Gliders have been launching from the airfield at Wurtsboro since the late 1920s, and it claims to be the oldest soaring site in the United States. On summer afternoons, sailplanes circle silently over the Shawangunk Ridge, riding the thermals and the updrafts along the cliffs. The spot is close to Wurtsboro, in the valley between the Shawangunks and the Catskills, in Sullivan County, New York.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal, which carried coal from Pennsylvania to the Hudson in the nineteenth century, ran through this valley, and traces of the old towpath and locks survive. The Bashakill, a large marsh south of Wurtsboro, is a wildlife area full of birds, beavers and turtles, with trails and a boardwalk.
Sullivan County was the heart of the Borscht Belt, the resort area where Jewish families from New York spent their summers in the mid-twentieth century, and comedians like Jerry Lewis and Joan Rivers started their careers in the hotel showrooms. Most of the big hotels have closed, but the memory lingers.
For a swim, the lakes of Sullivan County have beaches and swimming areas, and some state parks have designated areas. Check before you go, as rules vary.
The roads are the reason to linger. Route 209 runs along the valley with the ridge always in view, and the climb over the Shawangunks on Route 52 towards Ellenville gives a famous lookout over the whole valley to the Catskills. Surfaces vary, frost heaves are common, and deer are everywhere at dusk. Wurtsboro's small main street has fuel and a diner or two, and Ellenville has more.