Family Biking in Westchester (White Plains, Ossining: sex offender, violent crime, house)

[fyrisle]

Hi - we were thinking of taking a family bike ride in Westchester, possibly near Croton-on-Hudson. Does anybody know the best bike paths in the Croton area for a family with a 7 year old?

[dma1250]

The North County Trailway is great for kids. We take our 7 year old there all the time--that's where he learned to bike and scoot. It runs north-south for 20 miles. The closest entry to Croton is on Route 118 in Yorktown, about 10 minutes from Croton. This blog post has some more info on the North county Trailway and links to a map:

Northern Westchester Home: Chugging Down the Trail

Another kid-friendly bike path is the one in Croton that runs from Senasqua park south to Croton Point Park (it runs along the Hudson for part of the way and then goes inland a bit).

[AnNYYankee]

Senesqua Park in Croton-on-Hudson also has a bike trail. The park entrance is off of Rt. 129. It goes from the park, past Half Moon Bay, and ends at Croton Point park. Its sort of interesting and scenic, in an industrial way; it runs parallel to the Harmon Train yards.

[fyrisle]

Thanks! I'll take a look at it.

[jjmmgott]

How safe are the paved trails? I run by myself a lot, and one thing I am looking for when beginning my home search in Westchester is safe running areas. (I am female) I would normally run 9am mornings or anytime on weekends. Are they heavily used? Any crime statistics or areas to avoid. Thanks!

[Kevrltr]

There is great biking along the Bronx River Parkway from Bronxville to White Plains.
They close the parkway for Bicycle Sundays

All the best

Kevin O'Shea

[dma1250]

Originally Posted by jjmmgott

How safe are the paved trails? I run by myself a lot, and one thing I am looking for when beginning my home search in Westchester is safe running areas. (I am female) I would normally run 9am mornings or anytime on weekends. Are they heavily used? Any crime statistics or areas to avoid. Thanks!

I've never heard of any crime along any of the trails in the upper Westchester area. In general there is practically no violent crime other than domestic disputes and the occasional drug-related thing in Peekskill or Ossining. There are exceptions of course--recently a just-released convicted sex offender raped a woman at a shopping center parking lot (he is now back in jail). But that was the first such crime that has occured in the past 6 years. We only lock our house when we leave for more than 2 days--there has not been a break-in or any crime in our area for as long as anyone can remember.

In addition to the trails, there are a number of roads in the area that are very popular with joggers, bikers, and walkers.