XC Skiing - Hopkins Memorial Forest, MA

Today, Roy and I headed to Massachusetts to the Hopkins Memorial Forest, owned and managed for recreation and research by Williams College. Recent storms had dumped large amounts of snow on the Berkshires, and this seemed like a good place to take advantage of it. So off we went, and it was only a little over an hour drive.



We parked at the entrance, took a quick look around the Rosenberg Center (RC) at the lower right, then put on our skis and started up the Lower Loop Trail (LL). It makes a figure-8 with the Upper Loop Trail (UL). We skied up the northern, more gentle, side of each of the loops, and came down the southern sides, which had some pretty challenging hills, some with bridges at the bottom.



It was a cold day, sunny with temps around 10, but with no wind. The snow had been hard-packed by snowshoers, and was crunchy and fast. Keeping our speed down on the downhills on the return was a necessity, and it was sometimes hard to snowplow in the "trench", which was also somewhat bumpy. We covered the 4.5 miles in about 1:45, the first hour being totally up, and the rest being totally down. It wasn't exactly the snow conditions I expected, but was a challenging and scenic outing nonetheless.

XC Skiing - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

I thought I might be going somewhere for a longer ski outing today, but had trouble getting moving this morning. So I waited until after lunch and headed to Featherstonhaugh State Forest, a mere 20 minutes away near Mariaville. The day turned unexpectedly sunny, making for a very nice, though brisk, afternoon.

Parts of the ski trails had been broken out, and others had not. They have now. I skied the entire network, and was pleased to find it in mostly good shape, despite the logging operations of the past few years. A few sections could use some trimming, and there are enough naturally occurring large logs down across the trail that a chainsaw trip would be a big help. But it's definitely skiable all the way, and the snow was delightfully deep and soft.






This is a great place close by to get out for something resembling backcountry skiing. Though the hills are few and modest, the trail twists and turns, dips and rises, requiring quick footwork once it's been skied in and speeds up a bit. Today was more of a slow, scenic slog, but about the amount of skiing that I seemed to be looking for, this being the 4th day in a row.

XC Skiing - Woodlawn Preserve, Schenectady

A group at Holly's church was considering a service project doing some minor trail clearing in this preserve, located near the Woodlawn section of Schenectady. Today, we went skiing there to scout it out, both for that purpose and for future skiing opportunities. It's a somewhat forgotten and forlorn part of the expanse of Pine Bush that extends from Albany to Schenectady, and contains sand dunes and a lake that was created for stormwater runoff control many years ago. The city is now trying to resurrect the area as a nature preserve, but motorized recreational access continues to be a problem.



We skied in from the end of Gifford Road and started out CCW around the lake, detouring up into the wooded area where the sand dunes are. The entire area had been heavily used by snowmobiles, though we didn't see any today. Some of the hills up in the dunes would have been pretty amazing to ski, snowmobiled or not, but not everyone in the group was interested in trying that. So we headed back down to the lake and finished the loop back to the cars.



All things considered, I think I probably will not be back here to ski again, unless the motorized access issues are resolved and enforced, which seems unlikely. The terrain could be a lot of fun if not already all torn up by snowmobiles.

XC Skiing - Mohawk River State Park

(formerly and familiarly known as the Schenectady Museum Preserve)

Well, we didn't get the 25-30" of snow that some areas south and east got from this nor'easter, but we did get a very nice 8-10" on top of the 4-6" that was already on the ground. So, this afternoon, while the snow was still falling, Holly and I got out and skied some of our favorite hills in this Park/Preserve. The snowshoers and dog walkers had already been out, but we caught it before any serious damage was done. This place gets to be not so good for skiing after a few days of that other traffic.



Mostly, we were skiing in a snowshoe trench, but that's not the worst that could happen, since the trail was broken and the snow was still very soft and nice. There were a couple of places where I wound up breaking trail myself in all that new powder, but even that wasn't bad. And I got first tracks down the big hill on the power lines, which was a sheer delight. The narrow twisting hills in the woods were very forgiving in the deep snow, and it was a very nice outing, the best we've had in this preserve in quite some time.

