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Print Friendly MapThe Jones Point Path occupies an abandoned motor vehicle route (old US Route 9W). The path provides bicyclists with a relatively safe bypass to a dangerous section of busy US Route 9W near Bear Mountain, NY. It also serves as a connecting trail between two poplular parking lots/trail heads used by day hikers.
A dedicated trail user parking area is available along the shoulder of US Route 9W northbound, approximately 2/10 of a mile south of the Iona Island access road.
Great for a walk or run
Rode this trail today. Newly paved and in great shape. Great bypass to Route 9W over the Hook Mountain "hump" with it's very limited shoulders and fast-moving cars and trucks.
There is a small unofficial parking area at the south end of Jones Point.
Just north of the northern end of the trail make a right onto the Iona Island Access Road. Interesting spot to check out with a bird sanctuary and some buildings that were once used as a military ammunition depot.
This newly paved trail and great for a walk or ride. Enter either side. Great views and some nice rolling hills. Hopefully the trees along the sides will stay upright and not fall and ruin the new fences and pavement.
Renovation wrapped in early November. The revamped and now paved Jones Point path is great, used it today. Quiet, scenic, and much gentler than the steep up and downs on the parallel segment of 202/9w. This makes the 9w corridor my favorite way to bike to Bear Mountain overall now. It's that good.
this is newly opened (was still closed when i checked in august at least) and paved and it is magical :) biked it today
Went to do the path yesterday on my way to Bear Mtn. I was disappointed to find the trail under construction with machinery and a gate blocking the trail.
Passed through here with a friend on our way to Montreal in June of 2018. Easy to miss, but the gentleman who lives in the house at the southern end helpfully pointed it out.
If you can get through the initial brush, it clears up just fine. Besides being gnatty, it's like a secret garden, and about halfway through there was a sort of meadow filled with flowers.
No special bike here, just two tourers from the 1980s. I had 700x35 Schwalbe Mondials on, my friend had similarly sized but totally slick tires. He did alright, but said it could have been better with some tread. We were both fully loaded with panniers, etc.
I can't quite remember, but the fallen tree mentioned above was actually quite light, more like a large branch. So I moved it out of the way!
According to data I found about the trails being put together for the Empire State Greenway, it's 1.9 miles long. Definitely preferable to climbing and descending 9W with the cars, which we had done a few weeks before in preparation for the full tour. Bleh. I'd rather risk having to backtrack and THEN take the highway if the trail were impassible.
We chickened out last year about half-way down and turned back because it was getting too thick with brush. Decided to take another crack at it by myself today and I found it an interesting challenge. Rocky and hilly with loose dirt and sections where parts were washed away, which made it somewhat of a challenge if youre moving at any significant speed. I ended up with a few scrapes from the sticker bushes, some of which you cant avoid because youre too busy watching the trail to make sure you dont get your wheel caught in a rut in the washed-away sections.
All in all It was a short, somewhat challenging trail, with some nice views of the river at the end. At 2 miles, it should be a nice chal;lenge for a novice or intermediate mountain bike rider, but you definitely should not try this on a road bike.
I walked the trail this morning.The trail needs work too overgrown.No bicycle riders on the trail they use 9w that can be too dangerous.
Took this as an alternative to the narrow shoulder section of 9W and much like another post from last year, it's still completely overgrown - I was able to pass on 25mm tires, but it definitely wasn't easy. A ton of small rocks underneath the greenery, a fallen tree, some wet sand, etc...
The trail really has potential if it were properly maintained.
8/13/2017 - I was disappointed to find this trail completely overgrown - totally impassable. You'll need to use Route 9W.
Rode this path at sunset, August 19, 2016, heading north to the Bear Mountain Bridge and a stay over in Peekskill, NY. The trail is rideable on my road bike with 28mm tires and disc brakes, but I'm not sure that I would recommend it for narrower tires and a less experienced cyclist. There are lots of small rocks and stones, plus some soft stuff that looks like it might have been put down to even out the trail. The ride is a lot of fun and definitely a nice alternative to 9W if you can manage it. The trail runs near the Hudson River with the train tracks just below right next to the water. What is curious to me is that when you go north on 9W there is a "9" bike route sign that directs riders down to the path. There's a bit of a road going through a small residential area with an old stone church that ends at the trailhead. I knew that the path would be difficult, which it was, but to riders that hadn't done the research I can imagine there would be some disappointment when making an attempt to ride the trail and maybe even eventually circling back to 9W given the rough ride.
If you do ride this path make sure that you are prepared for a flat tire given the many rocks. A pinch flat is a possibility!
On my recent 3 day ride I used this path while heading north and two days later on my return route going home. I've noticed that some work was done on to clear out some of the loose big rocks, and the fallen Power lines/poles that were interfering with parts of the path. There are still lots of areas with loose dirt but manageable with tires that are at least 1 3/4" wide. I was using Panaracer Pasela 26" x 1 3/4" tires on my bike. The path is still not as good as I remembered it back in 1996 when I first used it but this was the best that I have seen it since the later 90's.
