Planet Fitness Fun

Leave a reply

“I try to get myself up and moving as early as possible. Optimum is to be on the treadmill while it is still dark outside.”-Henry Rollins

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”-Henry David Thoreau

Five in the morning at my local Planet Fitness.

Many people don’t like walking on a treadmill. I don’t think it is so bad. With that said, as satisfying as an hour-long workout on the treadmill may be, hiking on a beautiful trail on a cool morning is much better. Just saying…

My daily walk, whether it is on the treadmill or in the woods, is how I get my brain and body out of its night-time slumber so I can get on with the day.

I have friends and relatives that ask me, “How can you walk on a treadmill? Doesn’t it get boring?” My answer? Nope. Not at all!

First, I have my iPad, and the very first thing I do is put on a Goose show. If you aren’t familiar with the band Goose, check them out. They fall in the same jam band genre as The Grateful Dead, Phish, Moe., and so many others. If they don’t get you moving and motivated, I don’t know what to tell you!

Second, the treadmills at Planet Fitness all have small TVs on them. I can’t explain the pleasure I get trying to read the closed captioning as it runs across the bottom of the screen. Often times it is jumbled, incorrect, and incoherent. It is still pretty funny!

So, as we move into the summer months, my goal is to get out hiking as much as I can. On the days that I can’t, I will continue to do my thing on the treadmill.

You just have to keep moving!!!!!

Happy Hiking!!!

Sunrise On Lake Mahopac

Leave a reply

“The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it’s here is up to us. Journey wisely.” — Alexandra Elle

“Just like the days, no two sunrises are ever the same.” ― Jonathan P Lamas

“Nature unfolds her treasure at the first ray of sunrise.” ― Kishore Bansal

Every day I go to the gym, I take the same route. Leaving my house, I quickly find myself on a winding road around Lake Mahopac. Not far from the homestead, I often get some pretty nice views of the lake, and when conditions are like they were this morning, you are rewarded with an incredible sunrise.

Depending on the time of year, weather, and sunrise times, I have found that I can be either very happy or really disappointed with what I get to see. Today, I was given a gift with the start of what I am sure was a beautiful sunrise.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Yes, I touched this one up just to see how it would look.

In the future, I need to start bringing my camera with me anytime I might encounter something worth photographing. These photos were taken with my Android cell phone, which, as you all know, doesn’t take very good pictures. With that said, these pictures didn’t come out nearly as bad as I thought they would.

Early Morning Bliss!!!

Leave a reply

“I felt like summer had taken me over.”-Junot Diaz

“Everything good, everything magical, happens between the months of June and August.”-Jenny Han

“Summer breeze makes me feel fine.”-Seals & Crofts

What a beautiful morning!!! That is the only way to describe it. Not many days during the month of June start off with a cool 57 degrees with no humidity and an awesome breeze. Not only that, I didn’t see a single fly, mosquito or gnat during the entire hike. Could it get any better? I don’t think so!

Even though I have been on some of the trails on this hike previously, I would say I have never hiked probably three of the six miles. As with the rest of Ward Pound Ridge, it was outstanding. The trails were well maintained and since I haven’t been in this part of WPR since before COVID, I was met with a nice surprise very early into the hike.

A wonderful addition to Ward Pound Ridge.

After several years of disrepair to existing bridges, the folks at WPR apparently made the decision to install two of these covered bridges across a stream that runs through a portion of the park.

Five thirty in the morning at the start of the hike.

The entrance to my happy place!

I’m going to guess that this area floods when it rains…

It was almost as if the trees were standing guard over this part of the trail.

Even though you can’t really tell by the photo, this stream is running and provided a great soundtrack with the breeze blowing through the trees as I took a break.

Call me crazy, but can you see the shape of the turtle?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, today was an absolutely beautiful morning to be out hiking. These are the kind of days where you can head out into the woods and use the time to reenergize and refocus with no distractions.

Today, like many other hikes I have done in WPR, I didn’t see to many folks out on the trail. However, one person who I saw should be an inspiration to us all. As I was working my way up a hill, I felt good about myself and was happy that I wasn’t that tired or winded. About 3/4 of the way up the hill, I heard a trail runner approaching from my rear. As I turned around, I saw a man who was easily 10 years older than me (I’m 58) who blew by me like I was standing still.

Needless to say, the good feeling I had quickly disappeared.

Of course, I say this with just a little bit of humor, because this guy, for as old he is, is in phenomenal shape. Kudos to him!!!

HAPPY HIKING!!!

