- Where: Southeast Dutchess County, NY and adjoining Connecticut.
- 45 miles, hilly (3300 vertical feet, hill
index 4.2).
- - 49 miles with Variation A.
- - 31 miles, hill
index 3.9, if finish at Dover Plains and use Metro North train to get
back to the start (Variation B).
This requires obtaining Metro North bicycle permit in advance.
- - 60 miles, hilly, with the finish to
Brewster station.
 
- Highlights: Lots of beautiful scenes on quiet back roads.
Ken Guyer introduced us to this gem. It's a good example of the kind of rides you can experience
by joining the Mid-Hudson Bicycle
Club.
- Characteristics: One long hill, and lots of smaller
hills. Mostly quiet roads, but some high-speed /
high-traffic segments.
Hill climbs: Total uphill climbing is about 3300 vertical
feet. Longest climb is about 800
vertical feet at an average grade of 2.6% (including some short
non-climbing "rest" segments) -- but one steep segment of
this on Quaker Hill Rd goes to about 7% grade for 150 vertical feet.
(see Measuring
Hilliness).
Variation A: This adds 200 vertical feet of
climbing.
Variation B: If you end the route at 31 miles at Dover Plains,
total climbing
is about 2100 vertical feet).
finish to Brewster: This adds about 1100 vertical
feet, including about a section of 150 vertical feet at about 8% grade
and another section of 100 vertical feet at 7%.
Downhills: There are some long steep downhills.
Traffic: We've found this to have somewhat lower
traffic interaction risk than most other routes on this website.
We found the few segments on high-speed roads to be reasonably
managable.
see Trip Reports
| Road
Condition Reports
More . . .
By train: Take Metro-North (Harlem Valley Line) to Pawling.
By car: From Taconic State Parkway take Rt 55 East to Dutchess County Rt 69 (Dutcher
Ave). Turn Left (north) on Dutcher Ave. and proceed to Main St in Pawling. Turn Right on
Main, cross the railroad tracks, Left on Memorial Ave and then on to train station.
By car: From Rt 684 North, continue on to Rt 22 North. Then take Rt 55 West and
turn Left on Dutchess County Rt 69 (Dutcher Avenue). Proceed as above to train station.
- Alternate starts: Metro-North railroad station in Dover
Plains, NY (This has the advantage of delaying the Quaker Hill climb until after a long
warmup, and saves the best terrain till later in the ride). or Kent, CT.
- Alternate finish: Brewster NY. An advantage of the
Metro North train station in Brewster is that it has more frequent
trains scheduled than the Pawling, Wassaic, or Dover Plains stations
(as of July 2002). The Brewster
finish variation provides some quieter roads to continue on south from the normal finish in Pawling to
the train station in Brewster -- though likely not easiest or fastest
way, since it
has some hills.
It is tempting to go for the Brewster North train station instead
of Brewster. But this adds two substantial unrewarding hills and
more traffic.
- Maps: You should have detailed road maps of Dutchess
County NY, Fairfield County CT, and Litchfield County CT to do this route (see
Road Maps).
For the Brewster finish, also a road map of Putnam County NY.
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