The mid-Hudson Valley offers myriad choices of places to walk for pleasure. But for a family outing, sometimes it’s not enough just to hike for hiking’s own sake – especially if kids are involved.
To motivate the young, it’s often helpful to organize an expedition around a specific point of interest: a spectacular view, a lake, a waterfall, some ruins, a fire tower, rich wildlife habitat, rock scrambling, a geocache. Give the kids an appealing concrete goal and they’ll be more able to think of the hike as an adventure, and grumble less about being parted from their favorite electronic screens for a few hours.
Our region being a place of many waters, bridges abound here which can certainly serve as focal points for walking excursions. It could even become a family project to “collect” as many bridges as possible during the summer break from school. Think of peak-baggers, such as the 3500 Club in the Catskills or the 46ers in the Adirondacks, trying to summit all the most prominent heights in their favorite mountain range. You could call yours the Bridge Club (though youngsters might not get the joke).
Aside from being immensely useful in a practical sense, bridges have wielded great metaphorical power for as long as humans have been making them. We cross them when we come to them, burn them when we don’t ever want to go back where we came from, build them to make peace with strangers and foreigners; or bid farewell to beloved pets as they cross the Rainbow Bridge.
Many of us visit bridges in our dreams. Typically, these may symbolize major life transitions, obstacles we have overcome or are about to face, relationships we are establishing with other people, how secure or successful we feel — even our connections to the unconscious. What that dream span means will vary based on what material it’s made from, whether it’s sturdy or crumbling, whether we’re approaching or standing in the middle of it, running across, alone or with another, falling from it, constructing it.
Inside or outside of us, bridges matter. When it comes to outdoor activity, they’re as good an excuse as any to get your crew on the move. Herewith is our list of suggested bridgey destinations in our region, starting with the most obvious.
Walkway over the Hudson State Park
87 Haviland Road, Highland
61 Parker Avenue, Poughkeepsie
https://walkway.org
If you haven’t been to the Walkway over the Hudson yet, it’s high time you joined the 600,000 or so people each year who visit this irresistible tourism Mecca. There are compelling reasons why it’s so popular, mostly having to do with the bird’s-eye views from 212 feet above the Hudson River. At a length of 6768 feet, it’s the world’s second-longest pedestrian footbridge.
Originally opened in 1889 as part of the Maybrook Line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, this iron industrial structure was long abandoned following a 1974 fire. Its restoration long advocated by a determined coalition of local historic preservationists, it was spruced up and finally reopened to the public in 2009. The span connects the Hudson Valley Rail-Trail in Highland to the William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail-Trail in Poughkeepsie, forming a link in the Empire State Trail.
Expect to find a festive atmosphere atop the Walkway. Some folks go there daily, weather permitting, to jog or cycle or skate, do yoga or practice photography skills, walk the dog, or push the baby carriage. Other locals head there to show off the river views whenever out-of-town relatives stop by, or turn up on certain special nights for fireworks displays or stargazing sessions.
Walkway over the Hudson is open year-round, with free admission, from 7 a.m. until sunset (8:30 p.m. from May 25 to August 2, 8 p.m. from August 3 to 23, 7:30 p.m. from August 24 to September 10, 7 p.m. from September 11 to 27). Visitors may be asked to leave the bridge during thunderstorms. There are parking lots at both ends of the 1.28-mile Walkway, along with welcome centers with restrooms and food vendors.
If you’re feeling especially ambitious, try the Walkway Loop Trail, which incorporates the Mid-Hudson Bridge’s pedestrian walkway in one direction and passes through some interesting historic neighborhoods on either side of the river. You can download a map at https://walkway.org/visit/walkway-loop-trail. The loop length ranges from 3.8 to 4.4 miles, depending on where you get off on the Dutchess County side. A staircase at 131 Washington Street in Poughkeepsie, short of the parking lot but with on-street parking nearby, offers entrance to the park at the east gate plaza and a shorter loop.
Using the 21-story, glass-enclosed ADA-compliant elevator on the Poughkeepsie waterfront at Upper Landing Park to access the trail reduces the loop’s length further. Parking for the elevator is available at the Poughkeepsie train station at 83 North Water Street. The elevator operates seasonally from 9 a.m. until 90 minutes prior to park closing. To confirm if the elevator is running, call the rlevator status hotline at 845-834-3641.
Hudson River Skywalk
27-16 Route 23, Catskill
Routes 23 & 9G, Hudson
www.hudsonriverskywalk.org
Less heavily visited than Walkway over the Hudson but even more spectacular in its panoramas is the Hudson River Skywalk, a six-foot-wide pedestrian walkway along the southern side of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. It was conceived as an artistic pilgrimage connecting the homes of two major Hudson River School artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church. The ambitious six-mile out-and-back loop links two national historic landmarks, the Thomas Cole site, also known as Cedar Grove in Catskill and Frederic Church’s Olana in Hudson. The route offers sweeping views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains.
