Just ahead is Trapps Road, an automobile road that was laid down on top of a much older road called the Wawarsing-New Paltz Turnpike. The turnpike was originally built in 1856 as a toll route over the mountain between the Wallkill Valley (New Paltz) and the upper Rondout Valley (Wawarsing-Ellenville). Tolls were collected on the Trapps Ridge at the gap now spanned by the Trapps Bridge that crosses over Route 44/55, one-half mile east of the West Trapps Trailhead. After a few years as a toll road, the turnpike went bankrupt and became a public road. Travelers were able to spend the night at Ben Fowler’s lodging house and tavern, located a hundred yards up the turnpike to the south. All that remains of the tavern today is a large cellar hole.