Charlie Stein's Photoblog

Lake Agnes and Beehives, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Charlie

We made sure to wake up early on Friday, as we planned to hike at Lake Louise, and also needed to be back at our hotel in Canmore in time to prepare for the Sabbath, which began at 8:40 p.m.

We drove to the Overflow Lot south of Lake Louise, and waited in line for one of the free shuttle buses. These appeared to be ordinary yellow school buses. Perhaps the buses serve students through the school year, and serve tourists at the national parks during the summer months. The employee assisting us with boarding the bus offered a couple of jokes:

“Question: What do you call a bear without teeth?”
“Answer: A gummy bear.”

“Question: How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?”
“Answer: Ten tickles.”

The bus dropped us off in a parking lot adjacent to Lake Louise, and we soon enjoyed the view, or as much of it as could be enjoyed through the smoky haze that was courtesy of the fires in British Columbia:

Lake Louise

Hundreds of tourists were circulating along the promenade adjacent to the northeastern end of lake, but the numbers dropped off as we began our hike to Lake Agnes.

This slightly out-of-focus Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus) was running around the lawn adjacent to the hotel:

Columbian ground squirrel

We hiked southwest along the western side of Lake Louise, and the trail soon entered the woods:

Trail to Lake Agnes

The trail displayed some signs of erosion, and this dead tree looked as though it would soon be tumbling out of the eroded bank, hopefully not when anyone was walking past it.

Dead tree in eroded bank

A golden-mantled ground squirrel:

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

After 2.6 km (1.6 miles) we reached Mirror Lake, which seemed more of a pond than a lake. I noted that the signage gave the distances in mileage, indicating that the sign predated the 1980 metrification of Canada.

Sign with imperial measurements

Mirror Lake with Big Beehive:

Mirror Lake with Big Beehive

We continued on the trail to Lake Agnes, enjoying a side view of the Big Beehive:.

Big Beehive

Horses also used part of the trail, and we saw a group of them:

Horses on Lake Agnes trail

After another 0.8 km (0.5 miles) we reached Lake Agnes and the teahouse, where visitors can purchase meals and snacks:

Lake Agnes

A pair of golden-mantled ground squirrels:

Golden-mantled ground squirrels

We began climbing toward the Little Beehive, only about 0.8 km (0.5 miles) away, but gaining a bit of elevation.

We soon had a nice view of Mirror Lake and Lake Louise:

Mirror Lake and Lake Louise, from Little Beehive trail

Nearing the peak of the Little Beehive:

Nearing the peak of the Little Beehive

Batya attracted a friendly butterfly:

Batya attracted a butterfly

Here is a panoramic view from the top of the Little Beehive. Lake Louise is visible to the right, but the rest of the horizon only shows smoky skies, where there should be mountain ranges:

Panoramic view from Little Beehive

As we sat down to eat our lunch at the top of Little Beehive, a bird flew nearby. It was a gray jay (Perisoreus canadensis), the “camp robber,” my old nemesis who I had last seen in Rocky Mountain National Park, where it stole a piece of my sandwich.

Gray jay

We descended from Little Beehive back to Lake Agnes, and began hiking west along the lake’s northern side:

Trail on northern side of Lake Agnes

Terrain adjacent to Lake Agnes:

Terrain adjacent to Lake Agnes

We soon reached the southwestern end of Lake Agnes:

View along the length of Lake Agnes, from the southwestern end

The trail to the Big Beehive continued on the southern side of Lake Agnes, appearing as a narrow ribbon in the image below:

Trail to Big Beehive

The trail soon began to switchback, continually climbing the Big Beehive:

Switchback to Big Beehive

Another switchback:

Switchback to Big Beehive

I counted nine switchbacks, and they were a bit taxing, but we finally made it to the top of the Big Beehive, at 2270 m (7,448′). At the top, we followed a flat trail to a shelter constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1916. The shelter was very simple, and I wondered how often it had been rebuilt over the intervening century. Perhaps it was like George Washington’s axe, that was still called by that name despite the handle and head each having been replaced a few times.

Shelter on top of Big Beehive

The shelter, and a ledge adjacent to it, provided a fine view of Lake Louise. Well, it should be a fine view, of a vivid turquoise lake, but . . . again, the forest fires ruined it:

Lake Louise, from the top of the Big Beehive

Another view:

Lake Louise, from the top of the Big Beehive

We then retraced our steps down the switchbacks, around Lake Agnes, past Mirror Lake, and back to Lake Louise. This was about a 12.9 km (8 mile) hike, gaining 740 m (2,400′) in elevation. Considering our initial trepidation about long or steep hikes, after not having hiked in almost a year, we were doing well in Banff!

We boarded the shuttle bus around 5:00 p.m., with about a half hour to spare before the last bus. We were soon back at the Overflow Parking area and reunited with the rental car, and drove back to Canmore.

Posted in Hikes, Vacations | Tagged Banff | Leave a comment

Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park to Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Charlie

On Thursday, our legs were feeling a bit tired after the previous day’s hike, so we decided to just take a driving tour, instead of hiking. We only have a few photos to show this day.

We drove from Canmore up into Banff National Park on the Transcanada Highway, making our way to the slower and more scenic Icefields Parkway. Our first stop was at the Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint. The glacier is visible at the left center of the image, to the right of the tops of the trees. Early explorers named the glacier “Crowfoot” after observing that it appeared to have three toes; sadly, one of those toes has since melted.

