This is one of my favorite photos. The Appalachian Trail has only one passenger railroad station that stops on the trail about one and a half hours north of NYC. Many thru hikers have taken the train and made the journey into the city as a a temporary break from the long days of hiking. The photo was taken looking north.
The photographs below are all from one of my all time favorite hiking spots. Ward Pound Ridge Reservation is located in Northern Westchester County, NY and offers many miles of excellent hiking. The photos represent a time period from summer until the beginning of fall.
The skies are frigid, a cool cobalt blue,
Winter won’t leave, we know that much is true.
As I lay in my bed with my eyes closed so tight,
I think of a warm spring all through the long night.
But then I wake up and look out the door,
I sincerely believe winter will be many weeks more.
Every day that passes spring should be in the air,
Where is it you ask, this really isn’t fair.
The air is still frigid with snow in the sky,
It will be here shortly you say with a sigh.
Yet another day slips past and you still hope it comes soon,
But by the way that it looks it won’t be until June!
Frigid
Warm and sunny days
Still a distant memory
So tired of snow…
Kids watching clocks, hoping they’ll move.
The lesson progresses, they’re still in the groove.
As time marches on, young eyes they become glazed,
Nothing can move them in their permanent haze.
They still think they’ll pass, without having a clue,
What should they remember? Time passes, will you?
Dreary fog settles
Rain falling day after day
Blue skies would be nice!
The seas they did churn, with obvious delight,
Boat fairly bouncing amid winds though the night.
Up and down in the water it rolled,
Mother nature was never so bold!
So I held on and hoped that I would live till the morn,
Sails on the mast ripped, frayed and torn.
As the sun slowly rose and the winds did die down,
It then slowly dawned on me, I wasn’t going to drown!
Every time I look at this photograph, I get the same feeling I did when I first hiked the trail. The instructions for this challenge say to, “share a picture that takes us on a journey into the unknown.” Although I have done a great deal of my hiking in this area, this one was a new for me. As I headed up the road, I couldn’t see anything much farther than where I was walking. As the minutes passed, I began to get a strange sense that something could be lurking just around the next corner or off the side just off of the trail.
Of course I knew that their was (almost) no chance that anything could actually be lurking in the woods, but this picture invites you into the unknown and out of this world.
“When you leave a beautiful place, you carry it with you wherever you go.”
-Alexandra Stoddard
Looking across the Hudson River and directly above the bridge is Anthony’s Nose, a favorite hiking destination for many folks in the Hudson Valley and beyond! The Nose is accessible from several starting points, all which offer varying degrees of difficulty.
Why is this my favorite place? For over 20 years, in good times and bad, the Nose has been a place where I could go for peace, quiet and when available, solitude.
The Zen Hiker 