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.
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.
Dusty, dirty boots
Explore the trail, Heaven!
Clear blue skies await
The soul ponders each moment
Loving the daily journey
“Sunrise looks spectacular in the nature; sunrise looks spectacular in the photos; sunrise looks spectacular in our dreams; sunrise looks spectacular in the paintings, because it really is spectacular!”
―Mehmet Murat Ildan
This sunrise photo is from November 5, 2017
The date has passed, the calendar says that it’s here,
Spring has sprung and you have nothing to fear.
But as I look at the ground still covered in white,
I think to myself, “well this can’t be right.”
So I feel the air and look to the sky,
Could they be wrong? Could they have lied?
I want to be out, out on the trail,
Where the grass is greener, even at the pace of a snail.
Step after step, I walk on the ground,
My footsteps advancing, the only fair sound.
But instead here I sit, and the trail grows old,
It will soon be warm, or so I’ve been told.
“Yes, I deserve a spring–I owe nobody nothing.”
-Virginia Woolf
“Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get…warmer.”
-Anita Krizzan
As I was waiting to leave my daughters hockey tournament on Sunday I decided to check the weather. At 7:00 pm it said a 30% of snow for Wednesday. I wake up this morning and it is now been further updated from basically nothing to now 12-16 inches! As each day has passed, the amount has kept increasing.
Although I absolutely love the winter months, it is time for Old Man Winter to retreat back to wherever it is that he comes from and let Spring take the lead.
I mean really-this is the fourth nor’easter in the last three weeks and it is getting old! It is the first day of spring!!!!!
WE NEED TO BE HIKING!!!!
”Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
-Benjamin Franklin
Tonight marks the beginning of the best time of the year. At 2 am Sunday morning, we move the clocks ahead an hour. For those of us who cherish being outdoors, this means an extra hour of daylight to do what we love to do. While most folks bemoan the loss of an hour of sleep, I see it as an opportunity. An opportunity for adventure!
Instead of coming home every day and climbing on my stationary bike, the extra hour of light means that I’ll be able to head out to Ward Pound Ridge for a hike. If only for a few miles, being outside to witness the change from winter to spring and eventually summer is a much greater gift than you can imagine!!
Happy Hiking to each and every one of you!!!
The Zen Hiker 