunnel through a mountain like so many others are, but it was just far too long to be considered a regular culvert. It was an open cut that had been backfilled and turned into a culvert tunnel for the passage of traffic over top.
It's a pretty busy spot, because the tunnel goes over the intersections of Hasbrouck Ave, Delawaer Ave, and Livingston Streets where they all come together.
The tunnel is far different than it was the first times I went through it. In fact, the first time I went through this, the tracks were all still in place, and it was quite wet.
This time, they actually had lights installed inside. I was rather shocked to see how all out they'd gone with it. This was only my second time through it since the trail had been fully developed.
We continued out the east side of the tunnel, and the trail then went almost immediately across a bridge that spans Route 9W.
On the other side, we crossed Delaware Avenue, and then continued on along the trail to the east, which went through several blocks of neighborhoods.
We went a little north, crossed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd avenues, then headed south yet again and soon reached the grade crossing with Delaware Avenue again.
We crossed a small swath of land to then cross Murray Street. There were some little side paths on the slopes to the left after that, as the trail weaved out from and back to Murray Street.
Soon, we crossed the Rondout Drive access to apartments. Across, on a slope, there were stairs going up to where a house might once have been.
The trail began to parallel Rondout Drive and the apartments as it shifted to a southward trajectory for a bit. This was always an interesting bit because it had several little bridges, and was elevated above the other roads.
We made our way over a bridge that used to cross an entrance road to this area, and then continued a bit further south to another bridge over Garraghan Drive, another access to apartments.
Just after this, the Empire State Trail left the rail bed and shifted downhill to the right on a bit of a switchback, onto a paved trail that ran parallel to Rt 9W.
I'd already done all of this before numerous times, and it has been interesting to see it through all of the changes, from tracks in place to tracks removed, to trail in place.
It would have been nice if the trolley museum could have used at least a little part of this. Their location is just a little bit to the east, and they run out to Kingston Point currently.
The rail bed turned to the east a bit, and we continued on the paved trail to the south for a bit. The Empire State Trail follows this, but I chose to take a shortcut into the development.
We walked a road called Hudson Valley Landing to the east out to the road known as Rondout Landing, which is the route of the Empire State Trail.
The former Ulster and Delaware tracks start back up parallel with the road, and as we headed east on the road, the tracks crossed over the road. There were also industrial sidings along the Rondout in this area, and we could see some of the partially buried tracks as we walked.
Where the tracks crossed the road, the Empire State Trail continues along the road to the east and a bit north. We continued along the tracks to the east, which had a crushed stone path along them.
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| Hasbrouck Tunnel over a decade ago |
When this section was developed with trail directly beside the tracks, I used this as an example of how rail with trail rather than removing the rails could easily be done.
The Ulster County Trails Advisory Committee made a post based on my posting addressing the fact that this was shared as an example of rail with trail. They said "It is not. It is a trolley track with a foot path next to it".
When I saw that post, I commented with a photo of a dog wearing a blue shirt, and said "and this isn't a dog in a blue shirt. It's a puppy in a navy blouse". They were not happy with me. I got blocked from another page.
The Trolley Museum began in 1955 to preserve the few remaining NY trolley cars, and found a home in the Rondout Shops of the former Ulster and Delaware Railroad in 1983.
I suppose the Empire State Trail must follow a route that fits some sort of multi use standard, and the route beside the tracks along to Kingston Point does not, but it sure is prettier.
We continued on that route to the east, to where we came right up to the edge of the Rondout Creek approaching the Hudson. This was where we somewhat recently finished our Delaware and Hudson series.
To the right, there was a great view of the 1915 Rondout Lighthouse, one of only 7 remaining lighthouses on the Hudson River.
There was originally another light on the other side of the Rondout, the round base of which is still visible, but was no longer needed after the current structure was built.
To the left of us was a sort of lagoon. There is some sort of sunken historic pleasure craft in this area which I can't totally recall the history of.
I think I must have gone down and gotten in the Hudson at some point here, but I can't remember. It was pretty hot out at this point.
We continued all the way out to the Hudson River, and the railroad tracks turn to the north a bit.
I was hoping that the trolley would pass by us this time, because it did a couple of times on the last visit, and Ev loved it, but we didn't see any this time.
On the other side of the Hudson, we could see the river line trains passing along in the distance.
We continued to the north, out to the old steamboat landing that had been owned by Thomas Cornell.
Most all remnants of this are now gone. There were a lot of people all through this area along the river, so there weren't any more good opportunities to get back over there.
We made our way past the landing site, and then had to cut back inland a bit to reach the trail to the north. As we got back on the pavement, I was rather surprised to see some rails stuck in it. I didn't realize they went around that far.
