The Hyde Park Trail system includes over 14 miles of trails linking parks, preserves, and historic sites throughout the town, following both wide woods roads left by generations of farms and estates and narrower, steeper hiking paths. The trails bring together scenic views, woodlands, gardens, Hudson Valley history, and physical activity, and since 1988 the Hyde Park Trail Committee has worked to build and maintain them for residents and visitors. Its long-term goal is to extend the trail north and south along the Hudson River, connect with Rhinebeck and Poughkeepsie, and create additional links between parks and neighborhoods. The original Hyde Park Trail was designated a Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail in 1992, and the entire system became a National Recreation Trail in 2006. The trail symbol is the leaf of the tulip tree, or Liriodenron tulipifera, a favorite of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who admired an old specimen near his home; tulip trees can reach 100 feet, are the tallest-growing eastern hardwood species, and are also known as tulip-poplar or yellow-poplar for their large greenish-yellow flowers with orange markings. The naturalist and author John Burroughs, who lived across the Hudson River in West Park, farmed there, walked widely among the hills and streams, hosted visitors including Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, John Muir, and Thomas Edison, and wrote of wanting more time for thoughts, walks, books, and friends. The trails also depend on volunteers, who can adopt or build trails, maintain signs, benches, and kiosks, organize walks and events, and support public outreach.