XC Skiing - Saratoga Spa State Park

Beginning today, and every Tuesday in ski season, the Environmental Clearinghouse (ECOS) has a ski trip to a relatively nearby area that has good snow. The first trip of the season is traditionally to Saratoga Spa State Park. We ski for a couple of hours on the golf course and other parts of the park, and then retire to the warming hut for a potluck of snacks and hot drinks.

The trails in the park had a light coating over a very firm base, and the skiing was surprisingly good.



We even took on a speedy downhill that took us to the Island Spouter in the valley below.



Some of us also did a side trip to the spring and waterfall upstream and below the bridge to SPAC, a place I'd previously only seen from above.



Today was perfect for skiing, with temps around 20 and dry snow, and the skiing was smooth as silk. Golf courses aren't my favorite places to ski, but it was good to finally get out for some reasonably good kicking and gliding.

XC Skiing - Indian Meadows Park

With me still recovering from a sore back, and Holly getting over a cold, we went for an easy ski today at Indian Meadows Park in Glenville. It's not a very exciting place to ski, but it has the advantage of being convenient, and also having fairly smooth surfaces that allow skiing with only minimal snow. Some of the trails are rolled and groomed by a volunteer, so even with no base, it wasn't bad skiing. This was true as long as we stayed out of the pine woods, where it was very thin and rough. Hoping for more snow from a possible nor'easter Tuesday into Wednesday.

Snowshoeing - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

Having messed up my back a couple of days ago (a little too much zeal on the disc golf course), I cancelled out of a pretty serious winter hike today. But by noon, I was feeling a little improved, and wanted to get out and enjoy the new fallen snow.

Since I'm scheduled to lead a moonlight snowshoe walk later this week as the moon approaches full, and since this was our first measurable snowfall in weeks, it seemed like a good idea to check out Featherstonhaugh State Forest and see if this trip can actually come off. This forest has been logged for the past two years, and the trails have been disturbed quite a bit by that activity, so I needed to be sure.

I parked at "A" on the map below, and walked A-B-E-C-D-E-B-A, basically a clockwise loop.



From "A" to "B" is a marked ski trail that provides access to the main ski loop within the forest. Unfortunately, this section had not been cleaned up after the logging (as it was supposed to have been), and will not be skiable without about 2 feet of snow. It wasn't much fun on snowshoes either.



From "B" to "E" to "C" is part of the main ski loop, and it was in surprisingly good shape, though the snow was still a little thin for skiing, and barely enough for snowshoeing. Interestingly, when I got to "B", I did not see any markers for the other side of the ski loop, heading west from there.

The snowmobile trail, from "C" to "D", was in great shape, presumably because of annual maintenance done by the local snowmobile club. From "D" to "E" is the main skid road that the logging operation created and used, and it's also in pretty good shape.

If we don't lose any snow between now and the right night for the moon walk, I think a D-E-C-D loop would be OK on snowshoes. More snow would even be better, and we may get some on Tuesday night and Wednesday. See the listing at the link above if you'd like to sign up.

Disc Golf - Schenectady Central Park

This past summer, a new disc (Frisbee) golf course was installed in Schenectady's Central Park. Being a sometimes golfer in the warmer seasons, and having once (long ago) created a 9-hole Frisbee golf course of my own in my parents' large rolling backyard, sans fancy baskets, I was looking forward to giving this a try. I didn't own a proper disc, so asked for, and got, not one but two for Christmas. Both are actual "Frisbees^®, so from here on, that's the word I'll use. One is a standard size Frisbee, the sort that we're all familiar with. The other is a special "mid-range" golf Frisbee, that came with a book about disc golf, and a DVD showing throwing techniques. It's smaller, and heavy for its size, so that's the one I used today. More serious "golfers" carry a bag of different sized specialized discs as golfers do, including a "driver" and a "putter", but that truly seems like overkill for me.

I immediately discovered that I have only one type of throw, and it always goes from right to left. Always. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes it isn't, depending on the direction it actually needs to go. It was also a little breezy today, which didn't help any. I was only planning to try a few holes, but it moved along so fast that I played the entire 18 holes in a little over an hour. Nobody else was on the course, aside from a few pedestrians and dog walkers. If I'd played more slowly, I might have done better than the 81 I recorded, par being only 57, but I highly doubt it. It was a fun way to spend an hour, and I'll be doing more of this as long as there's no snow for real winter fun.