Although Cedar Grove and Olana are heavily promoted as the termini of the Skywalk, there is ample parking closer to the bridge at both ends. On the Columbia County side, the traffic circle where Route 23 intersects 9G has plenty of parking spaces, plus a couple of park benches, where the Olana access trail begins. On the bridge approach on the Greene County side, a cluster of NYS Bridge Authority buildings offer restrooms and even a vest-pocket park with Hudson River views, plus a fair-sized parking lot and additional on-street parking.
If all you want to do is cross and recross the bridge, enjoying the views and minimizing your total walking distance, you can forgo the homes and museums of either or both the two great artists. In particular, the approach to Olana involves a long trek uphill. If you’re a regular hiker, physically fit and fazed not at all by a six-mile walk, then by all means park either at Olana or the Cole house. Setting aside enough time for visiting the studios of these two world-renowned American landscape painters is a rewarding experience.
You will need to take note of their hours of operation. Cedar Grove’s buildings and main parking lot, located at 218 Spring Street in Catskill, are open from 9:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site grounds are open for free every day from dawn to dusk. When the museum is closed, you can still use the free parking lot (complete with EV charging station) that’s outside the entry gate, shared with Temple Israel of Catskill.
The 250-acre artist-designed landscape surrounding Frederic Church’s splendid Persian-inspired hilltop manse at the Olana State Historic Site at 5720 Route 9G in Hudson is open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. The views from the grounds are extraordinary. Church’s home itself, along with several auxiliary buildings that also host art exhibits and programs, is open for tours Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. through 3:45 p.m. Organized walking tours of the grounds and electric jitney tours of the five miles of carriage roads which Church designed showcase an unfolding series of viewscapes. It’s a good idea to book tours ahead online, especially on weekends, and leave plenty of time to make it over the bridge and up that hill.
If you can manage it, by all means, see the interiors of these historic buildings and the art they contain. Consider bringing a picnic, since neither museum contains a food concession. Probably the best way to fit it all into one day, however, would be to carpool and leave a vehicle at either end, only crossing the Skywalk on foot in one direction. For information about the two historic sites and the great painters celebrated there, visit www.olana.org and https://thomascole.org. To view the Skywalk map, visit www.hudsonriverskywalk.org/map.
Note that the Hudson River Skywalk has gates at either end that are locked at dusk, and the one on the Catskill side is too high to climb over. Since the Rip Van Winkle Bridge is home to a peregrine falcon nesting box, it’s occasionally closed to pedestrians during nesting season, between May and July, when the falcon parents may become aggressive toward humans they perceive as threats to their chicks.
Rosendale Trestle
720 Binnewater Road, Rosendale
https://wallkillvalleylt.org/wvrt
Want a bridge hike that affords stunning views from a height over a watercourse but doesn’t require a crazy amount of walking? If the Skywalk sounds like biting off more than you can chew, exercisewise, check out the Rosendale Trestle, known to some locals as Walkway over the Rondout. It’s the first of three bridges, north to south, along Ulster County’s Wallkill Valley Rail-Trail which make highly rewarding destinations for walkers but don’t require you to be at your peak of physical fitness.
In fact, the southern end of the trestle is right off Mountain Road in Rosendale. It doesn’t offer parking, but a member of your party with mobility issues could be dropped off there and meet you on the bridge, after you’ve left your car at the (free) Binnewater kiln parking lot on Binnewater Road, a mere .six miles away. That section of the rail-trail is a pleasant, shaded, nearly level walk that follows the flank of Joppenbergh Mountain, a rocky promontory that marks the northern terminus of the Shawangunk Ridge.
First built in 1870 as part of the Wallkill Valley Railroad, the 940-foot-long, 150-foot-high trestle was dubbed the Iron Wonder in its day. The railway shut down for good in 1977, and the trestle structure was acquired by the Wallkill Valley Land Trust in 1991. It was restored with help from the Open Space Institute and a pricetag of $1.5 million. It reopened to the public in 2013: the linchpin in the rail-trail’s 22.5-mile expanse connecting the Town of Gardiner with the City of Kingston.
The prospect from the middle of this span is nearly as impressive as any of the Hudson River crossings. Although the Rondout Creek far below is a much smaller waterway, the glaciers that formed its bed carved out a wide, deep gorge, with Joppenbergh’s craggy limestone cliff faces looming overhead. Far below, the colorful buildings of Rosendale’s charming downtown spill across the valley floor like the contents of some child’s overturned toybox. The view is an excellent payoff for a three-mile round-trip walk and highly recommended for a family outing.
