Neil Bettez said he saw the future of New Paltz, NY after a recent Town Board meeting. The town supervisor and his deputy, Daniel Torres, were walking along one of the few complete portions of New Paltz’s future River-to-Ridge Trail, which isn’t yet open to the public.
It was sunset. The sunlight warmed their faces as the corn stalks bordering the trail stood sentry over the nearby Wallkill River.
There, in the Shawangunk Ridge’s foothills, “You feel like you’re a million miles away” from earthly concerns and civilization, Bettez said.
In the coming years, the soon-to-be-completed trail will connect to the Empire State Trail.
That 750-mile path will link New York City to Canada, and Albany to Buffalo, when it opens in 2020.
The new River-to-Ridge Trail also will connect New Paltz to the Mohonk Preserve – New York’s largest nonprofit nature preserve – and the carriage roads that the nonprofit is restoring in its nearby foothills.
I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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