Hike #5-6/15-6.0-20.9

Three Days Later…

1 Reply

“Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet.” – Bob Marley

“It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.” – John Cheever

“My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather.” – Terri Guillemets

Walking out of the house this morning to go to the gym was an absolute joy. When I left at 6:30, the sky was blue, and a cool breeze ran through my yard. It was awesome!!! We haven’t seen weather this nice for almost a week!

If you saw my previous post, you saw the result of weather conditions allowing the smoke from Canadian forest fires to infiltrate the Hudson Valley of NY where I live. An orange haze covered the area, making the air smell like a campfire. It was overwhelming!!!! Even though the smell of a woodsy fire was really strong, it was actually pleasant.

So, on my way to the gym, I decided to go to the two spots where I took pictures on Wednesday to replicate the same views on a clear day. WOW!!! What a difference.

Thankfully the haze didn’t last as long as they thought it was going to. A couple of days ago, there was talk that it could last well into the weekend. I can say that for the first time in days, I haven’t been coughing every two seconds with a sore throat.

HAPPY HIKING!!!

Purple Haze??? Not Quite…

5 Replies

“Bad weather makes for good photography.” ~ Ansel Adams

“Oh, That Wasn’t A Bit Nice. You Have Made Me Very Angry. Very Angry Indeed!”Marvin the Martian

The sun and sky in my backyard with the haze.

The last three to four days around here have been crazy weather-wise. I should have known something weird was coming when I left my house on Monday morning to go to the gym and I smelled smoke. I didn’t give it much thought then, but as Monday turned to Tuesday, it continued to worsen.

Three days removed from Monday, the haze continues and has provided a view of this area that I can’t remember ever seeing. Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), it truly looked like the pictures you see of Mars. Barren and red, I almost half expected Marvin the Martian to come hang out with me!

If anything, that last comment should date me…

The view of Lake Mahopac from the beach of a local country club.

Same view as above.

I decided that I would take some before and after photos to show how out of control this haze is. I rarely watch the local news these days, but I wanted to see if they had an idea of how long it would last and when we might see a return to June’s normal sticky and nasty days. As with most everything else on the news these days, it was all doom and gloom. Time to turn it off…

A slightly different view from the beach.

Looking out at Lake Mahopac from the parking lot of Four Brothers Pizza.

More haze…

Could this be a run-up to the apocalypse? Could we be looking at the end of the world? Of course, I say that with a certain amount of sarcasm, but sometimes you have to wonder.

Could this have happened at a worse time? I wonder about that as well. As if breathing wasn’t difficult enough at times in the Northeast of the United States during “normal” summer days, Now they are saying that due to the severity of the forest fires in Canada, this could continue on and off for some time. This could make for an interesting summer of hiking.

I can tell you that for the first time in my life, I am actually listening to the warnings that are saying if you have health issues, you should just stay inside!!

Anyway, hopefully in a couple of days this will run its course and we can get back to a haze free life! Stay tuned for pictures of the same areas on a nice clear day.

HAPPY HIKING!!!

Ward Pound Ridge In Spring

Leave a reply

 “If everyone in the world took care of each other the way folks do out on the trail, and if everyone approached each day with as much hope and optimism as hikers do, the world would be a better place.” – Jon Tullis

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” – Frank A. Clark

“We don’t stop hiking because we grow old, we grow old because we stop hiking.” – Finis Mitchel

Spring has been good for Ward Pound Ridge Reservation this year. A good amount of rain has provided the moisture necessary to turn the woods from a greyish-naked landscape to a beautiful lush wonderland. The smell of the trail is overwhelming!!

When I started this relatively short hike, it was a cool and breezy 53 degrees under clear blue skies. I ended up taking the green trail to the yellow trail for a distance of 3.7 miles. Although there were no real views to speak of, just being in the woods on such an excellent day was good enough for me!

This area of New York, especially in WPR, is marked by miles and miles of these stone walls. When you first look at them strewn throughout the park, they seem really random. With that said, I can’t imagine that when they were built, they were just put there for no reason. I am sure it has to do something with land boundaries. The amount of back-breaking work it had to have taken to build them is absolutely crazy!

At just over 2 miles into this hike is a rock that I stop at every time I am on this trail to take a water break and just chill. It is positioned in such a place that you can feel the breeze come through the trees, but if you walk up the trail another 50 feet, the breeze is gone. I know that is pretty random, but random is ok.

Unfortunately, as spring turns to summer, the lush greenness that I am seeing now will disappear. The woods will still be beautiful but will start to take on a depleted look.

Would I drink this water even if it was filtered? I don’t know…

It doesn’t look this way in the photo, but this is a nice incline on the trail. Luckily for me, I was going down it instead of up! Maybe next time.

Overall, this hike is a good one if you don’t have much time or just want to get out into the woods for a break. Since it was Memorial Day yesterday, I thought that I would see more folks heading out but I guess at the early hour I chose to hike it was not to be.