Walk - Schenectady County Forest

Another warm day, and skiing has pretty much gone kaput, so Holly and I got out for a short walk in the Schenectady County Forest, 1,000 feet up in the hills of western Schenectady County. Usually, this area tends to get more snow than down in the city, but last week's nor'easter dumped most of its load much further to the east, and wasn't really elevation-dependent. We took snowshoes, but left them in the car, since there wasn't enough snow left here for either skis or snowshoes. The footing was a bit rough, with frost heaves and lots of running water, but it was still nice to get out on such a warm day, before the rains arrive later.

XC Skiing - Dyken Pond (again)

We weren't going to go skiing again today, feeling somewhat the aftereffects of yesterday. But when there's good snow on the ground, temps in the 40s, blue skies, and rain on the way, you do what you have to do, and get out and savor every moment while you can. So this afternoon, we headed back to Dyken Pond (see yesterday's post) to wander some of the other trails.

Arriving in the parking lot, we recognized Roy and Sue's RAV4, now knowing that they were out there somewhere again as we were. We started out the northern end of the Long Trail loop, and very shortly ran into each other, as they were just finishing up the same loop in the opposite direction. We skied together for a little bit, and then we went our own ways. We thanked them for breaking the trail for us on the rest of the loop, and they headed back to their car.

The snow today was much wetter and heavier than yesterday, making steering on the downhills, like this one through the "Rock Garden", a little tricky.



Continuing on, and turning back toward the Center, we reached another landmark, "Grandfather Rock".



Somehow we missed the shorter westbound leg of the Otter Creek Trail, and wound up doing that entire loop as well. The sun was setting as we finally reached the car, casting an orange glow on the tops of the trees around the parking area.



I said yesterday that this 15-20" of snow would survive the weekend rain, but even after a couple of days above freezing, many rocks were already poking through on the trails. This area needs LOTS of snow cover, and preferably a good base, and may not be skiable again until we get some more snow.

XC Skiing - Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center

With over 20" of snow falling to our east in parts of Rensselaer County in this last storm, it seemed like a good area close to home to find some nice skiing. First, we drove to Pittstown State Forest, south of NY7 near Pittstown, only to find the parking area unplowed, and snowmobiles being the dominant tracks in the snow. So, we headed a little south to Grafton Lakes State Park, ate lunch in the parking lot, and discovered that today, this too was overrun with the buzzing machines. Then Holly suggested Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center, not far from Grafton, also at high elevation, and usually with some pretty deep snow. It was a good choice!

We pulled into the parking lot about 15 minutes later, to find our friends Roy and Sue also just getting ready to start off. They'd been talking with a staff person about the current state of the trails, many of which had not yet been broken. So the four of us set off following the trails that HAD been broken, and had a very nice outing. The snow was indeed 15-20" deep, soft, and fluffy, though with today's warmer temperatures, we all experienced some stickiness from time to time. We probably skied for about an hour and a half, much of it in deep partially broken snow, on a sunny blue-sky afternoon. That snow will definitely survive any rain that passes through this coming weekend.

Pictures courtesy of Roy, since I forgot my camera... :-(

XC Skiing - Albany Pine Bush Preserve

After driving back from Syracuse this morning, returning from our third straight day of Christmas overindulging, Holly and I got out for a bit of local skiing this afternoon, on the first skiable local snow of the season. We parked at #7 on the map below, near Point of Woods at the end of Washington Avenue Extension, and did the two loops highlighted on the map. The upper loop actually has yellow trail markers, and the trail between the two loops has white ones. The SE corner of the red loop had a challenging twisty downhill to a bridge over a stream, but otherwise, the trails were mostly wide and smooth.



All things considered, the skiing wasn't bad. There was about a foot of snow, but it had been walked on and snowshoed on, in addition to the ski tracks. And with no base, that made it a little thin in spots, with the occasional root showing through. But beggars can't be choosers, and we finally got some snow without driving somewhere for an hour. Too bad we'll be getting rain this coming weekend, and may have to start over.

