Ashokan Rail Trail

The rail trail officially begins at the railroad's 10th milepost (MP), marked along its route by signs every half-mile (800 m) with the number prefixed by a "K", just west of where it crosses over Basin Road near the western corner of the town of Woodstock. It is just east of the Ashokan Reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system's Catskill/Delaware watershed, and a short distance south of New York State Route 28, at above sea level. Within its first half-mile it crosses into the town of Hurley and runs abreast of the reservoir at Woodstock Dike, site of its eastern trailhead and parking lot in West Hurley, where views of the reservoir and adjacent peaks of the Catskill Mountains are available. Continuing west through the forested lands that buffer the reservoir for another half-mile, sometimes through rock cuts, the trail bends slightly towards the northwest. It reaches the longer Glenford Dike, with wider views of the reservoir and some of the Catskill High Peaks to its west. This section continues for a quarter-mile (400 m) after which the trail re-enters a narrow strip of woods between the reservoir and NY 28. A mile further, it returns to its western course, running less than a hundred feet (30 m) south of the highway, reaching in elevation and curving southwest after another mile. After another four miles, the trail enters the town of Olive and reaches the site of the former Ashokan station, now another trailhead and parking lot. Some sections in the next mile are on wooden boardwalk over wetlands abutting the reservoir. Following that it crosses under Reservoir Road south of the hamlet of Shokan. Three-quarters of a mile west of that crossing, it curves northwest again and crosses Butternut Creek at Butternut Bridge near MP 18.5. Over the next two miles, the trail begins curving northward and eventually runs along the bank of the reservoir, offering views to mountains like Ashokan High Point south of West Shokan across the reservoir and High Peaks Balsam Cap, Cornell, Friday, and Wittenberg mountains to the southwest. At MP 20.5, a half-mile causeway section takes the trail to the western end of the reservoir, where the upper section of Esopus Creek drains into it. The trail continues turning, going almost due north as it crosses the Esopus at the rebuilt Boiceville Trestle and ends at its western trailhead and parking lot near Boiceville, along New York State Route 28A. ==History==

1866–1932: Ulster and Delaware Railroad In the middle of the 19th century, Thomas Cornell, already wealthy from the steamboats he operated along the Hudson River, saw further opportunity in developing a rail link from Kingston across the Catskills in Ulster County that would connect with other railroads in New York's interior serving the Great Lakes. In 1866 he incorporated the Rondout & Oswego Railroad, which built tracks as far west as Roxbury in Delaware County over the next six years before being reorganized as the New York, Kingston & Syracuse after going bankrupt. In 1875 it became the Ulster & Delaware Railroad (U&D) following another bankruptcy. The U&D made the line profitable through the early 20th century. It shipped bluestone quarried in the Catskills to the river where it was shipped to New York City for use as sidewalks, dairy products from the region's farms and coal from Northeastern Pennsylvania. In return, passengers came upriver to spend their summers at the Catskill Mountain House and other popular large resorts. Ferries across the Hudson also allowed passengers from that region to take what was advertised as the only all-weather route to the Catskills. In 1900 the U&D achieved Cornell's original goal, reaching Oneonta in Otsego County, where it interlinked with the Delaware & Hudson Railroad's service along the Susquehanna River. The CMRR's volunteers worked to rehabilitate the track near the reservoir with the goal of providing continuous service between its terminals. Weather incidents required repairs to the tracks, particular along the Esopus in 1987, preventing that. The 2011 flooding of Esopus Creek caused by Hurricane Irene swept away part of the Boiceville Trestle, cutting the line in two. Repairs were impossible for the railroad to manage, and in 2016 the county declined to renew the CMRR's lease for that portion of the line. 2017–present: Rail trail The county created an advisory commission to recommend uses for the corridor. It hired Stone Consulting, which found rail trail to be the highest and best use for the section north of the reservoir. As obstacles to rail use, it noted the poor condition of the tracks, the need to replace the bridges at Butternut Creek and Boiceville, and the limited views available other than the two dikes (Stone wrote that the CMRR crews described the section between Glenford Dike and the approach to Boiceville as a "green tunnel", observing that "at , that's at least half an hour of nothing from the windows but trees and close-in forest views"). Despite the CMRR's original goal of offering a workable rail route all the way to Phoenicia, it had not included any plans for this section in its annual business plans since a 2008 washout, seeing the reservoir section as offering little possibility of increased ridership. Nor did the memorandum of understanding between the county and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which owns the land around the reservoir, on the use of the corridor at Glenford Dike even mention passenger rail use to that point, due to DEP's concerns about runoff from rail operations contaminating the reservoir. "Overall, the location, scenery, accessibility, ease-of-use, and combination of both isolation and access should produce a trail and recreation product that could provide the majority of projected trail destination use within the entire corridor", Stone concluded. "The almost complete unanimity of this opinion from so many viewpoints actually surprised us, and the environmental, political, and funding climates appear to be converging to achieve this goal." The only serious obstacle Stone saw was funding to rebuild the Boiceville Trestle, since a large Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant that could be used for that purpose was contingent on restoring the previous use. That issue might, the report suggested, be mitigated by reusing the beams and raising the bridge. Plans were drawn up for the rail trail in 2017 and construction began the following year on a pathway, to be surfaced in locally quarried crushed stone, except a elevated wooden boardwalk over wetlands in one section. The surface ensures the entire route is disabled-accessible; a permeable surface was also required by DEP. Construction, at a cost of $16.5 million ($ in ) began in 2018 and the full trail was open by the end of 2019. The Boiceville Trestle was rebuilt as a footbridge, three spans supported by continuous steel girders. To make it more flood-resistant in the future, it was extended in length to , longer than its predecessor, so it could be raised higher above the Esopus. Interpretive plaques were placed at various intervals along the trail, informing users of the history of the railroad, reservoir and region. ==Possible extension to east==

the county has not designated a use for the segment of the U&D corridor from the rail trail's current end at the Basin Road overpass to the intersection of the tracks with NY 28A at Stony Hollow. Trail advocates would like that segment to be trail-only so that could better be connected to the Empire State Trail network planned to run parallel to the Hudson River through Kingston; the track would have to be widened for rail and trail. This, they say, cannot be done at a reasonable cost given the federally protected wetlands adjacent to part of the segment. The CMRR has disputed this, arguing that if a boardwalk similar to the one already used by the rail trail were built in the wetlands area, there would be minimal additional cost. According to the railroad, Stony Hollow is a poor location for its terminal. Walkers seeking the views from the two dikes will drive to the West Hurley trailhead rather than climb the 2% grade on the segment. In 2025 the CMRR received a state grant to build a terminal complex on land it leases at Basin Road; it was later suspended after it was discovered the county had indicated its support of the project. The dispute between the two sides has become rancorous, with accusations of bad faith and subterfuge; the CMRR says it has had equipment vandalized on several occasions. ==See also==