Day 3.069: Something old, something new...

Although the dusk lighting-up ceremony for the new LED lighting system was postponed, we decided to head down-state as planned today to visit Walkway Over The Hudson - a very unusual State Park.  We arranged to meet a colleague who lives near the walkway and was involved as a volunteer in the project to turn this old disused railway bridge into a walking/cycling bridge and a hugely successful park.

We drove down to the western end of the bridge - about a 90 minute drive down the always-surprisingly-picturesque Thruway past the Catskill Mountains and parked at the end of a very long line of cars parked snaking down the hill towards the end of the neighbouring Mid-Hudson Bridge.  As you can see - there were quite a few people out to enjoy a sunny day with temperatures in the low-70s.

We were slightly nervous that, due to the crowds, we might miss our hosts who were walking over from the other side but we ran into them somewhere high above the western bank of the river.  Even though they ended up crossing the bridge (1.25 miles) four times in total - twice with us and twice on their own, it was significantly less adventurous than the last hike I did with them.  That said, no-one asked them to swing them along that day.

The bridge is an easy and fun walk - with dramatic views of the river and the nearby road bridge and interesting ones of Poughkeepsie and the railways on either side.  There are also signs with interesting facts and photographs of things related to the history of the bridge and the river.

The most surprising moments of the day were this one when two motorised vehicles met on the pedestrian/cycle bridge - it is the park rangers and the State Park police, so we'll have to let them off I suppose -

and seeing this at the point at the eastern end of the park where we turned back to return across the bridge:

We had dinner in a diner in New Paltz before returning up the highway through the darkening evening.  A great way to celebrate the official arrival of spring and the rebirth of an old New York State landmark.