(see the Hudson River in the middle of the valley?)
Several of my friends and I went hiking at Sam's Point (south of the Minnewaska State Park Preserve) this weekend. It was the perfect day for it - sunny but cool - except that we drove up there and started seeing snow everywhere! Although it only covered about a quarter mile of the trail, the remainder of the trail was in far worse condition - either very deep mud (almost like quicksand) or water rushing down the path. AND, we ended up on the wrong path - which meant a 12 mile hike rather 8 miles. We're all a bit sore now!
The native plants were a nice change of pace from the brown and grey of the (still) dormant deciduous forests that I see everyday. Lots of small pines and birch, tons of blueberry bushes (I've been wondering if any will be ready before I graduate. Probably not, which is really too bad. That's one (only one?) thing I'll miss!), small cranberries in the bogs, and wintergreen. Wintergreen is a small evergreen trailing plant whose leaves smell and taste exactly like Listerine and toothpaste (in a good way!). It's nice to chew on a leaf as you hike along, but since it contains methyl salicylate, too much could be harmful.
snow? now?
a snowshell!
the not-quite-a-trail
wintergreen
an oasis at the top of the waterfall
Verkeerder Falls, 150 feet
the "Badlands" of the Hudson Valley
cranberry bog
view of the Hudson Valley
one of many rocks
Sunday and Monday were spent in the rain, picking ramps. They're currently residing in jars of brine in the fridge, pickling to death... Yum!
No comments:
Post a Comment