We continued along the access road, from Rotary Park out to Delaware Avenue where we continued to the west.
Pretty soon, Kingston Point Beach was to the right. We turned to the right across the grass on out toward the beach here for an opportunity to get in.
For some reason, I decided not to bother with it because I didn't want to pay some fee, and we still had a ways to go.
We headed out the main access road back toward Delaware Ave, because I didn't realize there was a good new connector trail between this point and North Avenue where the Empire State Trail goes.
We continued along the road to the west, to North Ave, and turned to the right to resume our walk on the Empire State Trail.
Some kids playing ball on the way through had it get out of their control, so I ran and caught it for them and sent it back.
North Ave is a pleasant dead end road now, which used to go into the Hutton Brick plant. I had walked thorugh some of the abandoned brick pland properties several years before with Jillane, but haven't been back to this location in a while. It was certainly not what I was expecting it to be.
I was disappointed when I saw a good trail connecting through from the east, after we'd walked around on the road from the beach.
We reached a gate at the end of the public road, and the "Brickyard Trail" section of the Empire State Trail continued to the north through it.
There was still a guard shelter and brick columns at the entrance to the former brick yards, and Hutton Brickyard signs that seemed to be too new to be from the authentic industry. I didn't know what to expect walking into this.
Just inside the gate, the trail was a manicured, crushed stone path beside the road, and to the right, there was a large fence made of wood, and supported by tall caged pillars of bricks haphazardly thrown inside. This was certainly not part of the industry. Golf cart paths connected to the left.
The Hutton Brickyard area is now a hotel and restaurant apparently. There is apparently an event venue, a spa, boutique hotel and retreat, and what appears to be individual shelter buildings for people to stay in. There was private parking off to the right.
The couple of beat up old brick company buildings that had been out on the edge of the Hudson when I walked through with Jillane so many years ago were still there, and still in rough shape, but just used today as a sort of outside ambiance for whatever else they have going on.
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This facility was still sort of cut off from the trail and kept obviously private.
The Hutton Brick Company operated on this site from 1865 to 1980, and had been I suppose mostly abandoned since then. The area was a total mess when I walked it with Jillane, and a haven for ATV riders.
Ahead, the trail was gated and became a paved thing headed north out of the boutique hotel area. We continued on along the route, which became even more pleasant.
Dan Lurie had still been with us when we got on the section through Hutton, but he decided to call it quits and got an Uber back to New Paltz instead of going through.
The rest of us continued on through the new state park property ahead.
The area ahead had been officially designated Sojourner Truth State Park.
I was drawn immediately to this interesting looking property of former quarries and brick company. The name alone sounded like something very interesting, but I didn't know where it came from.
It turns out this was named for a Kingston area abolitionist whose name was Sojourner Truth.
There is a whole lot to see in this park, and we wouldn't be able to get to it in a single hike for certain.
I'm not sure how much of the trail route, or areas around it, were former rail, but I would imagine some of it could be. The historic USGS maps do not seem to show any serving this area, however.
The trail followed a former quarry road or something a little further up the hill, and then descended to the right, a little closer to the Hudson after a bit.
This stretch felt like it went on for longer than I was expecting. When we got to the Hutton entrance, I kind of felt like we were just about at the end, but it was close to two miles.
As we continued along the riverfront, the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge came into view. This is one of the ones I've never walked across, but I plan to do it in the near future, and in fact, possibly the next northbound section of the Empire State Trail I hadn't done.
Eventually, we emerged into an open area with good views out to the Hudson, some benches, and a fork in the trail. The Empire State Trail continued to the right, but the connecting trail back up to the parking areas went uphill to the left.
Dan Asnis was still a distance behind us, so we stopped and took a break on the bench in this pleasant area. It would be a good spot for a group shot as well, although not really complete at this point.
Once Dan caugth up and we got our shots, and little Ev was trying to force Brittany to drink from her camelback straw, we started making our way uphill.
At this point, the climb was a bit taxing. Pushing the stroller uphill was not something that's very fun at the end of a trip.
We came to another intersection, where what Google Maps shows as "Post Road" comes down. Just ahead of this intersection on the straight route was another abandoned building.
We continued rather steeply uphill, and then the trail turned sharp to the south. Pretty soon, we reached the parking lot for the state park and the end of the hike.
I very much enjoyed this trip, and really felt like we got to the next system of hikes we'll be doing over the next few years through the Hudson Valley. It forced me to look at the stuff both to the north and the south of Kingston, and on both the east and west sides of the river.
I had thought that the Empire State Trail remained on the west side of the river, but I was wrong. It crosses to the east, and passes by a whole lot of very interesting things that now have me far more excited to continue with this. I can't wait for the next one.
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