Hudson River Valley Ramble Kicks off its Seventh Year
by Jennifer Sipple
This year’s Hudson Valley Ramble is about to take place with over 160 guided walking, hiking, kayaking, canoeing and biking experiences which highlight the Hudson’s river valley and estuary. With a wide variety of events, the Hudson Valley Ramble offers something to just about anyone interested in taking a stroll and learning a little local history along the way.
Each Ramble event is led by an ecologist, geologist, historian, or trained volunteer from over one hundred local environmental and historical preservation organizations. Each event is designed to expose participants to the beauty of the Hudson Valley while educating them about the Valley’s natural and cultural history.
Last year, my husband and I happily found time to attend one of the Ramble hikes along a ridge in Putnam County called Anthony’s Nose (a hike which is also offered this year). The Ramble event catalogue had marked the hike as difficult and 3.7 miles long, but we weren’t deterred. Instead, we donned our boots and gathered with about 16 others at the meeting point near Bear Mountain Bridge. Our guides, Walt and Jane Daniels from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference had been leading Rambles since year-one, and they both seemed confident and calm.
The trip began with all of us piling into several large vehicles and driving to the trailhead. The drive provided a good opportunity to get to know some of the other hikers, and it turned out that the camaraderie was one of my favorite aspects of the Ramble. Most members of our group were from New York City, and Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess Counties; and over the course of the hike, I had a chance to converse with just about everyone. By the end of the hike, my husband and I had each exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses several people with whom we hoped to keep in touch.
The company was great, but it was the spectacular views (not just the elevation gain) that truly took my breath away. Just as the catalogue claimed they would, our guides gave us a bit of Hudson Highland history at each viewpoint.
One vista I will never forget looked out upon Iona Island. We arrived at the viewpoint shortly after reaching the top of the ridge. The marsh-like island was flanked on either side by gorgeous river views, but it was the island’s history that especially piqued my interest.
As we gazed below, Walt told us how Native Americans had lived and fished on the island for millennia before Dr. W.C. Grant purchased the land in 1849 to build his mansion home. Not long thereafter, the mansion became the center of a resort, and railroad tracks were built to whisk vacationers up from New York City. During World War II and for some time thereafter, those same tracks were instrumental in transporting ammunition and military supplies to and from the island. The island’s compound served as a naval supply depot until the 1960’s when it was finally decommissioned.
Listening to her story while taking in her beauty brought Iona to life for me. And the hike in its entirety made me feel more integrated with this area and the community. After the day’s journey, Jane Daniels told me, “I think that the Ramble really gets people to stop what they’re doing and see what’s in their backyard. Many of us spend lots of money on traveling to other places and we tend to miss the treasures that we have right here at home.”
That’s what Carol Clement and Patricia Murphy thought when they first proposed the Ramble idea to the New York State Hudson River Valley Greenway in 1999. At the time, Clement and Murphy were operating their own hiking and walking tour business and, according to Murphy, their idea to showcase the Hudson Valley’s natural resources happened to mesh with the Greenway’s mission.
Just a few years before, in 1996, the Greenway had been given charge of New York State’s National Heritage Area. Jessica DesLauriers, the Greenway’s Trails Coordinator says, “One of the reasons that the Ramble is such a great event for us is that it brings together Greenway Trail programs with the Heritage Area programs.” According to DesLauriers, the Heritage Area includes over 90 historical sites and the Ramble offers guided walking tours of many of those sites including Boscobel in Cold Spring and Olana, the home of artist Fredrick Church, located just south of Hudson.
Like most major event programming, the Hudson Valley Ramble started as a much smaller venture with only walks and paddles and a couple of biking tours—a total of 70 events over the course of one weekend. This year, there are a total of 162 events and several festivals during a two-weekend period.
Over the past seven years, the Ramble has more than doubled in size and Murphy says that on participant comment sheets, “We were being told over and over again that people were taking part in as many as six events in one weekend, and they still wanted more.”
Apparently, the Ramble has also served as an excellent tourism initiative. Although the majority of participants are from the Hudson Valley, there are many who travel from states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
For ramblers in the Beacon area who would like to stay close to home, there is a wide range of intriguing options listed in the event catalogue, and each event is marked on a scale from easy to difficult. To name a few: on the easy end, there is a one-hour sail on the sloop Woody Guthrie and a Revolutionary War Trail walk through Fishkill Village. A three-mile hike through Madame Brett Park is marked as moderate, and a two-mile climb up Mount Beacon is available for more physically-active historians. For water players, the Go-Zero low-impact, zero-emissions kayak race should not go unnoticed. Racers may choose from an easy two-mile race or a difficult nine-mile race, and should contact Johnny Miller Adventures for additional information (see catalogue).
It’s a great time of year to get outside, meet new people, and become better acquainted with our corner of the world. All you have to do is select the Ramble of your choice and let the guides and your senses do the rest.
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This fall, the Hudson Valley Ramble is scheduled for the weekends of September 16-17 and September 23-24. For more information or to see a list of this year’s events, visit Hudsonvalleyramble.com or call (800) 453-6665 to order an event catalogue. Other websites of interest include: Hudsonrivervalley.com, Hudsongreenway.state.ny.us and www.Nynjtc.org/index.html (NY-NJ Trail Conference)
Thank you for posting the Ramble. It's hugh & a great opportunity to get out there and see what the Valley has to offer. One such event is a hike up Mt. Beacon hosted by Jim & Sandy. It's #99 in booklet,"Mt. Beacon Incline Railway Trail Walk", 9:00a, Sat., Sept. 23. We hope to see you there. For further info please contact Jim 845-831-2517 or Sandy, [email protected]
Posted by: Sandy Piccone | September 10, 2006 at 08:36 AM