Watkins Glen

I wanted to say that this post is a milestone as far as previous entries go. I wanted to say that this was the farthest destination I've documented. But if I claimed that, I'd be lying. After all, I did briefly post some photos of New Orleans, which is significantly farther from me than Watkins Glen. (That post was rather lack-luster I will admit.)

What I can say though, is that this park was truly a destination. It was profound. I had never experienced a landscape like that before and I was totally blown away. First off, I don't doubt that walking through the trail astounds everyone, but I had the pleasure of taking the long way which made all the difference.

Split Rock Reservoir

If you happen to visit this place, just a warning -- the gravel road that leads to the parking area that I happened to park in is a bit treacherous. And the trails don't seem to be maintained at all. And the GPS coordinates from the NY-NJ TC website don't actually lead you to the parking lot. But the reservoir was pretty and so was the fall foliage.

Palisades Interstate Park

It was a Sunday in August and I was feeling ambitious, but not ambitious enough to travel far. So I found a place about 15 minutes away from me and didn't expect too much. I followed a series of trails laid out in "Hike of the Week" (mentioned in my previous post). Essentially it was the Giant Stairs/Long Path Loop from the State Line Lookout. The book claimed that the hike would be 4.5 miles and strenuous. Honestly, I think it may be my favorite trail in the area. There was a variety of gorgeous scenic views, a lot of climbing, and a really sweet (small) waterfall.

View to up the north of the Hudson River

Ramapo Mountains

Excuse me while I play catch-up. It's been a hectic few months, but if anything has remained the same, it's my love of the outdoors and the solace I can find there. It almost seems unreal that the last time I updated it was 5 months ago. That's like...half a year practically. I've certainly been on a few adventures since then, not all with camera in hand. Some adventures had been solo, or with Tyger, or with some people I had never even been hiking with before. All in all, every time has been beautiful in some way or another and I'm grateful for that.

Enough sappiness. Let's get down to business. A couple of months ago, I felt like I was running out of new places to go. It seemed impossible to find anywhere of quality that I had never been before. And then I decided to invest in a book about hiking in the NY-NJ area. It's been wonderful. I've already dog-eared the hell out of it and can't wait to try every trail in it. Some are quite a bit further away than others, but at least I've got options. For the curious, the book is called "Hike of the Week" by Daniel Chazin. Anyone familiar with the NJ-NY Trail Conference website may recognize the name. He has contributed significantly to the website, writing up info/experiences on various trails in the area. The book is organized by season and has a lot of good info in it like difficulty, length, history, a map, etc.

One of the little ponds I passed

Buttermilk Falls, Blauvelt, NY

Below are pictures taken July 2013 of Buttermilk Falls in Blauvelt.

Loss of Head in Doodletown

It was Friday afternoon when I happened to ask some coworkers for recommendations of places to visit. I definitely got more than a few, but one spot was recommended more than once was Doodletown in Bear Mountain/Harriman. Officially it seems that the park is located in Stony Point, NY.

Now, hear me out, Doodletown...probably the silliest name, I know. In fact, when I told my hairdresser Saturday morning that I was planning on hiking Doodletown she laughed in my face.

Entrance sign near where we parked off of 9w

Jungle Habitat

Can I just be honest with you? Jungle Habitat...the famed Jungle Habitat...Well, it was vastly underwhelming.

Totally sweet entrance though

Once Upon a Time in N'Awlins: Part One

A couple of weeks ago, I returned from my maiden voyage to New Orleans-- The Big Easy, La Nouvelle-Orleans, NOLA, whatever you want to call it. It was a blast. I ate a lot, walked a lot, saw a lot, and boozed a lot. My idea of a good vacation for sure. I wanted to share a few highlights from the trip since recounting the whole trip in detail would probably be excessive and tedious. The thing is, though, that I have way too many pictures so I'm going to have to break this down into more than one post.

Architecture

Previously Unposted!

I was just looking through my pictures and I realized that I have a whole bunch of images that I never posted on places I've visited. Such places include Ringwood, Long Pond Ironworks, Buttermilk Falls, and more. The following are just a handful of the ones from one of my trips to Long Pond/Ringwood.

The old manager's house when the place was an ironworks

Kennedy Dells

Happy one year anniversary to this blog. Time flies. Let's celebrate by recounting my most recent experience at Kennedy Dells County Park.

FINALLY. Tunnels.

It wasn't long after I got my driver's license that I learned about some mysterious tunnels hidden in Clausland Mountain. The story goes that Camp Bluefields was located on the mountain and used during WWI for shooting practice. Long concrete tunnels were built to prevent soldiers from getting accidentally shot by friendly fire. Apparently, the tunnels and Camp Bluefields were abandoned when local homeowners were complaining that bullets aimed too high were landing on their properties. I knew I had to find them. Rumors informed me that I have to drive up Tweed Boulevard in Orangeburgh, NY and pull off by a traffic sign with a turning arrow on it. Then hop out of my car, follow the path, and bam, I'd be at the tunnels. Well, I can say I tried more than once, but to no avail. Eventually I gave up and the tunnels receded to the back of my mind.

For the past few weekends I've been itching to get out for a hike, but with the holidays most of my weekends were resigned to Christmas shopping, preparing for the holidays, and seeing friends and family. Not a bad excuse, but still left me wanting some outdoor time. I finally got out last weekend and decided on Blauvelt State Park.