Things to Do in Beacon

Colossal train engines once pulled hefty freight along the O&W Railway's main line. Today, where the rails lines formerly cut through glistening tree canopies, a 2-mile unpaved trail splices through six rural hamlets, just 90 miles from New York City. It's along this rails-to-trails path that Woodridge Segway Tours whisks its adventurers through beautiful mountain views, clean country air, and the sounds of fresh water trickling. With safety helmets securely atop their heads, tour takers steer the two-wheeled segway transporters with intuitive gestures: leaning forward to go ahead, leaning backward to reverse, and pulling on their ears to make the segways sing.

Situated at the foot of the Ellenville Mountain site, Mountain Wings has readied students for safe, engine-free flying since 1981. A staff of USHPA-certified instructors shares much of its knowledge on the facility's two training hills—a grassy, gently sloped concave for beginners, and a 180-foot hill used by intermediate gliders and a handful of pretty insane paper-airplane competitors. Sprinting, stumbling, and hovering across those hills, groups practice with Condors—slow-flying, easy-to-handle training gliders that work in zero-wind zones. Upon ascending to greater heights and skill levels, students can also snag their own equipment at Mountain Wings' full-service aero-sports shop.

The staff of Pocono Segway Tours leads groups of up to 10 sightseers on segway-propelled escapades through the scenic Pocono Mountains. A battery-powered personal transporter, the segway allows recreationalists of all shapes and sizes to navigate the gyroscopic machine along wooded paths and roadways while taking in the area's picturesque vistas during guided, multimile excursions. With two locations, the company gives tours in mountainous Split Rock; in Shawnee Inn, which presents views of the Delaware Water Gap.

Delaware River Tubing launches tubes, rafts, and kayaks on five- to six-mile trips down scenic waterways just north of where George Washington historically crossed the Delaware River. Shuttles ferry groups to launch points, where watercraft journeys begin along the wide river. In addition to renting vessels, Delaware River Tubing's crew leads guided kayak tours that can highlight local wildlife and tackle class one rapids like a mall cop tackling a gummy-bear thief.

During river adventures, scents of barbecue waft across the water from the aptly named Famous River Hotdog Man. The riverside eatery, founded in 1987, partners with Delaware River Tubing to give each customer a hot meal, which they can devour at picnic tables in the water.

After high school, Michael Richardson spent the next 15 years training show horses and winning a bushel of regional trophies at Richardson Stables. He eventually moved to Frenchtown, New Jersey, where he worked for Revelation Farm as a trainer and met his future wife, Jessie Kieren, who pioneered Revelation’s riding program. Fusing components of their respective last names, they founded Kierson Farm, whose verdant greens and indoor heated facilities house a fleet of trained American saddlebred show horses that ferry riders of all ability levels. The farm’s boarding services demonstrate their dedication to caring for hooved friends by delegating one staff member for every five horses, ensuring that each steed receives tender attention when not studying pig Latin.