The Wallkill Valley Rail-Trail is open from dawn to dusk year-round. It’s very popular with cyclists, and a reasonable ride either from Kingston or New Paltz. There are no restrooms or other amenities along the trail itself nearer than the Rail Trail Café in Tillson, but Main Street in Rosendale (Route 213) is lined with restaurants, taverns and shops where you can refresh yourself.
Springtown Truss Bridge
Springtown Road, New Paltz
https://wallkillvalleylt.org/wvrt
About five miles south of the Rosendale Trestle, the Wallkill Valley Rail-Trail makes another major stream crossing – one that may look familiar to you, if you’re a fan of sci-fi or horror movies. In the film A Quiet Place (2018), most of the earth’s population has been wiped out by an invasion of hostile aliens from a lightless planet. These creatures are incredibly sensitive to sound, so the only human survivors are people who are good at staying totally silent. A family returning to their farmhouse from an errand to restock supplies in an empty town are tiptoeing across an old railroad bridge when the youngest child begins to play with a noisy toy spaceship. In one horrific moment, the boy is carried off.
That terrifying scene was shot on the Springtown Truss Bridge, long a popular destination for walkers and cyclists coming from downtown New Paltz, 2.2 miles to the south. Built in 1881, the 413-foot former railway bridge crosses the Wallkill River just before the rail trail reaches Springtown Road. Owned by the Wallkill Valley Land Trust, the bridge was renovated in 1993 and again in 2016. There are wooden benches along either side, and it’s a great spot for watching turtles basking in the sun on piles of driftwood that accumulate against the piers of the bridge.
There are a couple of parking spaces alongside Springtown Road, only a couple of hundred feet from the bridge. That makes this an ideal destination for that friend or family member who needs a cane or a walker to get around. There are a number of other access points between here and New Paltz’s Main Street where you can pick up the rail-trail to vary the length of your walk – Huguenot Street, for example, where the Boces parking lot is a handy place to leave your car.
Plattekill Creek Bridge
Boppy’s Lane, New Paltz
https://wallkillvalleylt.org/wvrt
Arguably the most impressive panoramic view from the Wallkill Valley rail-trail can be found 1.8 miles south of the point where it crosses Main Street (Route 299) in New Paltz. At Boppy’s Lane, just off Route 208 near its intersection with Jansen Road, a small railroad bridge spans a small watercourse called the Plattekill, which wends its way lazily westward toward the Wallkill River. The spot is known as the Plattekill Gorge, and it’s a big draw for photographers. Against a stunning backdrop of the Shawangunk Ridge, cows and horses roam in sprawling meadows, and a magnificent sycamore tree on the streambank frequently serves as a perch for a bald eagle. It would be difficult to think of a better spot in Ulster County from which to watch a sunset.
The viewing platform for this lovely prospect, known as the Plattekill Creek Bridge, was recently rebuilt by Ulster County, the Open Space Institute and the Wallkill Valley Land Trust as part of a major renovation of the New Paltz-to-Gardiner leg of the rail-trail. The new bridge structure was reopened for public use this past February. There are a couple of park benches in the middle of the span, if you need to get off your feet; but the view over the railings is better from a standing position.
While the walk to Plattekill Creek from downtown New Paltz is by no means daunting, this is another destination that can be accessed with minimal walking for the mobility-impaired or folks with little time to spare. The southern terminus of Plains Road, mere steps from the bridge crossing, ends with parking spaces for a couple of cars.
Black Creek Preserve
Winding Brook Road, Esopus
www.scenichudson.org/explore-the-valley/scenic-hudson-parks/black-creek-preserve
Looking for a walk that’ll present a little bit of a challenge for your kids, but keep them interested? Scenic Hudson’s Black Creek Preserve, off Route 9W in Esopus, is a winning alternative. And part of the route’s kid appeal is the slightly bouncy, 120-foot-long wood-and-rope suspension bridge that spans the Black Creek itself right at the outset of your excursion. The streambed right below the bridge is a popular destination for environmental-science field trips. Students come here with nets to catch and count herring and glass eels during their migrations from the Hudson River up into the creek.
Three trails intersect at this preserve. Just off the parking lot is a rustic wooden kiosk that begins the Yellow Trail, and less than 500 feet beyond it is the suspension bridge. It’s a fun introduction to a trail network that’s not overly daunting for the unseasoned hiker. There’s a short, steep, rocky stretch of Yellow Trail, leading visitors to the Red Trail loop, which passes old stone walls and vernal pools. After that comes the Blue Trail loop, which takes you to the pitch-pine overlook and a small stony beach on the shore of the Hudson River. There, instead of beach glass kids can collect rounded, water-worn fragments of brick from the heyday of the Hudson Valley brickmaking industry. There are also benches where you can sit and gaze out to Esopus Island and Norrie Point. It’s a great picnic spot, especially on a weekday when the park is less crowded.
