Hiking and biking the D&H Canal
Photo courtesy of @HBTrails on Instagram
In the time of social distancing and online interactions, it is our goal to maintain and grow new connections with our audience, and canal enthusiasts, through our social media presence. Over the last few months one Instagram account has stood out to us with their continued support of the museum. Whether it’s sharing our posts to their Instagram story, or tagging our account when they share footage and photos of the local canal areas they’ve explored, we’ve got their interest. I’d like to introduce to you HB Trails, a local duo who enjoys hiking and biking around the local trails, and has a fondness for the D&H Canal. I reached out to them asking if they would be interested in being interviewed for our blog as a way of thanking them for their continued support, and they happily obliged.
Let’s get to know you! Introduce yourselves and what brought you to the Hudson Valley.
We are Nihad Mustafic and Amra Hajric, from Queens, NY. We’ve been hiking together since we met, 14 years ago. We moved to Wurtsboro seven years ago in order to enjoy a quieter life with our cats, leaving the traffic-life behind, and to hike and bike as often as we can while working from home. We used to have to rent a car just to go hiking in Carmel, NY and now we can drive down the road and jump on a trail.
Tell us the goal behind your Instagram account.
We created our Instagram account in order to share our adventures and meet like-minded people. We’ve been talking about this for years and finally did it! Our goal is to inspire people to be more active outdoors and learn a few things ourselves, along the way. We love the history behind each trail and to imagine how it all looked back in the day. We now have something of our own history to look back on, to see what trails we did and accomplished. A 100 years from now someone else might look at our pictures and compare the trails and scenery.
What sections of the D&H Canal trail have you hiked/biked? What sections do you have left?
So far, we’ve only completed the D&H Canal from Phillipsport to Cuddbackville. We’ve done the sections in Wurtsboro multiple times and we’ve kayaked and hiked around other areas where the canal used to run such as the Rondout Creek. We hope to continue the canal trail into Pennsylvania soon; we just need to find the walkable sections and plan our trip.
Did you have a favorite section of the canal trail?
Since we haven’t completed the whole section I can’t say that we have a favorite, but we walk the trail in Wurtsboro often. You can start from the museum at 209 Bova Rd, cross the street and walk the path all the way to town, eat a gyro at the diner, and walk back. There is still some evidence of history that used to be around the canal path. You can also jump on the old rail trails that used to run alongside the canal to explore the Shawangunk Ridge Trails. When we want to do more miles we walk from the canal and jump on the rail trail to check out the old mines. We ended up finding an old glass Listerine bottle in the woods, perhaps from one of the miners? 😃
Have you visited our Five Locks Walk in High Falls?
Sadly, we have not explored that area yet, but it’s on our list. We like to do longer walks and hikes so when we do come we plan on hiking as much as we can around the area.
What do you know about the D&H Canal history? What would you like to know?
What we know about D&H Canal history is what we’ve learned through your feed and the plagues and information along the canal. We also know that Maurice Wurts, along with his brother, started the D&H canal and rail so we feel proud to live in this area which bears his name! Another fun but sad fact we learned is that donkeys were used to help pull the boats, since they die easier than horses.
We truly enjoy watching the live streams and learning more about the D&H canal. We still can’t believe that Canada gets to enjoy the maps instead of us. We would love to see more videos and then-and-now photos. It’s incredible to see how the scenery has changed over the years and what used to be standing is no longer there.
What areas of history are you interested in?
You can say that we’ve become documentary snobs and love just about any part of history we can find. We love to learn about the old timers and how they lived. We’re always wondering how life was back in the day and how it must have looked 100 years ago and how it will look 100 years from now. It’s wonderful to be able to look at pictures and videos in order to get a glimpse into the past but also to hear stories and learn something new that they don’t teach in school.
What other trails in the area have you hiked/biked that you would recommend to our followers?So many great places, but if you are walking the D & H canal you have to do the Rails to Trails as well. They go hand in hand and have a great history. We’ve biked through some of it, including starting from our house and going down to Mountain Dale, NY all the way to Hurleyville. The O&W Rail Trail is a must, whether you walk or bike it. We’ve gone from Accord to Kingston and Hurley a few times, during different seasons, and it’s beautiful every time.
You can follow Nihad and Amra’s adventures on Instagram @hbtrails and on their website www.hbtrails.com.
Courtney McNamara
Curatorial Assistant
