The Empire State Trail was first envisioned in 2017 and is set to open this year. The question still remains of when exactly will the trail open? The Empire State Trail will bring together fellow New Yorkers along with millions of visitors. It allows exercise enthusiasts, nature lovers and travelers to explore all of the beauty throughout New York. Fellow historians will also enjoy discovering the history of this state from the Lower Hudson Valley up to Albany and beyond. The trail will showcase the extensive history of New York along with its sights, sounds and beauty.

The trail welcomes walkers, runners, hikers and bicyclists of all ages. The Empire State Trail will be open all year long. We can plan to spend a beautiful, summer day exploring the trails and enjoy the fall foliage and watch the leaves change in October. During the winter, you can participate in snow shoeing, cross country skiing and hiking.

The Empire State Trail will be a 750 mile long continuous route starting from the Big Apple, New York City, to Albany, Buffalo and all the way to Canada. The trail will highlight the Hudson Greenway Trails, Erie Canalway Trail, Champlain Valley Trail and several more beauty monuments in this state.

The Empire State Trail is set to open this year, by the end of 2020. This trail will then be the nation’s multi use, longest trail.

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Many are those who say the Adirondacks are unique. That may be an overused word, but in numerous ways the region is distinctive, and in some cases even certifiably unique. Let’s consider some of those ways.

The Adirondacks are big. Not vertically, which is what most people think of when they hear the word “big” associated with mountains, but horizontally. Consider the Adirondack Park, for all intents and purposes the most useful packaging of the region.

The park is defined by its famous Blue Line, so-called because somebody drew the original line in blue pencil on a map about 125 years ago. (It has been reconfigured, usually to enlarge the park, several times since.) Inside that line are 6.1 million acres, give or take.

Simply put, the park is the largest of its kind—state, national, whatever—in the Lower 48. You could put Rhode Island in it and have enough room left over for Delaware and Connecticut. Toss those three aside and you could fit Maryland in. Or New Jersey, although local self-styled comedians always ask, “Why would you want to?” You could even squeeze Vermont in if you lopped a few acres off of the Green Mountain State. Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite National Parks would go in nicely as a package.

The Adirondacks are old. This is open to ongoing scrutiny by the scientific community, but most geologists consider Adirondack bedrock to be among the oldest exposed rock in the world, at somewhere beyond one billion years.

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During his 2017 State of the State address, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out an ambitious proposal to develop 350 miles of new biking paths and hiking trails that will connect New York City to both Canada and Buffalo through Albany.

Dubbed the Empire State Trail, the whole project will stretch 750 miles and include roughly 400 miles of existing trails. It’s scheduled to be completed by 2020, and state officials and developers are beginning to make moves to hit that deadline.

Cuomo doubled down on his support for the trail in his proposed 2019 fiscal year budget, calling out a lack of environmental funding from Washington in the process. His proposal puts up $300 million for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund—the most in its history—and also includes funding for a sprawling 407-acre state park on the coast of Jamaica Bay.

On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, the New York State Canal Corporation is hosting a public meeting in Little Falls, New York, to pitch its latest design for the construction of a key part of the path that will connect Albany to Buffalo.

When it’s completed, the Empire State Trail will be the longest path of its kind in the entire country, and it will give cycling and hiking nuts in New York a direct path to “the scenic natural beauty” that is “vital to our future and part of who we are as New Yorkers,” according to the governor.

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The Erie Canal in New York State is a 363-mile man-made waterway started in 1817 and finished in 1825 and celebrated the commencement of its bicentennial in 2017. The canal was built to allow mule and horse-drawn packet boats to haul materials on the east-west travel route between Buffalo and Albany.

The original canal was enlarged three times and eventually re-aligned in places to form the current NYS Canal System, managed by the NYS Canal Corporation and used by newer, larger shipping vessels. But part of the original canal east of Syracuse and its towpath, where the mules and horses historically walked along the water, is still there, with a trail on one side or both and is known today as Old Erie Canal State Park.

Old Erie Canal State Park is a 36-mile stretch at the heart of the 360-mile cross-state Erie Canalway Trail, which follows the alignment of the present day as well as the historic Erie Canal and is open to multiple user groups. And, soon, the Erie Canalway Trail will be part of the statewide Empire State Trail, a 750-mile connecting trail from New York City to Canada and from Albany to Buffalo, which is slated to be finished in 2020 as announced by Gov. Cuomo in 2017.

The Old Erie Canal State Park trail is one of the key connection points for local snowmobile clubs. The waterway portion along the Old Erie Canal State Park is navigable by canoe and kayak for short segments throughout, and offers many fishing access points as well. Several footbridges afford glimpses of remnants of the many old stone canal aqueducts.

