Black Rock Forest Consortium

The cat is out of the bag and you’ve seen it in the news: the Catskills are becoming the new Hamptons. Traffic-averse folks shudder at the thought of the New York Thruway increasingly resembling the Long Island Expressway with each passing holiday weekend. I’ve learned to adjust, opting for local outings further downstate that offer a legitimate respite from the throngs of urbanites trekking upstate.

Tamarack Pond
Tamarack Pond

On Labor Day, in search of a quieter alternative to one of my favorite rides in Minnewaska State Park, I decided to keep it local at the Black Rock Forest Consortium. Despite being only 35 miles from my apartment and just a stone’s throw from Victor Constant Ski Area, I’d never visited Black Rock Forest.

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The High Point Carriage Road at Minnewaska

In the last days of August, the High Point Carriage Road, a historic 2.8-mile piece of the Minnewaska State Park’s carriage road network, officially re-opened to the public. On September 1, my friend Brian and I set out to explore the new road on bicycles.

Smiley Carriage Road
Smiley Carriage Road

We started at the Minnewaska parking area and rode on the Upper Awosting Carriage Road to Lake Awosting. From Awosting, the Smiley Carriage Road would connect us with the new High Point road. Although I’m a frequent visitor to Minnewaska, this was my first cycling trip on the full length of the Smiley Carriageway that was restored a few years ago.

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Tappan Zee GWB Bike Path Loop

Exploration and adventure are a necessity to living a happy a fulfilling life. Finding ways to inject that adventure into the daily grind can be tough and now with the snow gone I admit I’ve been feeling a bit of the post winter blues.

Tappan Zee Bridge Bike Path

I ride my bike a lot, it’s a big part of maintaining my sanity and fitness throughout the warmer months, that said I’ve been void of the motivation for rides on familiar mountain bike trails and the usual road loops have been lackluster. So, I got my ass in gear for a bit of exploration right out my front door.

Heading north from New Jersey it’s a quick 30 minutes up the Old Erie Rail Trail to the Tappan Zee bike path.

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