the town of Wawarsing, NY 52 bends southeast into an area that remains heavily forested along the next 10 miles (16 km) as it gradually descends off the Catskill Plateau to Ellenville. The route follows a straight course to the southeast past the small residential hamlet of Dairyland, passing a junction with CR 53A (Milk Road). Four miles (6.4 km) further east, it passes another similar small hamlet, Greenfield Park, and bends back to the east a mile after passing the north end of Windsor Lake. NY 52 leaves Dairyland, crossing southeast through Wawarsing into the residential hamlet of Greenfield Park and past Windsor Lake, the source of the West Branch of the Beer Kill, which it follows to Ellenville. East of the lake, the route bends northeastward for two more miles, crossing through some dense woods between steep hillsides and paralleling Old Greenfield Road. Both roads soon bend northward, as the woods recede to more residences. As the West Branch drains into the main Beer Kill, just outside Ellenville, NY 52 reaches a junction with CR 53 (Briggs Street). After re-paralleling, NY 52 continues southeast, reaching the terminus of CR 53 (Old Greenfield Road). Entering Ellenville, the largest village on the route since Liberty, NY 52 divides. NY 52 runs down both Center Street and Canal Street. A few blocks into the village, NY 52 has its only intersection in Ulster County with a numbered route above the county level, US 209 (Main Street). The Shawangunk Ridge looms ahead. The route, on both Canal and Center, then crosses the village's downtown, lower than its peak at SCCC. In the residential section that follows the Sandburg Creek crossing, one of the cross streets, Towpath Lane, marks the former route of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, a National Historic Landmark. NY 52 bends southward, where Canal and Center Streets merge, taking the latter's name. At the village line, it becomes Mountain Avenue. Over the next three miles (4.8 km), NY 52 climbs over a thousand feet (300 m) to the crest of the Shawangunk Ridge. This section offers several overlooks on the west side with views of the Catskills to the north and northwest and the valley below. The route itself passes rock outcrops, some with fencing to prevent the road from being blocked off, and steep wooded slopes. Near the base of the climb aqua paint blazes on signposts at