Walk - Indian Meadows Park

Took a break from Christmas preparations today, and Holly and I went for a brisk walk in Indian Meadows Park in Glenville, before all fa-la-la-la-la breaks loose over the next several days. Several other people were out doing the same thing, despite the cold breeze and lack of winter scenery. Big storm will now miss us on Sunday night, so we'll be driving somewhere for some skiing next week.

Hiking - Taconic Crest Trail

With my back yard looking like this:



and no cross-country skiing to be found anywhere nearby, today I joined a Schenectady Chapter ADK hike on the Taconic Crest Trail, along the ridge that defines the NY/MA border. It's only a little over an hour east of here, but 1,500-2,000 feet higher in elevation. Based on recent reports, we were all expecting a couple inches of snow, and no base except the occasional icy patch. With that in mind, we headed to Petersburg Pass to head south on the trail for 5.2 miles, before dropping off the ridge and retrieving the second car we'd left at Southeast Hollow, 7 total miles from our start.

Well guess what?









IT'S WINTER UP THERE!



We put our snowshoes on at the start, and never took them off. On the ridge, there was about 6-8" of new snow that had just fallen overnight, drifts up to 2 feet, 20 degrees, snow still falling, and a howling wind occasionally causing near-whiteouts. Wow! The trees were beautiful covered in snow, and it was a completely different kind of day than we'd expected. There were the usual first-hike-of-the-winter flubs and should-haves (at least speaking for myself), but we all survived and had a great time.

Geocaching - Tawasentha Town Park

Holly and I took a break from Christmas stuff today and returned to Tawasentha Park in Guilderland to pick off the two geocaches that we had left behind a few weeks ago. The first was in the "Winter Recreation Area", on the east side of NY146, which would be an interesting place to cross-country ski were it not right along the main road. Nice hills and wide trails - may have to give it a try, if we ever get any snow. We found this first cache easily enough, and walked the rest of the loop trail we were on.

The next cache was across NY146 in the "Community Gardens" network of trails, and traffic was heavy, so we decided to use the car instead of attempting to cross the road on foot. This trail crossed a field and entered the woods, continuing along the edge of a steep dropoff to the Normanskill valley below. Not a good ski trail, this one. This second cache was also pretty easy and obvious, and we checked it off as well.

That leaves one multi-cache in Tawasentha where we DNFed Part One last time we were there. Some other time.

XC Skiing - Whiteface Mountain Toll Road

Today, a Schenectady ADK chapter trip was skiing up, and then down, the Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway, near Lake Placid. The road is closed to traffic in the winter, and provides a great route to to the summit and its awesome views. This is another item that's been on my "bucket list" for many years, and the conditions looked good for today to be the day. It's a long 5-mile slog, continuously uphill about 2,200 feet, to the castle at the end of the road, just below the summit. Then, it's a glorious 5-mile downhill back to the car.



We started in Wilmington at the toll house, where the gate is closed to traffic. Though there was very little snow in Wilmington, there was plenty here as we started up the road. Colorful ice flows covered the rock faces next to the road.



Many open views greeted us along the way, though the wind was blowing pretty hard and the summits were socked in.



The higher we went, the deeper the snow, and the colder the temperatures.



Occasional signs let us know our current elevation. Here, we're at 4,289 feet, with the castle at about 4,500, and the summit at 4,867.



Not long after this picture was taken, we reached a point just below the Wilmington Turn, the higher of the two hairpin turns on the map above. We were already in the clouds, and there would be no views from higher up today. Besides that, the road was getting pretty icy and windblown from here up, even more so than the occasional icy patches farther down. By (mostly) consensus, we decided to turn around and start the run back down the road. We'd covered about 4.5 of the 5 miles to the castle.

Snowplowing, and snowplow-turning, down an 8-9% grade for 4.5 miles is quite an experience. Frequent stops were needed to rest the burning quads, and let the trailing group members catch up. There were also crowds of skiers now ascending the road that we had to work our ways around. And there were icy stretches where we needed to hug the edges of the road to find softer snow. By the time we reached the toll house and the cars, we'd probably climbed for about 3 hours, and the trip down took only about 1 hour.

