Address: Esopus Bend Nature Preserve
P.O. Box 589
Saugerties, NY 12477
Phone: 845-247-0664
Email: info@esopuscreekconservancy.org
Website: esopuscreekconservancy.org
Description
Esopus Bend Nature Preserve, with its four hiking trails and its scenic location along a dramatic bend in the Esopus Creek, is a unique 161-acre preserve situated less than a mile from the Hudson River. It is visible to 10,000 travelers a day who cross the Esopus Creek bridge in the Village of Saugerties.
Established in 2003 and owned by Esopus Creek Conservancy - a not-for-profit land trust, the preserve was formerly farmland but has not been used for agriculture in more than forty years. It is a natural ecosystem rife with an array of flora and fauna. Turkeys nest in the meadow in June. Turtles sun on logs during warm summer days. Toads grow up here, and the air flits with dragonflies and birds. Eagles stand on the river birches, watching for prey. Blue herons fish along its shore. Red foxes patrol the forest, and coyotes feed in the preserve in winter.
We provide some directions to Esopus Bend Nature Preserve below, followed by some photos.
Directions
To access Esopus Bend from 9W south in the Village of Saugerties after crossing the Esopus Creek bridge, go a short distance and make a right onto Overbaugh Street, then take a left onto Simmons Drive, a right onto Appletree Drive and a left onto Shady Lane. There is a parking lot that can accommodate a few cars. However, due to the very limited parking at the entrance to the preserve, visitors are encouraged to park in the Simmons Plaza parking lot on 9W, or at the Saugerties village beach, and walk or carpool to the Shady Lane entrance.
Visitors can also launch their kayak or canoe into the Esopus Creek from the Saugerties Village Beach at the dead end of South Partition Street, and paddle the three and one-half miles to the rapids. Along the first mile, they can view the preserve from the water, examine the wetland cove, spot a turtle sunning on a log, and observe blue herons along the shoreline or in flight above the water.
Here is a map, showing how to get from the intersection of Main and Partition Streets, to the Shady Lane entrance to the Preserve.