The wintertime cold weather has come crashing down around the southern Hudson Valley and Harlem Valley. Most daytime temperatures are now in the thirties, and I would expect some snow and ice along the roads. It’s not my favorite time to ride.

And even though this website’s mission is to offer lesser-known places to ride your ebike — places that are not shared-use paths, but quiet gravel routes and backroads — I couldn’t help myself. The long awaited, vaunted multi-use Empire State Trail, connecting one end of New York to the other, opened yesterday, and I was dying to see it for myself.

The abandoned Maybrook railroad track along the Maybrook Trailway, part of the Empire State Trail in southern New York State.

There’s one section of the Maybrook Trailway that I was particularly interested in. It runs south from the parking area in Holmes, New York, in Dutchess County, to the parking lot in Brewster, on Pumphouse Road, in Putnam County.

I wanted to see the part of the trailway that crosses the Great Swamp. Outside of being in a kayak on the water, there’s probably no better access than the trailway to get an up-close look at the swamp, a fascinating and unique area that has earned the “Important, Scarce, and Vulnerable” Wetland designation under USFWS plans and acts.

So I bundled up. I left the car in the lot on Route 292 in Holmes, just north of its intersection with Holmes Road. I read the new signage at the trailhead, and pedaled south.

Clough Preserve meets with the Maybrook Trailway in Brewster, New York.

This section, which follows the old Maybrook train line from Dutchess County into Putnam County, starts in Holmes with the typical rail-trail character: well-paved, straight and with an almost unnoticable grade downhill. You hear the sound of frisky Muddy Brook, to the right of the trailway, as it tumbles down rocky cataracts. On my ride, I was startled by a friendly sheep grazing heedlessly at the edge of the pavement. When I pulled over, I noticed a massive, grunting, snuffling pig chewing away at a puny screening of evergreens. Both had free reign on the trail.

…and a fat pig grazing on the side of the trail.

There’s an old iron bridge a couple of miles from the Holmes start that marks the beginning of the swamp. I have stepped out onto that bridge before, back when it was just a floorless expanse of metal over the intersecting tracks for the MTA, which still operates on that line. I’ve been looking forward to seeing what the trail-builders made of that old bridge.

But the real highlight of this section is crossing the Great Swamp, a key natural feature, 63,000 acres in all. Riding across the marsh in winter, it’s hard to believe this semi-frozen marsh teems with life, the rich biodiversity hidden from view. But I could imagine a rookery for herons and egrets growing out of the many bare trees in the marsh in springtime, along with an unending chorus of spring peepers and bullfrogs. kAnd the tracks that run through the swamp have been thoughtfully prepped with turtle ramps to make the wood turtles’ inevitable crossings, from one side of the swamp to the other, a bit easier.

Stone ramps make for easier train track crossing for the wood turtles that inhabit and nest in the Great Swamp.

Continuing south, the swamp bleeds into the Ice Pond, where the trail hugs the hemlock-covered, rocky slopeside and the pond. It’s a lovely, quiet stretch.  An extremely large beaver lodge was about all the evidence you can see of mammal life. A trail from the Clough Preserve meets the bike path here, disappearing along the hemlock-laced shore of the pond. If you’re tired of bicycling and want to explore on foot, you’ll find a break in the timber fencing at the southern end of Ice Pond. 

(Another hike to explore if you haven’t had enough: the footpath to the top of the hill overlooking and opposite the rail trail and Ice Pond. To get to this trailhead by car, follow Ice Pond Road north from Route 312 for about 1.25 mile. The Ice Pond Preserve parking area is just south of the intersection of Ice Pond Road and Tommy Thurber Lane.The trail is not well-blazed, but is easily followed to the top of the rocky hill, from which you’ll have wide views of the pond and Harlem Valley.)

The new, paved path is a breeze to ride, especially for the electric bike. The grade from Holmes to Brewster is decidedly downhill, with the uphill return facing into the wind on the day I rode.  Newly-laid blacktop is perfectly smooth as it runs alongside the old, disused railroad tracks; the state must have decided to leave them in place, at least for now. The old iron bridge has been re-laid with a timber floor. 

The iron bridge. The bridge spans across the active Metro-North train line, below.

You will need to come fully prepared for this ride, because there is nowhere to drop off the trail for many miles once you start south. Spare tube, pump, tire irons, water and food are absolute necessities. I’d also make sure I had a phone and a spare battery charger to boot.

I have no doubt this trail will be amply beautiful in the spring, when the peepers are in full throat and the ferns begin to emerge from the hemlock woods. And in the fall, when the color is near riotous. The entire Empire State Trail, from New York to Buffalo, is open year-round as of December 31, 2020.