Date visited: 11/3/2022

We skipped walking over the Hudson River Skyway the day before, because Mandy does not like heights. So it may seem odd that we crossed this bridge the very next day. This one is different. It is pedestrian/cycle only, and is much wider. Mandy probably didn't even realize she was on the bridge, because she had no issues with this walkway. The bridge used to carry a double track railroad, built in 1889 and used as a railroad track until 1974. It's new life as a pedestrian walkway started in 2009. The bridge connects the Dutchess Rail Trail to the Hudson Valley Greenway. Those trails are both segments of the Empire State Trail, a 750 mile multi-use trail that links New York City, Albany, Buffalo and the Canadian border. The bridge crosses the Hudson River and connects Poughkeepsie to Highland. I get very confused as to the make-up of the municipalities in New York State. There are towns, cities, villages, and something called hamlets. Highland is a "hamlet" of a town called Lloyd, and there is a Town of Poughkeepsie that is different from the city of Poughkeepsie. I can say with certainly that I will never be completing every town in New York, so I guess it doesn't matter what is considered a town and what is not! At any rate, this was a fun, easy four mile walk (two miles each way) with great views on another spectacularly mild November day. The pictures below are from the Highland section of the trail. The pictures from the Poughkeepsie section are here.

Date visited: 6/19/2026

This is a small park with views of the Hudson River and Franklin Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge. There is a steep staircase down that provides access to the Franny Reese State Park. It also leads down to Oakes Road, where we went after the state park, and were able to get some nice photos of the river.

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Date visited: 6/19/2026

This is a 251 acre state park that overlooks the Hudson River and the Franklin Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge. We accessed it from Johnson-Iorio Park, and hiked a 3.5 mile loop. We stopped for a bit at the scenic overlook, which provides nice views of the river and the bridge. There are also old ruins along the trail, and a lot of stone walls. This was more of a hike than we are accustomed to. According to my Apple Watch, we climbed 778 feet, which is the most we've ever done at one place in the 6+ years of adventures! It actually wasn't too bad, as the climbs were spread out through the loop. The back side of the loop was a bit boring, but overall, this was a pretty fun hike.

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