Wacky Hat Rally, Sept 28, Hundon Valley, NY

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rbertalotto
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Wacky Hat Rally, Sept 28, Hundon Valley, NY

Post by rbertalotto »

This year the Wacky Hat will be held at the Taconic State Park in Copake Falls, NY on Friday Sept. 28 and Saturday Sept. 30.

http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=137

The sites that have been reserved for the Wacky Hat are 55, 59, 60, 61,and 62, all tent sites.
The rally fee for the Wacky Hat will be $15.

This facility is an amazing venue, one of the best local rally destinations I have come across. The sites are in the middle of tall pine trees surrounded by hardwoods. The ground is clear and fairly level, although the sites reserved are not really the ones I recommended to Bruce when we took a recon trip on the Saturday of DYR, they will be fine. There are a number of stone buildings with rest room facilities and FREE hot showers within easy walking distance. At that time of the year we should have the place almost to ourselves, although it is certainly big enough that we wouldn't disturb any neighbors, or they disturb us.

There will be no RV generator noise, as the RV are located in an entirely different area from the tenting area. Each campsite has a picnic table and a fire ring with grill. There are lots of well marked local hiking trails in the 6,000 acre park, including a neat fairly easy trail to Bash Bish Falls, which you shouldn't miss. If you aren't up to walking to the Falls, there is a neat twisty paved road to the top of the falls where you can park and climb up a short distance to see the Falls from the top as well as a great view west toward the Catskills in the distance. There is also a paved bike trail running along an old rail bed located just across from the park entrance. There is a shop there where you can rent a bicycle if you want to go for a liesurely human powered ride.

Also across from the park entrance, next to the rail trail, is a neat little general store with adult beverages, ice, camping supplies, and great sandwiches...all reasonably priced....open till 10 pm. Less than a half mile from the park entrance is a nice motorcycle friendly restaurant, The Wayside Inn, where we often go for Tuesday night dinner rides. A couple of miles north on Route 22 is the town of Hillsdale with an auto parts store, gas station, convenience store, diner, restaurants, pizza place, tatoo shop, and a couple of taverns. A couple of miles south is the town of Copake with gas station, pharmacy, hardware store, grocery store, bank with 24 hour ATM, a neat diner (Pop's), and a restoration shop for Morgan automobiles that is worth stopping in to say hello.

There are great riding opportunities for any riding style in the area. There are miles of dirt roads for the GS crowd. Jack Phelps will be setting up a route or two for you to give your best. There are some great twisty paved "county # routes" that will keep you on your toes. BMW Motorrad does a lot of bike testing in this area. Do remember that they are public roads, not a private racetrack...and farm vehicles have the absolute right of way. You really don't want to find out how far you can stuff yourself into the back of the manure spreader. There are also great riding opportunities for the touring bike set on some really well maintained major roads in the area, across the Hudson to the Catskills, east into Mass and CT and south into the Harlem River Valley.

You can access the park webpage at http://www.NYSPARKS.com and selecting Taconic State Park-Copake Falls.
Information about Hillsdale, NY can be found at http://www.hillsdaleny.com
Information about Copake, NY can be found at http://www.copake.org

I hope to see you there. It's not that far away from the Boston area, is a much nicer venue that Jamacia Park, won't be AS cold at night, and it's someplace new to ride to for many of you. If you are not there you will miss it.
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
04 Rockster ABS
http://www.rvbprecision.com
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