This was a memorable trip, but a tough one for so early in the ski season. I'm going to be plenty sore tomorrow morning.

Walk - Mohawk River State Park

Still no snow nearby to ski on, though it's all around us if we wanted to drive an hour or so in almost any direction. That didn't appeal today, so since it was sunny and less windy than previous days, Holly and I got out for a walk instead. The Mohawk River State Park, aka "Schenectady Museum Preserve" to anybody who's lived here for any length of time, is along the Mohawk River near Lock 7 in Niskayuna. We used to cross-country ski there a lot, but now it's been taken over by snowshoers and dog walkers, except immediately after a big snowfall, so isn't quite as appealing for skiing anymore. It's still a nice place to get out for a walk, and there are also several geocaches there, most of which we've already found. It was a little brisk today, so we skipped geocaching and just walked for about an hour on some of our favorite trails, picturing them with snow, and wondering when the first big dump will come.

XC Skiing - Clapper Hollow State Forest

Though we only got a dusting of snow overnight here in Schenectady, a lake-effect snow band off of Lake Ontario parked itself overnight in southwestern Schoharie County, with reports of 6-8" of snow on the ground. Ever the optimist, and eager to get back on skis, I headed to Clapper Hollow State Forest, in the middle of that action, and only about an hour from home. We skied there once last year, and the trails are mostly on old roads, so not a lot of snow cover would be needed to make it skiable.

Three trails leave the parking area. I knew that #10 to the right had a long uphill/downhill on it that might not have enough snow to be safe. #1 to the left still looked pretty overgrown and weedy, and not yet flattened out by earlier snows, so I opted for #4. My complete outing is highlighted in red.



It certainly looked and felt like winter here, with the temperature only about 18F, big winds, and blowing snow still falling.



But there were several problems. There's no base, the ground under the snow was not frozen, and there were wet spots, leading to gloppy ski bottoms which then iced up. Once I started up the hill, this was no longer an issue until I returned back down there later. The other problem was insufficient cover under the pines, the dark areas on the map. I was climbing through small rocks and roots, even thought I was on an old road. When I got to the top and looked down the other side at the stuff showing through the minimal snow, I wasn't the least bit interested in attempting that downhill. So I turned around and gingerly headed back down the hill I'd just climbed, much of it having the same problem. I thought I might go back and try #1, which was less piney, so better covered.

Back at the bottom, my skis iced up badly, including some mud, so after just a half-hour of skiing, I decided this just wasn't going to be worth the aggravation. It's an early season lesson to be relearned every year in our eagerness to get out on the snow, and today I learned it for this season.

Geocaching - Indian Kill Preserve

It was a sunny and cool early December day, and since Holly and I both had time on our hands, we got out for a short walk and another geocache. The Indian Kill Preserve is a Schenectady county area in Glenville, with a meandering stream, waterfalls, and many trails. We had already once done one of the two geocaches here, but not the other. Poor satellite coverage kept us walking in circles and just not seeing anything until Holly finally discovered it almost by chance. It's hard to miss an ammo can, but it was even harder today to zero in on the correct location. Once we found it, we continued our walk and explored a trail we'd never followed before before heading home.

Geocaching - Old Maids Woods Preserve

With other things on our plates today, Holly and I got out for a short walk in the Old Maids Woods Preserve, off Schermerhorn Road in Rotterdam. This small and largely forgotten piece of property is owned by the City of Schenectady and managed by the Nature Conservancy. There's a 1-mile loop trail through a very old forest atop a ridge, and a couple of geocaches were there waiting for us.



The first geocache was a micro that has apparently had its share of problems, so we gave up when we didn't find it after some fairly diligent searching. The second was much easier to find, despite the poor satellite reception under the canopy of large hemlocks. The rumble and whistle of a freight train passing just outside the preserve accompanied us on our search.

Geocaching - Ushers Road State Forest

Despite the blustery weather this afternoon, Holly and I got out for a walk involving 3 geocaches in this relatively new state forest near Round Lake. There are actually more than just those 3, but we saved those for another visit. The wind was howling and light snow was blowing around, but we easily found the first two caches we looked for. The last, described as an "easy P&G", took us a little longer, but then the cleverness was detected and we found that one as well. It wasn't a long walk, but it got us outside without driving very far, and it was more fun than biking on the trainer in the basement. Did that this morning - bleccccch.

