Roscoe calls itself Trout Town USA, and it has the credentials to back the claim. The village sits in the western Catskills at the meeting of two famous fly-fishing streams, the Beaverkill and the Willowemoc, which join a short distance away at a spot called Junction Pool. Anglers have been coming to these waters since the nineteenth century, and the tradition of American dry-fly fishing took shape in these valleys, with local fly tyers developing patterns that are still used today. A fly-fishing museum a few miles up the road in Livingston Manor tells the story.
Roscoe also has railroad history. For decades, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway ran trains from the city to the Catskills, carrying holidaymakers and fishermen to the boarding houses and hotels of the Borscht Belt, and Roscoe was a major stop. The railway has gone, but the village keeps a small, workaday look, with a main street of shops, diners and sporting goods stores, and a long-established diner that serves enormous breakfasts. The valley around it is quiet, green and farmed, with hills rising on either side in a pattern of woods and pasture.
Riding here is delightful. Old Route 17, which follows the river through the valley, is a winding road that the interstate has bypassed, and it has light traffic, old bridges and views of the water. Back roads climb into the hills, with steep gradients and tight bends, and the surface is rough in places because of frost heave. In May, when the hatch is on and the dogwood and apple trees are in bloom, the fishermen stand shoulder-deep in the river at dawn, and the whole valley feels like a quiet church. Autumn colour comes in October.
The village has fuel and food, but a larger town is a long way off, since Fallsburg, the nearest place with a significant population, is more than thirty kilometres away. Fill the tank here or in Livingston Manor before heading off into the hills toward the Pepacton Reservoir, where services are few. If you want to try fishing, a licence is needed, and local shops sell flies and give good advice. Mornings are cool even in summer, and a thermos of coffee is a good companion.