Ken Roberts and Sharon Marsh Roberts
  

Exploring roads which are new for you is a fun thing to do in the Hudson valley.  The main ingredients are  a county road map (see Road Maps) and a taste for solving routefinding puzzles.

Sometimes we go into an area which is completely new for us, and try to find some interesting roads and views.  Other times we start with a route we already know, and then try a new variation on it.

Fun areas to explore

Basically, most areas north of the Newburgh-Beacon bridge which have a route shown on the overview map, also have other roads worth exploring.  Here are some areas to try: 

• Northern Dutchess County -- for some routes to introduce you to this area, try Hills and Farms of Northeast Dutchess County or  Rhinebeck-Tivoli Loop.
   
  
• All of Columbia County (except the hilly Northeast corner) -- Use any of the Columbia County routes as an introduction.
   
  
• The Wallkill River valley in Ulster County around New Paltz.  If you want some routes to introduce you to this area, see New Paltz routes.
   

Sharing exploratory routes

We enjoy talking with people who like to explore and find new routes -- our fellow explorers.  So if you do too then get in touch (send us E-mail) and let's talk about ideas and questions.  We also maintain an ongoing E-mail list of folks who like exploring the Hudson valley by bicycle, so send us a note to request to be added to the BikeHudsonExploring list. 

If you've found some routes and would like to share them with other people, we've got two ways to do that.  First, if you put it up on the Web, you can send the link to us (send us E-mail) and we can put the link on this site with credit to you.  Second, if you have a route but it's not on the Web, we might be able to help you suggest ways to get it there.  Or if you just send it to us, and we ride it ourselves, then we could put it up on our this site, with credit to you.

Needs for exploratory ideas

Areas where we are especially interested to hear ideas about routes:

• A loop route near the southern end of the Shawangunks (say the area from High Point, NJ to Route 52 in New York) which includes Otisville and Mountain Rd.
   

• A one-way route from the New York state office buildings in Albany, south to Feura Bush.
   

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regions: Mid-Hudson Catskills Catskill region Wallkill area areas

counties: Dutchess Rockland Orange Ulster Greene Albany Westchester Putnam Columbia Rensselaer Bergen county

towns:  Poughkeepsie Rhinebeck New Paltz Woodstock Kingston Manhattan -- city town village

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