Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to visit the New Paltz, NY area. For those of you not familiar with the area this is about 90 minutes Northwest of Manhattan and within striking distance of Bellayre and Hunter.

New Paltz is a SUNY college town and it has the expected atmosphere with the ratio of bars to people being about 1:1. Its actually a lovely town in a beautiful setting. The branch manager at one of the local banks told me the locals feel like they live in an outdoors paradise.

One of the older rail trails in the country cuts through the middle of town and just outside of town are the Shawangunk mountains also known as the gunks. The best part of the gunks is managed by a foundation called the Mohonk preseserve. They charge a 10.00 parking fee at the trail heads but it is well worth it. The local climbing shop set me up with some maps and I had a nice day hike. Between the town and the gunks this is a good place to visit for a short hiking and rock climbing experience. There is also plenty of mountain biking in the area.

Here is a pic of the rail trail...about 12 miles long:



A shot from the rail trail with the "gunks" in the background:



Some cows taking a break by the trail:



Along the Crag Trail in the Mohonk Preserve:



Some nice talus to scramble up:



On top of the talus:



Along the Crag trail:

Great report and photos, GRK! Thanks for your post.

I've poked through the Gunks only a couple of times but really enjoyed the forests, rocky ridges, lakes and viewpoints. Trails in the Mohonk Preserve are well worth the $10 parking fee. Be sure to check out the Ice Cave, Sam's Point and Lake Minnewaska. A closed ski area site is near the latter, but I haven't seen it.

Great photo of the ridges from the rail trail. (Get the dad-blamed cattle out of the water, though! Sheesh.) Need to bring bikes next time.

Thanks again,
Woody

The New Paltz area is a beautiful. Cliffs everywhere. Its the climbing mecca of NY.

I've ridden up and around Lake Minnewaska on 4-5 occasions. We actually had my NY 'troller buddy's last bachelor ride there the morning of his wedding. Go RENOB!

The area around the lake is used a lot in the winter time for XC skiing.

When I made this trip Catskill Trifecta to ski in the Catskills I randomly picked a chain motel in New Paltz as our base of operations. Had never been there before and I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy several good dinners in the nice strip of restaurants/bars/stores in center of town.

Jim, I followed the link and read your story...nice. Makes me want to ski there next spring! I have a history in the area with my parents living in various places (Kingston, Pine Bush, Newburgh) for the last 30 years. Too bad I was not a skier for most of those years!