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A New York-based non-profit has proposed a plan to connect the state with Connecticut and New Jersey via a 1,650-mile network of hiking and biking trails.

With the new proposal, some 8 million residents would be within a half-mile of a trail, and 80 percent of residents in all three states would be within 2 miles of a trail.

While all three states have a plethora of trails and parks, these greenways are largely disconnected. The plan seeks to better integrate them so urban residents in particular can access trails — and stimulate the economies of trail towns. The new network would also facilitate migration for animals, enhancing the biodiversity of the region.

Approximately 50 percent of the routes proposed would be made up of trails that already exist. Another 23 percent would incorporate new segments, and a final 27 percent would use proposed or in-progress trails.

The network of trails would encompass some of the best loved natural spots in the tri-state area, including the Catskill Mountains, the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and local green spaces in Brooklyn and New York City.

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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.

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Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced $2 million in funding for projects to improve and expand State Park hiking trails and outdoor recreational access projects in State Parks across New York. The 2017-18 budget dedicates nearly $2 million to 12 projects to improve and expand State Park hiking trails and outdoor recreational access projects across New York. The trails projects are part of the Governor’s historic commitment to improving parks and expanding access to outdoor recreation through the NY Parks 2020 Plan.

“The New York State Parks system offers unparalleled natural beauty and world-class outdoor recreation in every corner of this state,” Governor Cuomo said. “With this funding, we ensure that our trails and parks remain second to none, and I encourage residents and visitors alike to get out this summer and explore the hundreds of miles of trails New York has to offer.”

New York State Parks feature more than 2,000 miles of trails, from challenging mountain climbs to gentle bicycle paths. Visitors can hike the popular Indian Ladder Trail in Thacher State Park then stop in the new Thacher Park Center, or ride along the new 8-mile Black Diamond Trail near Ithaca, or explore back country trails in thousands of acres of protected open space in the rugged Hudson Highlands. For more information on trails in State Parks, visit www.nysparks.com/recreation/trails.

“With Memorial Day here and summer around the corner, it’s a great time to hike, jog, bike or horseback ride,” Rose Harvey, Commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said. “State Park trails offer some of the best places to explore and discover New York’s great outdoors.

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Growing numbers of hikers in the Adirondack Eastern High Peaks region are trashing trails, crowding summits and negatively affecting the experience for others.

The Department of Environmental Conservation says less populated routes offer equally great fall foliage and a less crowded backcountry experience.

Its suggested alternatives include Rocky Peak, where the East Trail in the Giant Mountain Wilderness ascends 6.7 miles and 3,600 feet from the trailhead on Route 9N to the summit.

Another is Baxter Mountain, with a mile-long trail in the Hammond Pond Wild Forest that ascends 725 feet from the trailhead on the State Route 9N to the top.

The DEC offers a total of 13 alternative, less-crowded hiking routes…

It’s been four years since it was first announced. And years remain before it is to be completed.

But momentum continues to build for one of the most ambitious trail projects in the mid-Hudson Valley, a potential 9-mile pathway linking Beacon and Cold Spring, New York.

The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail will provide hikers and bikers safe passage through the towns of Fishkill and Philipstown, along the busy Route 9D corridor and adjacent to the Hudson River and Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve.

The park is home to one of the nation’s most popular day hikes, Breakneck Ridge, a 5.5-mile trail that offers sweeping views at 1,250 feet above the Hudson. The climb is so popular, it has its own train stop along Metro-North’s Hudson line.

Officials representing the public-private partnership that is building the trail unveiled signage with maps and other information at Long Dock Park in Beacon. The signs also mark another chapter in the riverfront’s transformation from an industrial center to one dominated by recreational and residential uses.

An environmental review is underway. The review, led by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will identify environmental as well as community impacts, such as parking or trash. Nearly 30 federal, state and local agencies and groups are involved.

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In September 1991 there was one town park with a few miles of trails that were maintained by the town Water Department, said VHT Chairperson David Wright. “I went to the first meeting,” he said. “There were about 25 of us, and we decided we’d become a 501c3. We started meeting monthly and mapped out a plan of where we thought trails needed to go.”

Indeed they did. Thanks to the passion and hard work of many, there are now more than 55 miles of maintained, non-motorized trails within the town and village. And based on a recent statewide survey, an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 users travel the Lehigh and Auburn trails alone each year.

Wright and other board members would like to see the next generation embrace the mission and continue on. The plan calls for small trail improvements, maintenance, boardwalks and bridges over creeks and even some new trails “to make the trail experience more enjoyable,” said Wright.

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