Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway (NY)

[Peter Bakwin]

Robert Mason and Matt Bryan ran the BPT N-to-S in 1h35m32s, and RT in 4h6m4s on Oct. 18, 2014.

The Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway is a 10-mile route that runs from the town of Ossining to the Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill. It is park of Westchester County Parks. This particular park was built on land originally acquired in 1929 by the Westchester Parkway Commission for the construction of the Briarcliff Peekskill Parkway. This part of the Parkway was never constructed, and in 1977 the remaining land was re-designated for a trailway. The BPT is little-used and sometimes hard to follow. It is marked with green diamonds, and there are occasional signs, especially within the Teatown Lake Reservation. The trail starts at the intersection of Route 9A and Ryder Rd in Ossining (Briarcliff) and heads north, crossing Grace Lane, Route 134, Spring Valley Road (at Teatown Lake) and Applebee Farm Rd before meeting Croton Dam Road and crossing Croton Dam. The route then continues along Highway 129 for a short distance before turning off on Pond Rd (past Colabaugh Pond) and continuing on trail to Watch Hill Rd in Peekskill.


Photo from woodlandwalks.org

[Robert]

Hoping to hit this tomorrow or Sunday with my friend Matt. Going to start at Watch Hill Rd and yo-yo the trail South to Ryder Rd then back up to Watch Hill. Will be wearing my Suunto Ambit2S to collect some solid data for anyone trying to do this trail in the future.

[Robert]

Did the trail both directions 10 days ago training for our first 50 mile. The trail was very difficult to navigate in several places, so we missed it and found our way back at several points. Our time for the first half, which only ended being about 10 miles and not the 12 claimed was
1hr35min32sec. The way back was about 10min slower. My Strava data from the day is below as well as a blog post I wrote the day following the experience.
This can be done much faster with more route knowledge and experience.

www.strava.com/activities/208932443

mikebryan.blogspot.com/

[Peter Bakwin]

Cool! I've run the most if it in pieces & linked it to other stuff (my dad lives nearby), but never did quite get to the N end. Indeed route finding is problematic. Interesting to hear that it's really only 10 miles. I'd like to update the main post above with your info - what are both your full names? Thx.

[Robert Mason]

Full names are Robert Mason and Matthew Bryan. We are both seniors at nearby West Point, so we'll most likely give this another shot some time soon. Thanks Peter, love the site.