Long Path - The Long Path Today

The Long Path Today

Perhaps reflecting its origins as a trail that wasn't really a trail, the Long Path in the early 21st century is a work in progress, continually evolving even in those places where it has long been a presence. Relocations continue to be made and new sections opened.

The central Catskills have seen the greatest activity. In 1999, trail crews completed work on a section starting at the Willow Trail near the summit of Mount Tremper near Phoenicia, descending down into the neighboring valley and then over "Edgewood Mountain" into Silver Hollow Notch, where it follows an old road down to Route 214. This section eliminated a lengthy road walk to Willow, albeit at the price of a two-mile (3 km) road walk into Stony Clove Notch. However, this added Plateau Mountain to the trail route, and pending future approval from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and an amendment to the Unit Management Plan for the Indian Head Wilderness Area, a new section will be built to follow a ridge from Silver Hollow Notch to the Devil's Path on Plateau and eliminate that road walk.

To the south of Phoenicia, work is also continuing on a planned section to run from the Burroughs Range Trail near Wittenberg Mountain over adjacent peaks to Route 28 that would eliminate the road walk out of Woodland Valley State Campground. Hikers would still have to walk along the highway into Phoenicia and then back out to pick up the trail unless they wished to ford Esopus Creek.

Not long afterwards, the state purchased the former Lundy estate in the vicinity of Kerhonkson, 4,930 acres (19.7 km²) straddling the Catskill Park Blue Line near the southern tip of the park. The new property, once occupied by an owner of Lundy's Restaurant, is to become a state forest outside the park and a new Wild Forest within it. It will also allow for the relocation of the Long Path off roads to follow the Vernooy Kill. The relocation would rejoin the present Long Path route at Vernooy Falls west of Riggsville in the Ulster County township of Rochester, N.Y.

In late 2001, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development allowed the construction of a new trail across its Platte Clove Preserve. It was added to the Long Path, and allowed for a rerouting of the route along existing trails to take in Indian Head Mountain and its stunning views of the Hudson Valley, as well as eliminating a road walk that previously existed.

All these changes have combined or will to make the 94 miles (150 km) of Long Path in the Catskill Park almost entirely off-road.

In the Shawangunks, new agreements with landowners and/or changes in ownership have also made eliminations of road walks possible.

Further south, in heavily suburbanized Rockland County, where some road walks are now mostly unavoidable, the county's Planning Board has made the Long Path route an area of special attention and one of its spines for open space preservation efforts, trying to convince its local counterparts to protect the corridor.

North of the Catskills, the Long Path North Committee continues its efforts to bypass road walks and route the trail into more wooded areas, particularly the small state forests in Schoharie County. The main problem the trail faces there, ironically, is underuse ... some sections just north of the Catskill Park, particularly the magnificent climb up Huntersfield Mountain and its associated range, are getting overgrown and only the blazes remain to indicate the trail. Increasing public awareness of the trail and promoting use of various sections continues to be a concern.

Lastly, the southern end of the trail was moved to an information kiosk and parking area on the other side of the I-95 overpass at the bridge approach.