If you have ever had the pleasure of attending a town planning board meeting (and who hasn’t?), you have probably seen the NIMBY-ers — clots of enraged homeowners who surge to their feet with tears of salty conviction in their eyes, planning board documents clutched in their sweaty, quaking fists as they demand why –…
Plans are in the works to bring a boutique campground to the town of Gardiner in Ulster County, but neighbors are robustly resisting the planned development, going as far to form a citizen’s group and retaining an attorney to resist the project. “Heartwood” would consist of 70 cabins with bathrooms, electricity and heating; a working…
The smell of sticky asphalt wafted into my car from the newly paved road as I rolled past a steady stream of pedestrians walking towards the 2017 Rosendale Street Fest. The town, a cluster of vibrantly painted shops on the Rondout Creek between New Paltz and Kingston, has a population of 6,000 on non-festival days,…
My theory for adventures (yes, I do have a theory) is they should not be planned too precisely. This way, the adventurers will have to deal with curveballs along the way, with hilarious and unpredictable results. They make for great reading, and can be reflected on positively by the adventurers once the panic has subsided…
The Wallkill River enters the Hudson Valley from New Jersey through a National Wildlife Refuge, then winds North through the Black Dirt region of Warwick to spread out into the verdant, farm-dappled Wallkill River Valley in Ulster County before meeting with the Rondout Creek and terminating at the Hudson River in Kingston. The river is…
Sid Scumf*** wasn’t known by anything other than Sid Scumf***. He embraced the name to the point of having it tattooed across his knuckles, one letter to each finger. He was emaciated, a gaunt scarecrow wavering in the wind. He wore a camouflage fishing cap with a blonde stringy mop stuffed under it descending into…
Lake Minnewaska was traditionally one of the four Sky Lakes of Shawnagunk Ridge—unique lakes noted for their extremely high clarity and almost aquamarine color. While the other Sky Lakes have maintained these features, Minnewaska is getting cloudy. Bob Otters, who has dived at Lake Minnewaska since the early 90s as part of the Mid-Hudson Diver’s…
I slowed the car to a creep as I approached the gatehouse to Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa, unsure of my next move. I hadn’t expected a gatehouse, and this messed with my plan to use Honor’s parking lot to stow my car while I slipped to the adjacent Nevele Grande. The vacant Nevele Grande…
Hipsters want to be into The Next Hip Thing before anyone else finds out about it. Because when everyone else finds out about it—well, it isn’t hip anymore. Journalists share this hipster quality (especially if they work for Vice). Part of their job, after all, is to be good at predicting trends, to be aware…
As was the case with the Massive Caves, The Chillest Spot in Ulster County is too precious a secret to let loose. Therefore, a series of short video clues that will lead the discerning viewer to the spot have been provided below. It will take some digging, as well as a decent amount of local…
Rob Robinson, long hair wedged against his head with a faded blue cap, walked up to McWilliams with his arms spread wide. The hug was vigorous enough to make the lens of the glasses tucked into McWilliams’ collar to pop out between their chests like a banana being squeezed out of its peel. “Sorry about…
The Shawangunks Rock Gardens are a fantastic concept—a regenerating, infinite, open-source art project set on a bald peak of the Shawangunk Ridge in Kerhonkson. Every summer, gaggles of locals wander up to the Gardens and create. Some of the statues have been enormous—a few summers ago, I saw a 10-foot Tyrannosaurus composed…
Bleary-eyed, I shuffled up Main Street in New Paltz to grab my morning java. Despite housing a coffee before setting out, my blood had not yet reached its required caffeine percentage, so I may have acted more irately than usually when I came across the trio in orange safety vests. What…what are they DOING?…was my…
The Cement Graveyard is located in East Kingston, which is a bit of a misnomer, since East Kingston is actually North of central Kingston. It’s also a but of a misnomer to say the Cement Graveyard is ‘in’ East Kingston, since the Cement Graveyard isn’t ‘in’ anywhere but the woods. I parked on Railroad Avenue…
Ryan and his two friends had already disappeared into the woods by the time I managed to lug the tripod out of my car’s trunk. When I caught up, Ryan apologized. “Sorry, that guy was eyeballin us…wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.” “Where was he?” “Across the road, just staring at…