Tired legs are fine things to have, especially if you’ve reserved a campsite in advance of your ebike ride. The six routes I’ve chosen here offer a place to camp out afterwards, either along the way or within biking distance of the route. And they all include hiking trails for tiring out your legs, post-ride.

The Fahnestock

Season: Usually mid-April to the end of November

Fee: $15-$19/night, with an out-of-state surcharge of $5/night. In addition, a $7.25 reservation fee, unless you walk up. Walk-ups are an additional $1.25 fee.

Vibe: State campground for tenting and RVs. Mostly quiet with pockets of seclusion. Fire rings, public toilets, hikes from the campground around this expansive park.

Fahnestock State Park‘s campsite is located 3.5 miles from the start of this loop bicycle route on dirt-and-gravel roads through former mining lands, antique farmsteads and hemlock woods. And while the campsite is decent — there are 80 camp sites, each with a fire ring, picnic table and stand-up grills — the main attraction is the park itself.  The public beach on Canopus Lake, located just a short drive away from your camp, is available to campers even after the main swimming season has closed for the year. And there are several nice hikes that leave from the campground and can take you all across this sprawling, 14,000-acre state park.

For a great after-ride hike close to your camp, do the yellow-blazed loop around Pelton Pond. The evergreens — hemlock, pine and spruce — are magical year-round, and although the hike is just over a mile around the pond, the beauty surrounding you will slow you down along the way.

While the campsites have no electric hook-ups to recharge your bike, there are outlets available at the pavilion on Pelton Pond, along Route 301 in the park.

To get from the campsite to the start of the cycling route, leave the campsite and turn left onto Route 301. The road is lined and paved; use caution on this moderately-busy road.

Ride three miles and turn left onto Dennytown Road. In a half mile, you’ll come to the parking area at the corner of Dennytown Road and Sunken Mine Road — the beginning of your ride.

Pelton Pond in winter, surrounded by a magical forest of hemlock and pine. The trail that loops the pond is pretty in any season.

The Steep Rock

Season: Usually mid-April to the middle of November

Fee: $35/night per campsite, including firewood.

Vibe: Quiet, private. No RVs, tent only. Two sites are hike-in only.

Steep Rock Preserve deserves more exploration than our route offers. For one thing, plenty of pretty hiking trails thread through this 1000-acre land trust. And a gentle, flat riverside dirt-and-gravel road, perfect for your bike, leads to an abandoned railroad tunnel to explore. And with only three campsites, each nestled in the woods next to the hurrying Shepaug River, you’ll have plenty of privacy to hear the river tumble on its way downstream.

Two of the campsites are hike-in, and one is drive-up. You must reserve them at least three days in advance so the preserve can prepare them for you. Note that you’ll need to bring your own toilet paper and potable water (or a way to purify it), and a bear bag to keep your food safe from critters.

As of late 2020, the camp fee is $35.00 a night, a fee which includes firewood, because the ash borer has been discovered in Connecticut and the preserve does not want you to bring your own wood into the park.

Call to reserve: (860) 868-9131.

The Macedonia

Season: Usually mid-April to early September.

Vibe: State campground for tenting and RVs. Fire rings, public toilets, hikes from the campground. Sites are not particularly secluded.

Our ebike route begins and ends in Macedonia Brook State Park, so why not camp the night? 51 campsites sit against a wooded backdrop in the park, the winding brook providing the soundtrack for your stay.

After your ride, try a hike. The 6.8-mile loop hike along the Blue Trail takes in the views at the top of Cobble Hill. Take this hike counterclockwise to optimized views and offset the super-steep portions of the trail. Views at the top of Cobble Hill are sweeping and spectacular.

The campsites can be booked here, and are available from April 12 through Labor Day (check campground status, because Covid restrictions may change opening dates).

The Minnewaska

Season: Mid-April to mid-November.

