Imagine a network of hiking and biking tails that stretched southwest from the Newburgh waterfront to Unionville on the New Jersey border; north through the Schunnemunk Mountain State Park to Middletown and Campbell Hall and north along the Walden to Wallkill Rail Trail, through the Shawangunks, north to Rosendale and Kingston or east across the Walkway Over the Hudson to Dutchess County.

It’s all possible, according to Alan Sorenson, Orange County Commissioner of Planning.
Sorenson was in Walden last week, where residents enjoy a three-mile stretch of the former Wallkill Valley Rail line that connects with the hamlet of Wallkill.

Unfortunately, that’s as far as the trail goes. It does not connect with the rest of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail that picks up on the other side of the prison property. And it does not extend south, where railroad tracks that still connect Middletown and Montgomery end at East Main Street in Walden.

The commissioner floated the idea that we need not rip up existing railroad tracks to create new hiking and biking trails. They could co-exist, running parallel to the rail lines. That would open up numerous possibilities.

The invitation to dream comes as we close out July which, since 1985, has been celebrated as Park and Recreation Month. The celebration is the creation of the National Recreation and Park Association (nrpa.org) and is the leading non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation. The occasion provides us with an excellent opportunity to think on a larger scale.