One of the best things about WPR is that if I had decided that I wanted to hike some more, the possibilities would have been endless. With many of the trails connecting and close by each other, adding another mile or five miles wouldn’t have been an issue.

Happy Hiking!!!!

Hike #4-5/30-3.7-14.9

School Mountain Road

Leave a reply

“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more that what we could learn from books.”

— John Lubbock 

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”

-Gary Snyder

Although this hike is only about three miles from the one that I did the other day, it couldn’t have been more different. This section of the park, at one period of time, seems to have been a somewhat residential area. Fahnestock State Park was used for mining during the 19th and 20th centuries.

One of the nicest things about this hike is that the folks who maintain the park have made some really substantial improvements to this section of the park. Not necessarily at this point of the hike but in others. In the photo above, you can see that to traverse the stream, you have to walk down the steps to the right and cross on the metal beams.

After a winter where we did not see much snow, I was pleasantly surprised to see this stream running as strongly as it was. Nothing is more serene than sitting next to a running stream!

When I last hiked here almost a decade ago, these bridges (and several others) did not exist. In a partnership with West Point and its School of Engineering, several of these bridges were built so that hikers would have an easier time navigating what used to be some pretty tricky terrain. Read the information below for a full explanation of how they worked together to make the trail safer.

Happy Hiking!!!

Hike #3-4/15-4.1/11.2

Another Fine Day…

Leave a reply

“Hiking and happiness go hand in hand or foot in boot.”

– Diane Spicer

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

– Henry David Thoreau

Another day means another outstanding hike in the Hudson Valley of New York!!! Today, I traveled to Fahnestock State Park to spend some time on its fine trails. Although it was a relatively short hike of 3.1 miles, I will admit that I am in the process of getting my legs used to being out in the woods again. At my kind of advanced age of 58, I can’t just jump on the trail like I used to be able to do (sigh).

The weather this morning was actually better than yesterday. The temperature at the start of the hike was a crisp 51 degrees, and the sun was shining. The best part about the cooler weather? NO GNATS!!! That was a good thing because, as with yesterday, I forgot the bug spray…Today I spared myself more hours of scratching.

The loop that I did today took me from the Blue Lakes Trail to the Appalachian Trail. I could smell the earth as I walked along, and it felt good under my boots. Each step is a constant reminder of why I have spent so much time hiking. Sometimes you just need that little nudge to keep yourself grounded!

One of the best things about hiking in Fahnestock is the large number of trails that intersect with each other. Why is this such a good thing? If you spend some time checking out the East Hudson Trails Map 103, you will see that you can make loop hikes of just about any length or hike point to point. The possibilities are only limited by how long you want to hike and your imagination.

The AT heading north to Maine! After climbing a moderate hill, the Blue Lakes trail intersects with the AT, which in my case, took me back to my car.

HAPPY HIKING!!!

Hike #2-4/13-3.1/7.1

The First Of Many

Leave a reply

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”–John Burroughs

 “You can visit the same trail twice, but you’ll never take the same hike – We Dream of Travel

“I could never resist the call of the trail.” – Buffalo Bill

Today is a beautiful day. Why? It was the official start of my spring/summer hiking season! To start things off, I decided to head to Ward Pound Ridge to hike a loop that covered portions of several trails so I could test out my legs. Although I have been walking on the treadmill for several months, it is never the same as being out on the trail. I’ll let you guess as to which one is better!!!

Since it is still early spring, the landscape still had the cold and barren look of winter. I imagine that in a few weeks things will change drastically, which will make every hike new again.

Although the park still looked like winter, spring was definitely in the air. At 7:20 am, the temperature was an incredibly comfortable 62 degrees. I don’t know about where you live, but temperatures like this, although not unheard of in mid-April, are certainly not the norm. My biggest surprise were the gnats that I thought were a summer time phenomena. Being eaten alive by these airborne piranhas was not fun. Of course, I didn’t think that I needed to bring any bug spray. Big mistake.

So how did the hike go? It was awesome. I can’t put into words how nice it was to be out on the trail again. I usually turn my phone off while I am hiking, but today I sent a celebratory text to my daughter to let her know the old man was back on the trail! The dirt under my feet felt so much better than the treadmill that I have become used to, and being able to listen to the wind in the trees was mesmerizing.

The verdict? It was an excellent hike on an excellent day. I couldn’t have asked for a better day at Ward Pound Ridge. Three years and three months after my heart attack, I felt great physically and continue to be incredibly thankful that I am still able to hike. I am looking forward to the next few months of hiking in the Hudson Valley!

HAPPY HIKING!!!

Hike #1-4/12-4.0/4.0