Shawangunk Ridge and Minnewaska · part 3

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Emerson Hill

   Most visitors to New York never see Staten Island except from the deck of the free ferry, which is a pity, because its interior holds something unexpected: a ridge of steep, wooded hills running through the middle of the island. Emerson Hill is one of them, a quiet residential enclave of winding lanes and large old houses among the trees, next to Grymes Hill, where Wagner College stands. The ridge is made of serpentinite, a greenish rock rare on the East Coast, and further south it rises to Todt Hill, the highest natural point on the Atlantic seaboard south of Maine.

   Read the complete Emerson Hill write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Shawangunk Ridge and Minnewaska checkpoint 8 is where the day begins. Next is Scenic stretch in Eatontown.

2. 2. Scenic stretch in Eatontown

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Shawangunk Ridge and Minnewaska high point.

3. 3. New Dorp Beach

   Planning note

   This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Back to Shawangunk Ridge.

4. 4. Back to Shawangunk Ridge

   Salt air and gulls, not ridges: this finish sits at Point Lookout, on the western tip of the Long Beach barrier island on Long Island's south shore. The ride's name points at the Shawangunk cliffs two hours north, where climbers hang on pale quartz conglomerate above forest, so the contrast is sharp. Here the land is a sandbar a few metres above the tide, with Jones Inlet on one side, the open Atlantic on the other, and the neighbouring communities of Lido Beach and Baldwin Harbor tucked into the bay behind.

   Read the complete Shawangunk Ridge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back to Shawangunk Ridge closes the day.