Paths to the Past
History Hikes through the Hudson River Valley, Catskills, Berkshires, Taconics, Saratoga & Capital Region
by Russell Dunn & Barbara Delaney
foreword by Mark King, Executive Director, Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy
trade paper, 6″ x 9″, 288 pages, 151 illustrations (143 full-color)
isbn: 9781883789978, $22.95

Thirty-one guided hikes and walks explore the rich variety of landscapes in eastern upstate New York that offer still-visible evidence of the area’s long and colorful history from prehistoric Native American settlements to abandoned 20th-century industries. Walk in the footsteps of those whose lives had a profound impact on history—like John Burroughs, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sir William Johnson, and “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne—and many others who led quieter lives but also left a legacy.
Visit the site where a British Army surrendered and ended one of the pivotal battles of the American Revolution; an abandoned bluestone quarry where hikers have created “Catskill furniture”; Colonial homesteads and estates; remnants of “Clinton's Ditch”—the original Erie Canal; “Gilded Age” great estates and presidential retreats; crumbling icehouse ruins and geological marvels; magnificent waterfalls, ice caves, and four-state views; and much more—a kaleidoscope of upstate New York's beautiful natural areas and the stories they tell. Featuring nearly 150 full-color photographs and maps.

The Paths include:
North & South Redoubt (Garrison) • Bowdoin Park Rock Shelters (New Hamburg) • Walkway over the Hudson & Cedar Glen Ruins (Poughkeepsie) • Val-Kill (Hyde Park) • Vanderbilt Mansion & Bard Rock (Hyde Park) • Slabsides (West Park) • Dover Stone Church Cave (Dover Plains) • Ice Caves & Sam’s Point (Cragsmoor) • Falling Waters (Glasco) • Dibble’s Quarry (Platte Clove) • Old Stage Road to Catskill Mountain House Site (Palenville) • High Falls (Philmont) • Hudson River Skywalk: Thomas Cole House to Olana (Catskill & Hudson) • Mawignack Preserve (Catskill) • R. & W. Scott Icehouse Ruins (Nutten Hook) • Joralemon Memorial Park (Ravena) • Washington Park (Albany) • Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary (Feura Bush) • John Boyd Thacher State Park: Section I: High Point & Hang Glider Cliff (Altamont) & Section II: Upper Minelot Creek (New Salem) • Johnson Hall State Historic Site (Johnstown) • Christman Sanctuary Preserve (Delanson) • Normanskill Farm (Delmar) • Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park (Watervliet) • Erie Canal Ruins (Cohoes) • Shenantaha Creek Park (Round Lake) • Lester Park (Saratoga Springs) • Victory Woods (Schuylerville) • Dickinson Hill Fire Tower (Grafton) • Dyken Pond (Grafton) • Mattison Hollow (Berlin) • Snow Hole (Petersburg Pass) • Field Farm & McMasters Caves (South Williamstown)

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR PATHS TO THE PAST
Paths to the Past, along with Russ and Barbara’s many other guidebooks, deepens our understanding of these wonderful places and the forces that created them. Reading about these destinations will make you want to head out to explore new places or revisit familiar places armed with new perspectives and insights. This guidebook needs to be off the shelf and in your backpack. — Mark King, Executive Director, Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy

This is a fantastic book. The combination of history and hikes makes it endlessly fascinating and enjoyable on or off the trail. — Scott Keller, Executive Director, Hudson River Valley Greenway

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Russell Dunn and Barbara Delaney are a husband and wife writing team who has been collaborating for twenty years. Their first two books were Trails with Tales and Adirondack Trails with Tales, both history-oriented hiking guidebooks. Paths to the Past is the third book in the series.
Barbara and Russell are retired New York State–licensed hiking guides. For fifteen consecutive years they led hikes to waterfalls in the Adirondacks. The hikes came to be known as “Waterfall Weekend” and took place annually in early May in the Keene Valley area.
In addition to coauthoring the history-oriented hiking guidebooks, Russell has written a number of other regional outdoors guidebooks to eastern New York State and western New England, including nine waterfall guidebooks, five paddling guidebooks, and seven guidebooks to regional glacial erratics and rock formations. He has also published a series of anaglyph 3-D books.
Barbara has become well-known for her two books of fiction, Finding Griffin: An Adirondack Novel and Follansbee Pond Secrets.
They live in Albany, New York, and can be reached at Russell’s email, rdunnwaterfalls@yahoo.com.