There’s no better way to explore the Glens Falls region’s natural beauty than by roaming its miles and miles of trails. Now, thanks largely to one man’s dedicated efforts, the Halfway Brook Trail has joined Queensbury’s expanding trail network, and is already drawing dozens of visitors a day.
Halfway Brook Trail • Photo: Nicholas Chowske
“I was shocked by the number of people using the trail, even in the winter for cross-country skiing and for snowshoeing,” said Queensbury Town Supervisor John Strough, who has been working to create a unified trail system through the region for more than a decade. “We’ve got our trail, and people are very happy with it.”
The new one mile path, which wanders through the Glens Falls watershed forest between Potter Road and Peggy Ann Road in the Town of Queensbury, is the second piece in a network Strough ultimately plans to unite with the Feeder Canal Trail, The Rush Pond Trails, and the mountain bike park at the Gurney Lane Recreation Area, as well as the Cole’s Woods trails and Warren County Bikeway.
“We want to interconnect all of these, not only as an alternative transportation and recreation facility, but also as a way for people to get from point A to point B without using a car, and getting exercise in the meantime,” he said.
The trails have only just opened, and are already drawing a lot of visitors. “There’s always people out here,” said Donna Boss, who walks her black lab, Layla, on the trails. “It’s very rare that you don’t see one or two cars in that parking lot, and frequently, I’ll see five to seven, so it’s very popular.” Boss said she rarely used the trails before, and would often drive to Rush Pond or Crandall Park to walk her dog. “It was difficult because it really wasn’t groomed, and it was very overgrown, and I have a tick phobia, so I didn’t often come here,” she said. Now, her and her husband walk their dog here every day. “The dog is walked out here at least once a day, if not twice, and that’s every day, seven days a week. She loves it.”
Donna Boss and her lab, Layla • Photo: Nicholas Chowske
Having these trails not only gives residents a fun and healthy way to travel, they are also good for the land itself, especially for the Glens Falls watershed, which is where the city sources its water. “I followed pre-existing trails so that it would not disturb the flora very much,” Strough said. “We’ve designed the trail so that it actually does improvements to the watershed.” Stough, a stormwater inspector by trade, did much of the trailwork himself and made sure the new trails would have a positive environmental impact. “I lay it out to go around trees,” he said. “The trail is much nicer if it weaves and it wanders; it’s good that you go around the bigger trees, so that you don’t have to cut them down.”
While Strough has been the driving force behind this project, he hasn’t done it alone, and he made sure he recognized his supporters. “I have a huge ‘Thank You’ sign at either end of the trails, if you want to see who was involved in helping me out,” he said. “ It really was a community effort.”
In addition to the trails themselves, Strough and his volunteers also put in sediment and erosion controls, a new footbridge to cross the brook, as well as parking areas and gates that will prevent motorized vehicles from driving through the woods. “We took out five truckloads of furniture and garbage that people were putting into the watershed because they could drive in, dump in the watershed, and then drive out anonymously,” he said.
View from the bridge on the Halfway Brook Trail • Photo: Nicholas Chowske
The next steps will be to install a pedestrian crossing at Aviation Road to connect to the Rush Pond Trails, and to secure a right-of-way along National Grid’s transmission lines, which will take the route south to Luzerne Road, where it will connect to the Feeder Canal Trail. Strough said the Town is currently in negotiations with National Grid, and he expects that project will be done within the next two years.
“I think we’ve got a great amenity that we’re offering the public, and it will make Queensbury a destination point for people,” Strough said. “If they’re enjoying it, that’s the important part; and if they’re getting exercise and are healthier because of it, that’s good, too.”
For more information on the Halfway Brook Trail, including a trail map, click here.
