Six years ago, Craig Chapman noticed that nobody was renting kayaks by the Wallkill. “I wanted to be outside full-time, so I figured I’d hang out by the river one summer with some kayaks for rent, and the business took off from there.”
Although the Mohonk Preserve and Mountain House are famous for the Lemon Squeeze – a steeply pitched, tight rock scramble that lies above the skylake and just under the Sky Top Tower – a lesser-known cousin, Rock Rift, rests just a few short miles away without any of the labyrinth-loving crowds.
Atop the historic hamlet of Cragsmoor, home of the oldest artist colony founded in America, sits Sam’s Point: a 5,000-acre preserve that boasts not only ice caves and wild berries and a rare dwarf pine ecosystem, but also the highest point of the entire Shawangunk Ridge.
Last Saturday morning, the Open Space Institute hosted an official opening ceremony for the six-mile trail, which connects the Carmine Liberta Bridge to Butterville Road.
If the Shawangunk Ridge and its vast ecosystem are known as one of the “Last Great Places,” then the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers’ Association beach is one of the “last great destinations” for water-lovers.
While there are significant differences between the U.S. and the tiny land of Wales, which has 3 million people and 12 million sheep, there are lots of similarities politically, as with Great Britain as a whole.
The 251-acre park features mansion ruins and Hudson River views.
Just a stone’s throw from the heart of the bustling Village of New Paltz lies an oxbow, a river, meadows, labyrinthlike paths, contemplative benches and a breathtaking view of the Shawangunk Ridge.
Saugerties woman offers picturesque guided kayak jaunts.
Getting lost, close to civilization.
The business of media is changing, but local, on-the-ground, fact-checked journalism is needed now more than ever.
