New Paltz to Kingston Waterfront

Where:  In the Wallkill River Valley in Ulster County.

Description: 44 miles. Moderate hilliness (2400 vertical feet). There are several major Variations. 

A - to cross a covered bridge, see different roads (add 3 miles).
B - bypass Kingston and Rondout waterfront (subtract 7 miles).
C - bypass nice farm + orchard country (subtract 5.5 miles).

Here are some alternate routes which use the variations

31 miles. Take major variations B and C - the shortest.

47 miles. Take major variation A(linked below) - includes a covered bridge. (to also visit the beach, add another 3 miles)

Highlights:  Variety of interesting settings - beautiful farm country, three towns with shops and food, into the woods, and the Rondout waterfront.  

Characteristics:

Hill climb: Some steeper hills - about five of them over 6% grade. Longest hill about 250 vertical feet. 

Traffic:  Some high-speed traffic sections, but many quiet roads.  But some of the other roads which sometimes have moderate traffic are not that wide and or do not have shoulders (like some sections of Ulster County Route 7).  And sometimes the shoulders on Rt 213 are not very wide.  If you're not skilled and comfortable with handling that sort of traffic situation, you should consider choosing a different route. 

Railroad tracks:  On the "visit a sandy beach" Variation on Strand St in Kingston (near mile 17.8), there are some railroad tracks crossing the road at tricky difficult angles, which could result in a bicyclist falling suddenly if not handled well. If you're not sure you can handle it, get off and walk your bike across the tracks - or just don't use this Variation.

Directions to Start

By car: From South or North:  NY Thruway to exit 18 (Poughkeepsie / New Paltz).  From the exit, turn Left onto Rt 299 West, which is Main St of the village of New Paltz.

By car from the East:  Rt 44 West across the Mid-Hudson Bridge, then Rt 9W North a couple of miles, and take Rt 299 West to New Paltz.

The start of the route is just after Main St (Rt 299) crosses Rt 32 (Chestnut St) at a traffic light -- between the Wallkill River bridge and Rt 32.

Parking:  There are lots of options in New Paltz.  What usually works for us is to park about three or four blocks from the Wallkill River bridge, somewhere north of Main St.  Then ride west on Front St / Lenape Lane and/or south on Huguenot St to reach the starting point.

by train:  New Paltz is 11 to 12 miles from the Poughkeepsie train station, with service by Metro-North from New York City, and by Amtrak.  For ideas about riding a bicycle from there, see Connecting between Poughkeepsie trains and New Paltz.

Other starting points:  Rondout waterfront in Kingston, Port Ewen (on Rt 9W), Rosendale (on Rt 32).