For years I have been telling my family and friends who have never been to the Mid-Hudson Valley about the local scenery. Many of them think that everything between Staten Island and Kingston New York is covered with blacktop. This of course is absurd! I live in the New Paltz area and every year I say I will take pictures of the local apple orchards in full blossom.

Well, every year I usually forget about it, and it almost happened this year, but I caught it! Ideally, it would have been better if I had done this a week earlier as the trees were more full of flowers, but better late then never.

Ulster County has a nice secret, and that is the Rail Trail. It is an old abandoned railroad that the neighboring towns have converted into a walking/biking/equine trail. The section I normally travel is about 20 miles long. I bike it, walk it, and sometimes even run it.

Here is where I started on the trail today

After a short walk, you hit the apple orchard behind Dresslers farm with the Mohonk Mountain in the background:

Here are some trees still in full bloom:

One of the apple barns:

Further down the trail, there is some more spring scenery:

As you can see, the New Paltz area is still beatiful in the springtime. This is the last thing people think of when you tell them you live about an hour outside of New York City.