Last fall, Wendy, Dante, and I took a Hudson River boat trip. The trip was organized by Dante's college but it was a regular commercial tour that takes a couple hours and gets repeated a few times every day for all sorts of groups or the general public. The captain narrates all sorts of history connected with the various sights along the river. The trip starts and stops along the Rondout River in Kingston, so the first story we heard was a bit about the traffic through that juncture, where the Rondout flows into the Hudson. In the nineteenth century, the Delaware and Hudson canal ran along the Rondout, and carried impressive amounts of coal from Pennsylvania mines along the way to New York City. Those boat trip stories whetted my appetite for bicycle exploration of the canal's route.
Spring has been slow to arrive around here this year, so I had been plotting routes on the map while waiting for a break in the cold. The forecast for today was calling for clear skies and a high of 50: perfect for a ride. But I attend a regular reading group in Red Hook that was meeting today! Well, the route I'd worked out went right by the west end of the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge. Why not combine the activities!
I got an early start - early for me, anyway: a few minute before 7 AM, with the sun just up over the horizon. My automatic light switch stayed on for the first few miles, with the sun behind trees. Soon though I found myself headed directly into a blinding sun. I was watching my rear view mirror closely - any cars passing me would be having just as hard a time seeing. Fortunately traffic was light. I passed a woman walking toward me on my side of the road. She could tell that I was blinded and seemed uncertain how we should pass each other - she started moving out into the roadway so I could continue along the edge of the road. I rang my bell to let her know that I had seen her and then pulled far out into the road so she could continue along the edge. That was a first for me, using a bell to let a pedestrian know that I had seen them!
In Red Hook I started with a second breakfast and my first coffee of the day at Taste Budd's. That gave me a chance to rest before our reading group. Ah, yes: combining activities did mean I had to carry some extra weight along on my ride: books! Only a couple, though! Altogether I was three hours in Red Hook, with 20 miles on the odometer.
After recrossing the bridge to the west side of the Hudson, I turned south on route 32, and then continued through East Kingston on Main St. I first learned about that route a couple years ago, at a farm stand in Red Hook. A whole stream of bicyclists were passing by, and a few stopped at the stand to puzzle over their cue sheets. I asked if I could help get them oriented. The cue sheet was clearly sending them over the bridge but didn't say so explicitly, so maybe I did help by sketching a bit what they should expect. But that turn onto Main St. was a bit of a puzzle for me. When I got home I checked a map & got intrigued. So today finally I got to explore that territory.
The layers of history around here are quite remarkable. Even the geology is a bit of a puzzle for me. There are two main sets of hills or mountains: the Catskills and the Shawangunks. The Catskills are an eroded plateau, I have heard. They do tend to be gently rounded. The Shawangunks are very different. Some sort of tilted structure juts up in a line that starts down along the New Jersey - Pennsylvania border and finally runs out of steam just a bit north of Kingston. The Rondout runs between the Catskills and the Shawangunks, at least up to Rosendale where it breaks through the Shawangunk ridge in a rather spectacular gorge.
Kingston is among the earliest European settlements in this part of the world, dating to the mid-seventeenth century. There are still plenty of houses about from the early days. The different sorts of industry that have thrived here have also left their traces, some of which continue to be active. All through this area, from Rosendale to Kingston and further north to Saugerties, Cementon, and Hudson, there are mines and quarries. Main St. through East Kingston runs through some working class neighborhoods and then past several quarries, before arriving in the Rondout district in Kingston.
Along with docks and shipyards, the Rondout has several restaurants. Even though I hadn't come so far from Red Hook, I hadn't eaten since before the reading group met. Biking is always a great excue to eat, anyway! So I stopped at Dolce and ordered their buckwheat pancakes. I'd been missing good wholegrain pancakes since Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia has been in suspended animation. I am happy to report that Dolce makes very fine pancakes!
From the Rondout Harbor I followed Abeel St and then Creek Locks Rd up to Rosendale. This was the big attraction of the trip and it didn't disappoint. There are quite a few old canal lock structure standing, though well started on the process of tumbling down. Along the road are some very fine grand old houses that look reasonably well kept. I was hoping to get a good look at the confluence of the Wallkill and the Rondout, but that was too far off the road and behind too many trees. The Wallkill drains the east side of the Shawangunk ridge, a fertile valley dominated by orchards and vinyards.
In Rosendale I found the Alternative Baker open so that let me try their famous lemon pastries. I do make generous use of the bike riding excuse to eat! I also bought a small loaf of sour dough to get me the rest of the way home. My odometer read 41 miles in Rosendale. By the time I got home - 7 PM - it was up around 65 miles. Between Stone Ridge and West Hurley, my route goes through some remote territory, so bringing along a bit of food is the only way to keep eating!
Our reading group meets twice a month! Wouldn't it be grand to include a nice big bike ride every time! I fear I am too lazy! But still I hope I find such an opportunity again soon!
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/188607270
