A couple of days ago I published my three favorite photos of the year. With the next few posts I am going to share my favorite hiking photos. This picture says it all-on the trail heading off to…where? Anywhere.
Many of my favorite photos are ones that I take when I am hiking. This photo, is just another example of another steep climb during a hike in Harriman State Park in New York. It ascends several hundred feet in just under a half of a mile. Once again, here is a nice reminder of an early morning summer hike on a snowy day here in New York.
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!
“When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised change, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness? Whatever it is, it’s welcome.”
-Kristin Armstrong
It felt really good to get out hiking again. With the start of school and traveling for my daughters hockey team, it makes it difficult to get out as often as I would like. As it is with the transitioning seasons, you never know what the weather is going to be like. It turns out that the last two weeks of August and the first week in September were cooler than it was today.
At the start of the hike today it was 71 degrees and very humid. Despite how sticky the air was, a nice breeze fell over the woods at the start and stayed with me the entire hike. As you can see in the picture below, it was still dark when I started at 6:00 am. For the first time ever, I forgot my camera at home. As a result, the pictures here were taken with my cell phone. And…since my cell phone is not on the upper end, the pictures aren’t that good!
A 6 am photo taken with my lousy cell phone!
The great thing about hiking during these several weeks going into fall is that everything is evolving. You can see evidence of the leaves changing but the majority of the trees are still green. Soon, however, the woods will be transformed-the color, texture and the smell, until is looks like a giant bowl of stuffing. That is why fall is the best season of the year!
The leaf covered trail with green still in the background.
Happy Hiking!!!
Summer 2017 Mileage:
9/21/17-6.0-181.22
“We don’t stop hiking because we grow old-we grow old because we stop hiking.”
-Finis Mitchell
“I could never resist the call of the trail.”
-Buffalo Bill
The first hike of the summer season!!!!
I headed out to the Horn Hill Bike Path after publishing my previous post to start breaking in my new Vasque boots. Overall they did well. They were comfortable and I didn’t really experience any discomfort until close to the end of the hike. Not much, but exactly what I would expect from a new pair of boots. No twisted ankles, blisters or hot spots.
I decided to do the shorter loop of this hike and it truly is amazing how it changes throughout the year. I have documented this hike in just about every season and with the amount of rain we have had recently, everything is in full bloom.
The kiosk at the start of the hike.
The smell of pine was intoxicating on several sections of this hike!
More pine…
The only short hill on this hike.
This wasn’t here the last time I was here.
Although these roots can be perilous, they are cool to look at!
The trail near the end of the hike.
Summer 2017 Mileage:
3.85-3.85
March, April, May and June,
The end to which could not come to soon.
School is out and the summer is here,
I can get back to hiking without any fear.
I haven’t been blogging, and that is a shame,
The work piled up and I have no one to blame.
But now that it’s over and there is time to be had,
The blogging resumes and for this I am glad.
So as you now read this, please forget the bad rhymes,
The summer is here hopefully full of good times!
Please join me as I get back on the trail,
Blogging my hikes with pictures and tales….
At the end of January the band Phish announced that they would be playing thirteen nights at Madison Square Garden, aptly titled “A Baker’s Dozen”. Running from late July into early August, this announcement has excited Phishheads everywhere. I have to admit that when I first saw that they would be spending so much time in my backyard (I live an hour outside of NYC), I knew that I would be able to see a couple of shows.
When the shows went on sale in mid February, I was lucky enough to get the two shows that I wanted and I thought that would be enough. But as any fan of Phish (or any jam band) knows, if more shows are for sale, then you have to see what is available! So a couple of weeks after getting my initial two shows, I went back to Ticketmaster fully expecting the run to be sold out. But lo and behold, it wasn’t. Now I am going to three shows.
Over the next five weeks I kept getting alerts from Ticketmaster and ended up going to the website to see if tickets were still around for this unprecedented string of shows. I soon added a fourth, a fifth and then a sixth show. My question is, when will it end? Isn’t six out of thirteen shows enough? Spread out over the full run, it’s not like I’m going to first six, last six or the middle six shows. I should get a full representation of what they will offer their fans this summer. So what do I do?
Oh crap, can’t answer that now. I have to go. I just another alert from Ticketmaster…
All alone they hang
Harboring fond memories
Of summers warm hand
It was just the other day, that I wrote you to say
That the heat was brutally excessive.
It was in the blink of an eye and the darkening of the sky
That the air wasn’t horribly oppressive.
And now that it’s cooler and we know what it takes, here’s to all that I say,
What a difference a day makes!
I thought it was over, I thought I was free
The cool Autumn nights, the stars I would see.
September arrived and to my dismay,
Summers fury is back, to bake me like clay.
How long will it last, this unwelcome heat,
The sun beating down, frying eggs on the street.
Although I complain, I know it won’t last,
As quick as it came, more quickly to pass.
I don’t ask for much, just to be cool,
Why is it here? Just to be cruel?
The Zen Hiker 