The Shawangunk Mountains ("The Gunks")

The SHAWANGUNK SCENIC BYWAY is a 50-mile network of country roads that surrounds and passes through the northern Shawangunk Mountains. The Byway is studded with charming villages set in glorious countryside. In 1994 The Nature Conservancy designated the Shawangunks one of the 75 "Last Great Places" in the world. Access the Scenic Byway via New Paltz at Exit 18 on the New York State Thruway.

Kingston (Exit 19) just north of the byway was the first European settlement in the mid Hudson Valley, a walled city by 1652. The success of this early settlement led to farmers spilling out through Ulster County and Orange County to the south around both sides of the Shawangunks throughout the rest of the century. The region, celebrated as the "breadbasket of the revolution," has been intensively farmed ever since. The landscape is a combination of farming, just-post-farming, and preserve. Notable are the Mohonk Preserve in connection with the Mohonk Mountain House, the Minnewaska Preserve, and the Vernooy Kill State Forest.

The scenic byway passes through or near ten towns, all collaborating in its preservation. They include New Paltz, Gardner, Walden, Pine Bush, Bullville, Ellenville, Warwarsing, Accord, High Falls, and Rosendale. No urban sprawl here. Each town has its own distinctive character, even its own government, a link to the past that exists in few other regions in the nation. New Paltz is a bustling urban community housing a branch of SUNY New York, while tiny High Falls pairs sophisticated stores, restaurants and a museum with a Sunday flea market and a complete absence of sidewalks. Moving from one small town to the next is as big a transition as, elsewhere, travelling over state lines. Three and a half centuries separate the byway's villages from today's "mall-sprawl."

This is some of the best hiking territory in New York State. Along with the Catskill Mountains to the north, the area is already popular among rock climbers. Shawangunk climbing locations include Sam's Point and The Trapps.

Other web sites will tell you about the natural resources so plentiful in the region. This site will help you plan your getaway. It is part of the NYC Getaway family of online travel guides. Nisit our lodgings listings for the fastest way to plan your getaway.

The NYC Getaway family of guides is delighted to recognize the Gunks as a new "region" in New York City getaway territory.