Dryden Rail Trail

The Dryden Story Walk, in partnership with the Family Reading Partnership, is a series of panels along the Jim Schug section of the Dryden Rail Trail. Children can read a page from the book, then run along the trail to the next panel to read the next page. It can be viewed by accessing the Jim Schug section of the Dryden Rail Trail, next to the Dryden Agway on Main Street.

The Story Walk first appeared last year, and has just been updated for the Fall! The featured book this season is Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler. Each summer, Miss Maple gathers lost seeds that haven’t yet found a place to sprout. She takes care of them, keeping them safe and warm until it’s time for them to find roots of their own, and grow into the magnificent plants they’re destined to become. This is a beautifully written and illustrated book, perfect for an autumn walk with the family!

The Fall featured book on the Dryden Rail Trail’s Story Walk for Fall, 2021 is *Miss Maple’s Seeds* by Eliza Wheeler.

The Town of Dryden is excited to show more images of a section of nearly-completed trestle and trail renovations. These two ~150 year-old former Lehigh Valley (later Elmira, Cortland, and Northern) Railroad trestles, are each located between Game Farm and Stevenson Roads, at the westernmost side of the Town of Dryden, Tompkins County, New York.The Dryden Highway Department has worked tirelessly to make these two trestles safe for pedestrian use by replacing damaged and rotten timbers, applying new decking, and installing these newly affixed railings (pictured). This section of the Town of Dryden Rail Trail is also in the process of being leveled and covered with a fine stone dust surface, making it easier to walk on.This section of the Town of Dryden Rail Trail joins the easternmost terminus of the East Ithaca Recreation Way, which is a direct conduit for recreational and commuter trail users to access East Ithaca and Cornell University.We hope to have this trail section open in a more official capacity later this fall, once the Game Farm Road crossing has been made safer with appropriate signage and markings, following approval from the Tompkins County Highway Department Engineers.Additional trailhead modifications may be made to help slow trail users at the roadway intersection, to reduce the risk of pedestrian-vehicle collisions. We are also recommending that the speed limit along the full length of Game Farm Road be posted with a safer speed of 45mph–down from the un-posted State Speed Limit of 55mph. Both adjoining sections of roadways to the north and south (Route 366 and Ellis Hollow Road) already have a posted speed limit of 45mph; it makes sense to reduce and post the Game Farm Road speed limit to match.This section of trail is not yet officially open, as indicated by the signage posted at the two trailheads, by order of Highway Superintendent Rick Young.