Geocaching and Letterboxing - Tawasentha Town Park

Tawasentha Town Park, in Guilderland, has many miles of trails in addition to its ball fields, performing arts center, and pool. There are also 5 geocaches and one known letterbox in the park, so today Holly and I set off to see what we could find.

The web page for the letterbox was last updated in 2002, and we failed to find it, either because we missed it somehow, or because things have changed since 2002. We also struck out on part one of the first geocache we tried, a 3-part multi-cache. It had a fairly difficult rating, but was last found about a month ago, so probably shame on us for that one. The next two were easy finds, and then we turned around and headed back to the car, saving the last two, which were still further away, for another day.

It was a sunny day in the 40s, with a bit of a wind, but a nice day to be outside.

Hiking - Bartholomew's Cobble Reservation, MA

Looking for someplace different, and preferably with a view, today Holly and I drove to the southern Berkshires to Bartholomew's Cobble Reservation, a property of "The Trustees of Reservations", a Massachusetts land trust organization. There are 5 miles of trails here, with lots of variety, and we covered 3-4 miles of them in the 2 hours we were out. The highlight is the expansive view from Hurlburt's Hill, an open field on the northern slopes of Miles Mountain, across the MA/CT line and off the property. Click on the picture below to embiggen. That's Race and Everett Mountains at the left of the shot to the northeast and the Housatonic River valley in the center.



Other trails wind along the Housatonic River and over the top of the 100-foot Cobble itself near the visitors center. This place is about 90 minutes from Schenectady, and the spring wildflowers are said to appear in profusion in April, a good time for a return trip.

Walk - Ushers Road State Forest

Rain overnight lingered through the morning, but it looked like there might be a couple of dry hours early this afternoon, and before the high winds arrived later. So Holly and I got out for a short walk in the Ushers Road State Forest, in nearby Clifton Park. This is a small oasis in the middle of civilization, with about 1.75 miles of total trails, but just enough for our purposes.



The northern part of the loop winds through a pretty forest of very large and old hemlocks and white pines, while the southern half is more open. The extension to the northwest was pretty wet today, but we explored it anyway. Since I'm responsible for the map of this area for the next edition of the ECOS "Ski Tips" cross-country ski areas booklet, I needed to field-check things anyway. We got spritzed a couple of times by brief rain showers, but nothing major. It was nice to go someplace so close by where we'd never been before.

Geocaching - Woods Hollow Nature Preserve

Rain was forecast for later in the day, but this morning, though murky, was dry and fairly warm for November. So Holly and I got out for a walk and some geocaching in the Woods Hollow Nature Preserve, near Ballston Spa. There are 3 geocaches here, a 3-part multi-cache and two others. We had found the multi many years ago, but memories fade as we age, so we added it to today's list again. In all, we needed to zero in on five different locations, and we found them all, a better success rate than on many other recent outings. These were all pretty easy, but provided a nice focus for a walk in the woods on another warm November morning.

Walk - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

Finally got the spelling right after all these years - there's no "e" after the "n".

With the moonlight snowshoeing season fast approaching, and with heavy logging still in progress at Featherstonhaugh, I decided to take a walk and see where things stood with the ski trails there. It was a short walk. Things are basically a mess.



I started at the parking space at the low point on Lake Road, and first headed back toward Tidball Road on the ski trail, but didn't get very far before I gave up. That eastern side of the forest is where the main logging focus has been. So I turned around, crossed the ski bridge back near the car, and headed in the other direction. This part of the forest is very wet when not frozen, but I got past that part OK. But then I lost the trail markers altogether, along with any trace of anything like a trail. Parts had been flagged to get around obstacles, but there was no more of that either. With a light drizzle beginning to fall, I admitted defeat and headed back to the car.

I don't think that the eastern side of Lake Road will be the location for this year's moonlight snowshoeing, though this place definitely looks better with a deep coating of snow. We'll have to use the figure-8 trails on the other side of the road.

