My second favorite hiking photo of the year! This was a sunset after exiting the woods in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation (late October). The contrast between the sky and the trees is what makes the photo special for me.
“There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.”
– Stefan Kanfer
These photos were taken today at the Trinity Pawling school in Pawling, New York. The ice rink at the school acts as the home rink for my daughters u16/19 travel hockey team. Today was overcast with a temperature in the mid to upper 20’s, which in my opinion, makes for excellent B & W photos.
A tree just outside the ice rink.
The view looking across the football field.
This light reminds of an old gas lamp.
One of the lights inside the ice rink.
This is a photo of the Appalachian Trail in Bear Mt., which is located just off of the Hudson River in New York. Since we are getting some snow today where I am in New York, I though a reminder of what we have ahead of us would be nice!
“Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh
“While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.”
-Tom Allen
The first hike of December!!!! As you probably can imagine, it was pretty cold when I started my hike this morning. Not frigidly cold (as it certainly could have been), but cold enough to where I couldn’t just where shorts and a t-shirt (my favorite hiking attire). At 22 degrees, this was one of the coldest mornings that I have hiked this year. With no wind blowing, although it was chilly, it made the hiking easy.
A frosty way to start the day!
2017 Mileage:
12/2/17-6.4-349.32
Two of my favorite things: A beautiful sunset and naked trees!
“All our wisdom is stored in the trees.”
―Santosh Kalwar
“Trees there were, old as trees can be, huge and grasping with hearts black as sin. Strange trees that some said walked in the night.”
―Neil Galman
If you have read some of my more recent posts, you know how much I love photographing trees this time of year. The lack of leaves gives them an eerie quality that suggests a sense of power that I don’t see or feel any other time of the year.
This morning when I was at the Appalachian Trail Rail Station (see post from this morning) I saw some pretty cool looking trees. Being totally devoid of leaves, I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photographs.
Is there anyone out there that loves “naked trees”?
It’s a rare day in late, late November when you can actually hike for a few hours in shorts and a t-shirt and not feel chilly at some point. Today, I decided to hold off starting my hike until around 10:30 am. My original thought was that it would be much warmer than the usual 6:00 am start which would make things a little more comfortable.
The one thing that I tend to forget when I start my hikes later, especially on days like today, are the number of people who come out to hike. Because I usually get out so early, I rarely see anyone with the exception of some trail runners. On my hike today it seemed like I was running into someone ever couple of minutes. I actually started wondering where they were all coming from…
All in all it was another excellent hike. I got to meet a couple of nice people and as usual they had some incredibly friendly dogs who were eager to make my acquaintance. I really should start taking picture of all of the dogs that I meet when I am hiking.
Happy Hiking!!!
2017 Mileage:
11/25/17-7.7-339.12
Have you ever had a day when you were hiking where everything just clicked? Where each stride you took was effortless and you felt like you could hike forever? These days don’t happen very often, but when they do, watch out!
Luckily for me, today was one of those days. From the minute I started, I knew that I was going to be able to add a few miles on to what I had originally intended to do. My legs were loose, the air was a crisp 27 degrees and with no discernible breeze, the woods were silent.
2017 Mileage:
11/23/17-8.2-327.32
The Zen Hiker 