I am disappointed to learn of the deteriorating condition of this trail. I grew up in Jones Point and hiked this trail in the sixties, biked and skied it in the seventies and early eighties. When the state first opened it as a bike trail in the late seventies, it performed some maintenance for the first few years to keep the trail safe. It is too bad that the state has failed to maintain the trail because it is a very beautiful area with great views and a relatively flat ride compared to the 9W route. Folks should contact their state senators and legislators together funds allocated for some maintenance.
I hiked Dunderberg Mountain to find the old inclined railroad beds that went up the side of the hill. Afterwards, it was getting towards dark. I tried to ride the Jones Point Path from the south end. I got about 20' up the hill and it all turned to loose rock. I have a mountain bike with double sprung suspension. I could see that it was going to be miserable riding. Turned back, disappointed.
I first rode through this trail back in 1999 while finishing my bike tour that started from Burlington Vermont. My touring bike set up with 700x32 tires and I was able to ride through with no problem. Fast forward to the summer of 2010, I found the entrance from the south side almost impossible to ride through, looks like a construction company dumped all of their left over light grey rocks. I had to walk my bike through this section. The rest is pretty much taken over by mother nature. Since then I have gone through this trail a few times, it does provide some nice views, you can still see some hints of the old route 9. Best bike for this is with wider tires or just use it to hike through. Entrance at the north side is easier to go though.
With my 15-year-old son, I reached the trailhead on Sunday, July 21, 2013, in midafternoon, en route from lower Manhattan to Bear Mt, the first leg of a 600-mile bike trip through New England to Montreal.
We had done a lot of ascending, some of it on heavily trafficked 9W, and were looking forward to the level path through the woods. We were chagrined to find the entrance impassable -- overgrown, nearly impenetrable, no more than 18 inches wide, and rocky.
Yes, we were on skinny-tire road bikes, but even on mountain bikes I would have had reservations.
Should I have walked in further than 10-15 feet? I have my doubts -- if anything, paths like this get harder past the opening. I'd like to hear from someone who has cycled on this path recently.
We detoured back to 9W and endured the final climb to Bear Mt., where we spent the night. The rest of our journey had many more ups than downers, but it took a few days to erase our disappointment that Jones Point Path wasn't rideable.
MT BIKE ON THIS TRAIL ALL THE TIME-GREAT LITTLE RUN.GREAT VIEWS OF THE HUDSON RIVER AND IT'S VERY CLOSE TO BEAR MT AND DOODLETOWN
I walked some of it today, 11/8/09. The entrance by Jones Point is very overgrown. Beware of ticks! Once you get past that, the surface is alternately good enough to mountain bike on to challenging. It gets wider soon enough but I didn't make it to the end so I don't know what the northern half is like. Good views through the trees of the Hudson and Westchester hills.
I don't think Old Ayers Rd (how you get to the southern end) is marked from 202/9W but there are some signs at the turnoff. I know there is a Dead End sign. I missed the turn, going north, the first time. The northern end might be easier to see as the gate is visible from the 202/9W.
Iona Island, north of the trail, is tempting but since it is a wildlife sanctuary, you shouldn't go past the railroad tracks, and it's probably not a good idea to ride along the tracks either. Still, it is a nice* marsh with good views of the mountains behind you. (*Nice in the sense that it is big marsh but it will smell and you'll see pollution all around, though not much litter, thankfully.)
This trail is two miles from gate to gate. At the roughly half-way point is a white box on a telephone pole on the west side of the road. It's always a cool hike or bike on a hot summer day.
There are great views from this trail when the trees are bare. The trail has some hills and bumps and a road bike would have a tough time. I would recommend walking this trail unless you want to get some exercise on the hills.
"As the posted trail description indicates, the Jones Point Path is a route bicyclists bound to and from the Bear Mountain Bridge can use to avoid a very dangerous segment of US Route 9W. The trail gets limited use by bicyclists though, because most of those cycling along US Route 9W ride road bikes with narrow tires and this trail is not paved.
The fine ballast surface is ideally suited for foot traffic and bikes with wider tires, although trail users should expect to encounter frequent ruts created by heavy water run-off from a nearby mountain range. However, the dedicated trail user road shoulder parking area along US Route 9W is nicely paved and large enough to accommodate several vehicles.
During months when foliage is at its peak, this is a very shady route providing limited vistas. In late fall, winter and early spring, trail users can catch glimpses of the Hudson River, Bear Mountain Bridge, and nearby Iona Island’s Nature Preserve.
The southern trailhead provides access to the quiet hamlet of Jones Point. Here trail users can walk to the Hudson River’s west bank, where they may then fish or picnic in several spots. An added plus for train buffs is that CSX Corporation’s River Line runs right through Jones Point, 56 freight trains during every 24 hour period. And if that isn’t enough, Metro North’s Hudson Division passenger service operates on the opposite river bank and is clearly visible from Jones Point!
This isn’t the best trail I’ve been to by far, but one that I’m glad I went to at least once.
Enjoy!"
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