Hiking - Taconic Crest Trail

Today was to be another rare sunny November day in the upper 50s, a perfect day for a hike. Today I joined a joint ADK/Taconic Hiking Club trip on the Taconic Crest Trail along the NY/MA/VT border. It's an 8.4-mile ridge walk with a lot of up and down, starting up high at Petersburg Pass on NY-2, with a steep 1400-foot descent at the end to the cars we'd left there earlier.

It was a crystal clear day, and we could easily see the Catskills to the SW and Albany to the west from some of the earlier viewpoints.

Next, we came to the Snow Hole, a local attraction. It's a deep fissure in the rocks that usually contains snow all year. The men, or "little boys" as we were called by the women, all scrambled down into the hole and explored its depths.



After another mile or two, we stopped for lunch on the ridge, knowing that the preferred lunch spot, another viewpoint, was still too far off. We reached it just before the steep 1 mile descent back to the cars below. Vermont lay below us, with distant northwestern Massachusetts off to the far right.



We'd covered the 8+ miles in about 5 hours, not a bad pace for a not-so-young group, especially with all of the continual climbing and descending.

Hiking - Mt. Utsayantha and Mine Kill State Park

Today was expected to be sunny and in the mid-40s, a fine November day. So Holly and I headed off to the western Catskills, near Stamford, NY, and climbed little Mount Utsayantha. Actually, at over 3,200 feet, it's not so little in the overall Catskill scheme of things, but it's an easy 1-mile walk up a dirt road, gaining only about 700 feet from the parking area. The road would even be driveable in good conditions, but after the snow of the past day or two, we wouldn't see any people driving it today.



Near the top, there was a nice view off to the east.



Somebody is apostrophe-challenged. This drives me crazy.



It didn't take long to reach the summit, where the views from the fire tower were outstanding. The white building was once an "observatory", not the astronomical kind, but the kind that tourists would flock to in droves for the views. Stamford, 1,400 feet below us, was once quite a popular resort with many big hotels, and the summit of Utsayantha was a major local tourist attraction, now being lovingly restored. The kiosk on the summit tells the whole story.



To the south, we were trying to figure out what summits we were looking at, since we rarely see the Catskills from this angle.



The walk down took even less time, so we stopped on the way home at Mine Kill State Park. It was just too nice a day to quit that early.

Opening the trail register at the trailhead for the Long Path, we found it had an inhabitant. There was quite a nest in here, and this guy wasn't the least bit shy about posing for pictures.



Leaving the Long Path shortly, we followed the yellow trail, a portion of which in winter is the designated "expert" cross-country ski trail. We agreed that it deserved this rating, with a long twisting downhill ending at the Schoharie Reservoir. The dam in the distance maintains this reservoir as part of New York City's water supply, and also provides flood control for the communities downstream. There's also a pumped-storage power generating facility on the opposite shore.



This is a large park, with plenty of trails to explore. We'll probably be back here someday, but now it was time to head home. Darkness comes early now that daylight savings time has ended.

Walk - Christman Sanctuary

With a couple of rainy days coming up, and not feeling especially inspired to bike, I decided to at least get out for a walk. And the Christman Sanctuary, near Duanesburg, is one of my favorite places. Today, the water was low enough that I was able to cross the stream easily and walk the orange loop on the other side of the stream. This gave me a longer walk, and also some scenery other than just the usual cascades and waterfalls.



Most of the leaves were down, creating colorful patterns on the forest floor.



The last hangers-on were the golden beeches and the bright yellow tamaracks.



There was still plenty of green in the more shaded areas, with the ferns and moss growing beneath the tall hemlocks.



Crossing back over the stream at the end of that loop, I visited the main waterfall at the end of the yellow trail, as well as some other pretty cascades along the way.





From there, it was a short walk back to the car. I hadn't seen another soul in the Preserve on a very bright crisp fall day.

Geocaching and Letterboxing - Ballston Lake Bike Path

After some fall yard work at Holly's house, we got out for a short walk on the Ballston Lake Bike Path. There were two new (2010) geocaches and one letterbox within the first mile from Ballston Lake, and we found them all easily. It was a cool, crisp, but sunny afternoon and a nice time to be out. We saw very few other people, just a couple of dog-walkers, and had the path mostly to ourselves.