Fee: AAC Member $24
Mohonk Preserve Member $24
Non-member $38

Vibe: Campground catering to climbers, but open to everyone. No RVs. Convivial atmosphere, no fire rings but there’s a communal fire pit that sees a lot of use. Some sites are hike-in; some are drive-up.

In addition to the unforgettable views from a network of carriage roads, the Minnewaska State Park area offers the opportunity to spend the night, albeit outside the park. Make your camp reservation at the Samuel F Pryor Shawangunk Gateway Campground. A tent-only campground, the SFP has tent platforms and new and clean bathrooms. It’s not an expansive campsite, and has a mostly utilitarian feel; most campers are here to get a good night’s sleep before an early start to a climb or hike.

The campground is located outside Minnewaska State Park, and offers discount rates if you’re a member of the Mohonk Preserve. Which I recommend, especially if you’re an early riser: the membership grants you 7am access to trails that are otherwise open to the general public at 9am.

Besides driving your car to the Peters Kill parking area, there are two ways to get from your campsite to our route in Minnewaska on your bike:

1. The first keeps you on the public road, and is a steep climb, but you don’t have to pay to use the Mohonk Preserve (which does not apply if you are a Mohonk Preserve Member). Turn left out of the campground onto New Paltz-Minnewaska Road, then turn right at the Mountain Brauhaus (and, if you like, get your breakfast or provisions and sandwiches for the day at the Mountain Harbor Deli at the intersection). Ride (climb!) Route 44/55 for 4.5 miles to the small pull-out on the left side of the road, where you can pass through the chain to pick up the Awosting Falls Carriageway.
2. You can also get to Minnewaska via the carriage roads in Mohonk Preserve, for which you’ll need to pay for a day pass (as of late 2020, this fee is $20.00 for bikers) or possess a membership. Turn left out of the campground onto New Paltz-Minnewaska Road, then turn right at the Mountain Brauhaus (and, if you like, get your breakfast or provisions and sandwiches for the day at the Mountain Harbor Deli at the intersection). Continue the short climb up the road and turn in to the Interpretive Center (where you can get your day pass), on the right side of the road. At the far end of the parking lot, pick up the carriage road; it soon ends in a T-junction with the Undercliff Road carriage road. Turn left here. Ride along Undercliff Road for .6 mile to the Trapps Bridge, then cross the bridge and pick up Trapps Road, another pleasant carriage road. Ride Trapps Road for two miles, until it emerges at paved Lyons Road. (As of this writing in 2020, a sign on Lyons Road says the Trapps Road from Lyons Road to Awosting Falls Carriage Road is closed to bikes. But this may have changed by the time you read this). If the carriage road is closed, turn right onto Lyons Road, then left onto Route 44/55 and ride for one mile to the small pull-out on the left side of the road, where you can pass through the chain to pick up the Awosting Falls Carriageway. If the carriage road from Lyons Road is open, take it to get to the Awosting Falls Carriageway and the start of the Minnewaska route.

The Vernooy Kill

Season: Year-round

Fee: none

Vibe: Wilderness

Remote and rustic, camping at the Vernooy Kill State Forest is your basic forest, stream and a dirt patch. It’s camping in the raw. No reservations are needed, just follow the simple rules: Campsites must be at least 150 feet away from the nearest road, trail, or body of water, and camping for more than three nights or in groups of ten or more requires a permit from a Forest Ranger.

To find campsites, stay on Lundy Road instead of turning right onto Rogue Harbor Road. Lundy penetrates deeper into the state forest, and you’ll find pull-out parking areas and easier access to campsites.

The Perkins Memorial

The ebike route to the top of Bear Mountain along Perkins Memorial Drive, lovely as it is, offers no camping along the way. But if you’re doing the bikepacking thing, Harriman State Park, adjacent and connected to Bear Mountain, offers an abundance of camping options, from bare-bonesing it in one of the classic stone lean-tos, to a more upmarket experience at the AMC Outdoor Center at Breakneck Pond.