The Empire State Trail is a

multi-use trail A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is 'designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists'. Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, bridleways and rail trails. A ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

that was proposed by Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...

in January 2017 and completed in December 2020. The trail runs from

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

north to the Canadian border in Rouses Point near the northern tip of

Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The New York portion of t ...

, and also from Buffalo to Albany. At , it is the longest multi-use trail in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The trail includes pre-existing trail segments, which retain their existing identity but are now co-signed as a segment of the Empire State Trail. The trail also links to other regional bicycling and hiking trails such as the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...

, the Adirondack and

Catskill Park The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the United States. It consists of of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster. As of 2005, or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by ...

s, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, the

Genesee Valley Greenway The Genesee Valley Greenway is a rail trail in western New York's Genesee River valley. The trail stretches for along a former Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way as well as adjacent land from the Genesee Valley Canal. The low grade path is a m ...

, and others. A segment near its southernmost part, on the

Hudson River Greenway The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separate ...

in Manhattan, is concurrent with the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991. ...

. The trail is used for hiking, biking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and in some areas

snowmobiling A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

. Completing the trail required 40 construction projects to create new trails and to eliminate gaps in existing segments. On December 30, 2020, Governor Cuomo announced that these construction projects were finished, and that the Empire State Trail was officially completed and open to the public.

Route

The trail is organized in three main segments: the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail, the Erie Canalway Trail, and the Champlain Valley Trail. The Hudson River Valley Greenway runs from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Albany along numerous greenways and rail trails, including the

, the

North County Trailway The North County Trailway is a long paved rail trail stretching from Eastview to Baldwin Place in Westchester County, New York. It is also part of the statewide Empire State Trail. History and route The North County Trailway was constructe ...

and South County Trailway in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

, the Walkway Over the Hudson, the Albany–Hudson Electric Trail, and others. It loosely follows the eastern shore of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

with a brief section in

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

on the western shore. This section of trail is primarily off-road, but contains one significant on-road section between Kingston and Hudson. The Erie Canalway Trail runs from Buffalo to Albany (via

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

and Syracuse) along towpaths and rail trails following both the old

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

and the later

New York State Canal System The New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal) is a successor to the Erie Canal and other canals within New York. Currently, the system is composed of the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal, the Cayuga–Seneca Cana ...

. After the completion of the Empire State Trail, this section is almost entirely off-road, with notable on-road gaps remaining between

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

and Port Byron,

Schuyler Schuyler may refer to: Places United States * Schuyler County, Illinois * Schuyler County, Missouri * Schuyler, Nebraska, a city * Schuyler County, New York * Schuyler, New York, a town * Schuyler Island, Lake Champlain, New York * Schuyler C ...

and Frankfort, and Cohoes and Watervliet. The Champlain Valley Trail runs from Albany to the

Canadian border Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

in Rouses Point. This section initially follows the Champlain Canal from Albany to

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

, and then follows

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The section along the canal utilizes the Champlain Canalway Trail, but north of Whitehall the trail is entirely on-road, following State Bike Route 9 the rest of the way. The trail connects 22 counties and many cities throughout the state, including

, Buffalo, Albany, and points in between. There is also a proposal to extend the trail from its southern terminus into Long Island.

Trail maintenance

The trail connects existing trail segments operated by a variety of state entities, local governments, and non-profit organizations such as the New York State Canalway Trail, Dutchess Rail Trail,

Wallkill Valley Rail Trail The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail is a rail trail and linear park that runs along the former Wallkill Valley Railroad rail corridor in Ulster County, New York. It stretches from Gardiner through New Paltz, Rosendale and Ulster to the Kingston c ...

and others. The trail maintenance activities continue to be undertaken by the entity that operates each local segment of the larger Empire State Trail.

Trails included

Empire State Trail trailhead at New Paltz

New York City to Albany

* Putnam Greenway (NYC) *

* South County Trailway * Putnam County Trailway *

Maybrook Trailway Maybrook is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York– ...

* Dutchess Rail Trail * Walkway over the Hudson *

Hudson Valley Rail Trail The Hudson Valley Rail Trail is a paved east–west rail trail in the town of Lloyd in Ulster County, New York, stretching from the Hudson River through the hamlet of Highland. The trail was originally part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route, a ...

* Kingston Point Rail Trail * Albany-Hudson Electric Trail

Albany to Buffalo

* New York State Canalway Trail - Erie Canalway Trails * Onondaga Creekwalk * Shoreline Trail

Albany to Champlain

* New York State Canalway Trail - Champlain Canalway Trails * Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail *Delaware Avenue-Black Bridge Trail - Van Schaick Island *Terry Gordon Trail

External links

Official site

Interactive Map

Open source map of cycling route

Open source map of walking route

References

{{coord missing, New York (state) Nature reserves in New York (state) Tourism in New York (state) Hiking trails in New York (state)