July 8, 2012: I’m learning about the Long Path. According to Schenectady County planner Steve Feeney, one of the benefits of the new trailhead at Lower Gregg Road is that the Long Path can now be routed through the Plotter Kill Preserve.
***The Long Path dates from the 30s and goes from the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey to the Mohawk River. 347 miles long, it strings together various parks and preserves in New York. Loosely defined, and still a work in progress, it will eventually meander from NYC to the ’Dacks.
***For decades the Long Path has bypassed the Plotter Kill just to the west on Gregg Road. The preserve couldn’t be connected because it had no northern outlet. The new Gregg Road trailhead provides northern access, so the Long Path will be re-routed to include 2.5 miles of Plotter Kill Preserve red trail. We may be seeing some LP blazes at the PKP, maybe even some through-hikers. —Ed
Places of interest
Plotterkill links
PKP Cloud
Botanizing Bushwhack Catherine Kielb Coggeshall Convergence Danger! Efts! Fairy Staircase Falls Fall Forest Spirits Geology Gore-tex Grandma Gregg Rd. trailhead Highland Trail Hiking Horse's Head loop Ice Jacob's Ladder Landslide Long loop Loops Microspikes Mileage Mosquitos Movies Mud Paradise glen Photos Picnic Rynex Scenic loop Sergeant's Falls Snowshoes Springtime Steinmetz Stone Wall Stream crossing Summer The Isle of Scree The Long Path The Small Falls The Upper Falls Three Falls and Back Thunderstorm Tropical Storm Irene Uncategorized Unicorns Waterfall Loop WinterArchives
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
Hmm. Sounds like the unofficial current end of the LP trail is not too far from Goat Farm Rd in Bleecker.
Hi Tommy,
That would be your neighborhood?
V interesting, Ed. I’d never heard of the NY Long Path; initially a project of the WPA, can we assume? The idea is the same as the Long Trail in VT, through traversing considerably more diverse terrain. Thanks for the post.
I think it was inspired by VT’s Long Trail.
In 1933 VJ Schaefer, a scientist at GE, sort of declared it a “path.” Hiker W.W. Cady and Raymond Torrey who wrote an outdoors column for the Times signed on to the concept. The idea got lost in the war effort and faded until 1960, when it was revived by NYC hikers Michael Warren and Robert Jessen.
Schaefer’s idea: …[A] route that a person having good “woods” sense could use to move across a region using compass and “topo” map, and that in a meandering way would lead such persons to most of the interesting scenic vistas, rock formations, choice or unique vegetation, historical sites and similar items that a certain type of outdoors person enjoys.
He wrote to an official at Harriman that: There would be no cutting or blazing, for this trail would be a truly wild walk that wouldn’t erode the land or scar the solitude … and each found site would be an adventure in orienteering.