The shortest route from the entrance to the riverbank and back is about 2.1 miles long in total, though you can also opt to take a different way back via longer segments of the Red and Blue Trail loops. The total elevation gain is about 440 feet. Toddlers will need some help in spots, but older kids should be able to manage this hike with little difficulty.
Be aware in advance that Black Creek Preserve has no restroom facilities, concessions or other fancy park amenities. It’s open from dawn to dusk year-round, and admission is free.
Ashokan Center
477 Beaverkill Road, Olivebridge
https://ashokancenter.org/site
Unless you’re an old SUNY New Paltz alum who remembers when the site was the college’s Ashokan Field Campus from 1967 to 2008, your main mental association with the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge is probably the music and dance camps that have been going on there since 1980. It’s in this place that fiddler Jay Ungar, in a burst of nostalgia for a crop of campers who were about to leave at the end of a session, composed the haunting tune “Ashokan Farewell,” which later became the main theme music for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary series The Civil War.
In 2008, the site was purchased by a not-for-profit foundation and transformed into a venue for conferences, meditation retreats, weddings and other private events, summer camps, musical, educational and cultural gatherings. Fans of folk music, square and contra dancing turn out for the summer and winter hoots, an annual ukulele festival and a long-running New Year’s Eve dance party.
The Ashokan Center is busy with events much of the year. But there are days when it’s open to the public for self-guided tours. This summer, day passes are available on June 18, 19, 23 and 24, July 15 and 30 and August 6, 12, 25, 26 and 27, for a fee of $10 for adults, $5 for youth aged 12 to 17 and free for children under 12.
But why go there? What’s the draw? There are a working smithy, a sugar shack and other facilities offering hands-on demonstrations of Colonial-era crafts. You can go fishing or canoeing, try out a ropes course, hike to a waterfall and more. Two of the top attractions are – you guessed it – footbridges.
Just past the Killian Dance Pavilion, over an inlet to the Mill Pond, stands the Wiggly Bridge, irresistible to kids. It bounces wildly when you walk across it. And spanning the Esopus Creek, near the beginning of the Orange Trail that leads to Cathedral Gorge, is a true historical treasure, the Turnwood Covered Bridge, built in another location in 1885 and moved here circa 1932. It was fully restored in 2018.
Perrine’s Bridge
Route 213, Rifton
Another covered bridge requiring neither a day pass nor more than a few steps to access lies just four miles north of New Paltz, crossing the Wallkill River on Route 213 in Rifton, just off Route 32. Named for French Huguenot immigrant James W. Perrine and constructed in 1835, Perrine’s Bridge is the second-oldest surviving covered bridge in New York State. It’s also the longest-standing Burr arch covered bridge in the state.
Perrine’s Bridge is a 138-foot-long, 20-foot-wide, single-span timber structure, built using a kingpost-and-arch truss system patented in 1817 by Theodore Burr of Torringford, Connecticut. The bridge was most recently restored in 1997.
There isn’t really any trail connected with Perrine’s Bridge. You can park right next to it on the side of Route 213, and stroll over it and back. It would therefore make an appealing outing for elderly folks who find themselves more interested in history than in strenuous walking.
Catskills Covered Bridge Tour
Ulster, Sullivan and Delaware counties
www.1903autorun.com/covered-bridge-rally
Intrigued by historic covered bridges and willing to travel farther afield to visit them? There are a bunch of them tucked away deeper into the Catskills. If you want to hang out with classic-car enthusiasts for a lovely autumn day and don’t mind spending $50 for the privilege, check out the fifth annual Catskill Conquest Covered Bridge Rally, taking place on October 14.
Participants in the 135-mile, three-county excursion will meet at 10 a.m. at the Congressman Maurice D. Hinchey Catskill Visitor Center at 5069 State Route 28 in Mount Tremper. From there, the caravan will make stops at the 1860 Van Tran Bridge in Livingston Manor and the 1865 Beaverkill Bridge near Lew Beach in Sullivan County, and then move on to the 1854 Downsville Bridge, the 1859 Hamden Bridge, and the 1870 Fitch’s Bridge just past Delhi, all in Delaware County.
You can also follow all or part of this same tour route on your own, on whatever day you find more convenient. You can find maps and directions online at www.1903autorun.com/tour-loops-maps.
Join the family! 
