The Joy of Country Driving in the Catskills: Driving Tours for Enthusiasts

CATSKILL MOUNTAINS — Our Catskill Region has wonderful rural roads that offer a sense of freedom to drivers who love to drive. We have designed three Driving Tours that offer a full day of driving through historic hamlets, along country roads by farms and forests and along creeks and rivers. Each Tour is about 140 miles in length, and you may drive all day and see two stoplights. This program grew out of the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway and the Catskill Conquest Rally Commemorating the 1903 Automobile Endurance Run. Each Rally is a gathering together for the common purpose of sharing the day with other enthusiasts in a noncompetitive drive. We have no trophies, no banquet, just fun! We combine a wonderful driving experience with a sense of history. Our routes now enter into five Catskill Region Counties. The three Catskill Rallies for 2026 are:

Saturday, June 13th: the 5th Schoharie Turnpike-Kaaterskill Clove Rally: start with breakfast at Dutchman’s Landing Park on the Hudson River at Catskill, drive to Athens follow the Schoharie Turnpike to the Iroquois Museum, with a new exhibit keyed to the 250th anniversary of 1776 and the split in the Iroquois Confederacy caused by the Revolution. Enjoy lunch at the Carrot Barn and visit the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie, a Revolutionary War site with vintage displays of arrowheads and historic artifacts, including an unrestored 1903 Rambler automobile. Return through Gilboa, stop at the Prattsville Museum, stop in Hunter where we visit the Piano Performance Museum and descend the Kaaterskill Clove. Fee of $100 per car.

Saturday, September 19th: the 10th Catskill Conquest Rally: start with breakfast at the Catskills Visitor Center on State Route 28 in Mount Tremper, visit the Cauliflower Festival in Margaretville, Roxbury, John Burroughs’ Woodchuck Lodge, and Hobart Book Village, home to a half dozen book shops, where we have a home cooked lunch sponsored by the Hobart Rotary. Visit Hanford Mills Museum, a working 180+ year old sawmill, and delight at Polar Bear Ice Cream. Return through Delhi and Andes. Fee of $100 per car.

Saturday, October 17th: the 8th Catskill Covered Bridge Rally: start at the Catskills Visitor Center in Mount Tremper, follow 13 creeks and rivers and cross four historic Covered Bridges, including over both branches of the Delaware River. This is a hoot of a drive through Ulster, Sullivan and Delaware Counties. Fee of $50 per car.

Our routes are guided by sets of beautiful full color maps by Cruz Cartography, with a master map and section maps showing the route details. All cars are welcome and we have a wide range of participants, from people joining their first automobile event in their family SUV, to devoted enthusiasts who often return year after year. If you have a car you love to drive these are the roads you would most like to travel. The drives are just for pure enjoyment of touring our beautiful region. For information contact Rally Master Robert Selkowitz at 1903autorun@gmail.com or call 845-616-4550. Visit the website at www.1903autorun.com for an entry form and more information.

Robert Selkowitz is an artist whose 2004 book A Painter’s Path through the Catskill Mountains, published by the Catskill Press, included 50 color pastel landscapes and a set of maps showing where the paintings were done. He thought of the book as a treasure hunt for views and sees his work as Rally Master for these Catskill Region Driving Tours as related to his love for sharing the beauty he discovered by many years of roaming the mountains looking for painting motifs. You can see more about him at www.robertselkowitz.com.