KenR, June 2007:
On a cloudy and cool Sunday, Sharon and I had an enjoyable time exploring two routes that explored two routes that make a North-South traverse of the western part of Orange county. We also did some pretty riding on each end: Ulster county NY in the north and Sussex county NJ in the south.
What's in this report -- the main sections we liked were:
(A1) west of Wallkill to "Bullville" on Rt 17K (A2 thru Pine Bush)
(B1) Rt 76 (alongside Rt 17) to Otisville to Greenville (B2 further east)
(C1) Greenville NY south into NJ to Rt 23 (alternate C2)
(D1) from Rt 23 to Beemerville in NJ
Our previous North-South traverses of Orange county roughly followed the Wallkill River (which flows north into the Hudson river), but this day we stayed all to the west of the city of Middletown -- often in sight of the Shawangunk ridge which runs northeast-southwest from Ulster county thru New Jersey to Pennsylvania and beyond far south. (In NJ the same ridge is called the "Kittatinny mountains" and in PA it's called the "Blue mountain").
We made our whole ride into a loop (actually a "figure 8"), so one half of it was actually ridden in the north-bound direction, the other south-bound. But here we're doing to describe our riding in the North-to-South direction.
Sometime in the future we might want to ride sections of this day south-bound and combine it into a loop with our previous one-way route (reported below) ridden in reverse.
Many of the roads had little traffic on Sunday were well-paved and pleasant with houses -- only a few farms. The high-traffic roads usually had reasonable wide pavement.
our favorites from the day
North to South -- also with some thoughts on how to connect between them.
(A1) west of Wallkill to "Bullville" on Rt 17K
We might get to the start of these roads by using roads from the Farms + Orchards around New Paltz South route, which includes roads from the village of Wallkill.
starting in Ulster county west of Wallkill . . .
Hoagerburgh Rd south (with great views of big horse farm)
enters Orange county, changes name to Fleury Rd, Orange country Rt 17, then curves west, changes name to Thompson Ridge(?)
L on Collabar (? Rt 43 ?) south a short ways
R on Bullville Rd (southwest) to its end.
R on 17K west to intersection with Rt 302
(and we liked at least the first mile of Rt 302 south from there)
We also tried a longer alternative to (A1) . . .
(A2) west of Wallkill to Pine Bush and south
starting in Ulster county west of Wallkill . . .
Hoagerburgh Rd north to its end
L on Bruynswick Rd / Ulster county Rt 7 South a short ways
quick L on Red Mills Rd southwest, then curves northwest
L on Red Mills Rd southwest to its end -- large farm complex.
R on Bruyn Turnpike northwest
L on Hardenburgh Rd
R on North St and south into the village of Pine Bush, with several food options along Rt 52.
Rt 302 south
R on Ulsterville Rd
L on Gillespie
R on Bruyn
L on Crawford (southwest)
(then some other roads which were OK)
?? connecting from A1 or A2 to Rt 76: We tried two ways which were OK but not up to the quality of some of the other sections of our riding that day, and one bridge across Rt 17 was closed for construction. So we'd like to find a better idea. One set of bicycle route paint marks for somebody's century route crossed near Bloomingburg on Rt 17K (which worked for us), another set of bicycle route paint marks crossed further east on Sands Rd (which we found kind of coarse pavement, but OK).
[ as of Oct 2007, the repairs of the bridge over Rt 17 at Brown Rd had progressed to the point of having completed the structure, but not finishing the paving or opening the road. ]
[ Tarbell Rd and Shawangunk Rd do not cross Rt 17 ]
(B1) Rt 76 (alongside Rt 17) to Otisville to Greenville
starting on Orange county Rt 76 south of Bloomingburg . . .
Prosperous Valley Rd southwest
L on Howells Tpk
[ seemed better than continuing on Prosperous Valley + Brola, which we tried on another ride. ]
straight onto Pine Grove
straight onto Shoddy Hollow (southwest)
R on State St / Rt 211 up hill
L on State St / Rt 211 south into Otisville, with several food options
Highland Av south, then where Highland curves left . . .
sharp R on Seybolt Av / Rt 73, starts west, curves southwest and goes a long ways just below the crest of the Shawangunk ridge, with views out across Orange county.
becomes Mountain Rd / Rt 35 and continues southwest, then underneath Interstate 84, with a food store just before reaching Greenville.
We also tried a some alternate roads further east, which included . . .
(B2) between Rt 76 (alongside Rt 17) thru Howells to New Hope
some of the roads included:
Derby Rd
Tally Ho Rd / Rt 60
Guymard Tpk / Rt 24
We connected between Guymard Tpk and Greenville on Rt 94 + Greenville Tpk, which worked OK.
(C1) Greenville NY south into New Jersey to Rt 23
These roads were hiller than the more obvious routes, but gave us a sense of remoteness with some pretty scenes.
southwest on Mountain Rd / Orange county Rt 55
L on Minisink Tpk
R on Logtown Rd (south)
L on Carpenter Rd
R on Clark Rd (south), enters New Jersey, becomes Gemmer Rd.
R on Mt Salem Rd (west up steep hill)
L on Mudtown Rd south to Rt 23
We also tried this more obvious route . . .
(C2) Greenville NY south into New Jersey to Rt 23
southwest on Mountain Rd / Orange county Rt 55
Rt 23 south
Worked fine for us. Rt 23 get lots of high-speed traffic, but mostly has pretty wide pavement. Just not as scenic and interesting as (C1).
(D1) from Rt 23 to Beemerville in New Jersey
This was rather pretty and pleasant, especially south of Rt 650.
start on Rt 23
Rt 519 south, at least one major turn required
into Beemerville NJ, where we got some food at Space Farms
We're thinking of trying to include at least the section from Rt 650 to Beemerville into our riding which we sometime do one-way from Poughkeepsie NY to Bethlehem PA -- see reports below.
some alternate roads we tried near there:
Rt 649 just north of Beemerville was nice, and I might prefer it over Rt 519 if going in the North-bound direction. For South-bound I liked 519 a lot.
File Rd: I'd only do this North-bound (because South-bound finishes with a long descent into a stop sign). Interesting, but I didn't find it as pretty and pleasant as Rt 519.