For Immediate Release
National Trails Day – June 5 – Celebrates Local Partnership for Trails in Minnewaska State Park Preserve
The public opening of a new pedestrian bridge and hiking trail in scenic Minnewaska State Park Preserve will celebrate National Trails Day 1999 this Saturday, June 5th . The 11:00 a.m. ribbon-cutting, followed by a volunteer-led hike, celebrates the partnership between the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference; the Palisades Interstate Park Commission; Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation; and a private-donor foundation which brought this project to fruition.
"The Mossy Glen bridge visibly reminds us of the ability to get things done through partnering with others. Each of our partners brought their respective talents and resources to this project. It's the perfect example of going further together rather than separately," Anne Lutkenhouse, Trail Conference Projects Director, explained.
Organized by the American Hiking Society, National Trails Day is a nationwide day of events to promote new strategies for trail planning, increase public awareness of trails, promote trail conservation, and celebrate the values and benefits America's treasured pathways provide. Since its inception in 1993, National Trails Day has grown to over 3,000 events across the country. The unifying idea of National Trails Day is a plan to establish a nationwide network of trails that are easily accessible to every American.
The opening of the rustic timber bridge – designed by Palisades Interstate Park Commission engineers, and built by Trail Conference volunteers – coincides with the opening of the new Mossy Glen trail. The bridge, which crosses the Peters Kill stream near the Dallas Pool section of the Park Preserve, provides hiker-only access to the Mossy Glen Trail and the Park Preserve's interior trail network.
The New York - New Jersey Trail Conference is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization which maintains over 1,300 miles of hiking trails in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey for enjoyment by the public. Since 1920, the NY-NJ Trail Conference has worked to build and maintain foot trails, promote public interest in hiking and conserve and protect endangered trail lands. The Trail Conference also publishes detailed maps and guidebooks to hiking areas in southern New York State. Conference volunteers maintain 13 miles of hiking-only trails in Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation donated the solid cedar utility poles used in construction of the bridge. The donated poles were ones that had been replaced as part of the utility's multi-year $40 million "P" and "MK" transmission line reconstruction project - a five-mile segment of which traverses the rugged terrain of the Park Preserve. Central Hudson also transported the poles to the bridge site for easy access by the volunteers.
Minnewaska Manager Tom Cobb will lead a hike beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the Park Preserve, starting from the lower Lake Awosting parking lot. The hike will return to the Mossy Glen bridge site for the 11:00 a.m. ceremony. After the ribbon-cutting, a volunteer will lead a 4-mile loop hike on the new Mossy Glen trail from the Mossy Glen pedestrian bridge. This loop hike is on a gentle grade, traveling along side the Peters Kill stream for almost two miles from the Mossy Glen bridge site.
Participants should park in the lower Lake Awosting parking lot, which is about 1,000 feet west of the main park preserve entrance on Route 44/55, west of New Paltz, NY. Minnewaska staff and volunteers will direct participants to the Dallas Pool site, where the bridge is located. (Allow about 15 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the bridge site.)
For more information on any of the day's events, call the Minnewaska State Park Preserve at (914) 255-0752.
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