During my time at New Paltz College in the Mid-Hudson Valley area of New York, I grew increasingly fond of walks along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.

The whole experience of undergrad felt somewhat like a peripatetic journey between different islands of an archipelago. I initially matriculated as a BFA in graphic design, largely off the back of my experiences here on Newgrounds. I switched majors to English with a minor in history around my sophomore year, dropped off of the NCAA men's volleyball team, and considered transferring out of New Paltz on more than one occasion. I learned how to play golf, joined the Honors Program, and even picked the cello back up for a semester. And when I needed to slow the surf underneath my rickety raft, I would often escape to the rail trail for hours on end.

The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail sits at the base of the hip, bustling college town of New Paltz. As the name suggests, the trail used to be a rail line between many small New York towns but was decommissioned in 1977. The Wallkill Valley Land Trust purchased 22 miles of the trail between Rosendale, NY and Gardiner, NY by 2009, with New Paltz smack-dab in the middle of the route. I used to pop out of Bouton Hall at dawn on those late spring mornings, frost still on the ground, and walk through the back alleys of the town until I hit the trail crossing Main Street. From there, I'd take a right onto the rail trail and walk northeast for a mile or two until I hit New Paltz Golf Course. Other times, I'd hop on my Mongoose mountain bike and try to race to Gardiner and back before the sunset, usually after days composing my latest essay.

This acrylic painting was done of the trail in early autumn after my girlfriend and I visited our alma mater in 2020. COVID's grips on New York had loosened a bit by then, but walking the trail again like old times and sitting down for a bowl of pho afterwards was just the boost we needed after six months of social distancing. Certainly, this composition was a test of perspective, but I also wanted to try some experiments with sunlight and shadowing. Most importantly, I wanted to try to emulate the "refocusing" effect I used to experience after a long walk along the rail trail, and I aim to continue to work on trail-themed paintings as I get older.