Crowfoot Mountain and Crowfoot Glacier

Crowfoot Glacier is just south of Bow Lake, and we continued north a short while, stopping for coffee at the gift shop of Simpson’s Num-Ti-Jah Lodge at the northern end of the lake.

Wildflowers at Simpson’s Num-Ti-Jah Lodge

Crowfoot Mountain from Num-Ti-Jah:

Crowfoot Mountain from Num-Ti-Jah

We drove a few more miles north, to Bow Summit, which at 2085 m (6840′) is the highest point on the Icefields Parkway. It is the watershed divide for the Bow River (to the south) and the Mistaya River (to the north). We walked along a paved trail for 1.2 km (0.7 miles) to an overlook of Peyto Lake, which has a turquoise color thanks to suspended rock particles. As noted for previous days, my photography was hampered by smoke from the forest fires in adjacent British Columbia.

Peyto Lake

Looking at the map, I see that there were a number of other viewpoints that I could have visited, and now I’m sorry that I didn’t stop at each one to take photos.

One that I had specifically wanted to visit was Mistaya Canyon, but as we drove by, we saw that a construction crew had closed the parking lot and was engaged in repaving or some other work. We didn’t see anyone parked along the road outside of the parking lot, so I don’t know if there was any other way to access the site.

We continued driving north, and our next stop was a viewpoint above the Big Bend, a climbing hairpin turn, where I took a photograph toward the south, showing the direction from which we had come:

Icefields Parkway from Big Bend

The same stop presented us with a view of Bridal Veil Falls, a 370 m (1,200′) waterfall, though the tallest drop is only 120 m (400′). It is also a fair distance from the road:

Bridal Veil Falls

We continued driving north, soon reaching Jasper National Park, where we stopped for lunch at the Icefields Centre.

We continued on to Tangle Falls, which is only 30 m (100′) tall, but easily seen, as it is adjacent to Icefields Parkway:

Tangle Falls

We then turned around and drove south. At one point, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a black bear running across the highway behind me. On our last day in the area, we saw a deer from the car. These were the only large animals we saw in the area. This was in sharp contrast to Glacier National Park, where I saw a black bear, grizzly bears, a moose, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats.

Posted in Vacations | Tagged Banff | Leave a comment

C-Level Cirque, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Charlie

Wednesday was similar to the previous day in Banff, in that we got a late start, first intending one hike, and then switching to another. We drove to Lake Agnes, about a 45 minute drive north of Canmore, and arrived to find that all the local parking lots were full. We were then directed to an overflow parking lot located a few miles south on the highway. We waited in line for the free shuttle bus to Lake Agnes, until we heard that the last return bus would leave Lake Agnes at 5:30 p.m. As happened the previous day, I did not have confidence that we would be able to travel to Lake Agnes, hike, and return before 5:30.

Instead, we left and drove south to the Cascade Mountain area, where we found a nice nearly-empty parking lot waiting for us at the trailhead for the C-Level Cirque. “C-level” refers to coal mining operations conducted here from 1904-22. I will explain “cirque” later.

The trail began with a warning sign to be cautious around mine openings. However, the only mine openings we saw were encircled by chain link fences, so it was not as though hikers were at risk of accidentally falling into a mine while hiking on the trail.

Trailhead and Warning Sign

This tree appears to be covered with an epiphyte:

Tree with epiphyte

There were a number of dead trees along the trail:

Dead trees

Most of the mining holes were not even very visible. This was perhaps the most obvious one, and as noted above, a fence protects people from falling into it.

Mining hole

A more interesting part of the trail, showing soil, rocks, and trees:

Trail

The Cascade Mountain range came into view through the trees, and I saw there were still a few spots of snow:

Cascade Mountains

A close-up showing remnants of snow:

Close-up of Cascade Mountains, with snow

After hiking 3.9 km (2.4 miles) from the parking lot, we reached the “cirque,” a bowl-shaped depression created in the distant past by a glacier. This is shown in the following stitched-panorama. Please note the narrow light-colored ribbon on the right side of the image, which is a trail.

Cirque

We followed this narrow trail, though it was more challenging, as in places it was narrow and was tilted toward the left, as though it wanted to toss us off into the cirque. We had read that at the end there was a beautiful spot to relax and watch small animals, but we didn’t make it quite that far. We reached a point where the trail disappeared over a small hill, but the trail was steep at that point and also slippery with gravel. A few other hikers made it, some with hiking sticks and some without, but I decided that I wasn’t comfortable and we stopped at that point.

We began our return to the entrance of the cirque, stopping along the way to photograph a golden-mantled ground squirrel:

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

He seemed to enjoy posing for the camera:

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Another view.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

A final view:

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

I believe that I also saw a hoary marmot there in the cirque, but was not able to photograph it.

Continuing our return on the narrow path to the side of the cirque, we passed a young man who was continuing to the end. At the entrance, we stopped to speak with a lady who turned out to be his aunt. She was an avid and very fit hiker, but as it was their second hike of the day, she decided to stop at the entrance of the cirque and not to follow him on the narrow side path. We stayed there for about half an hour, listening to some of her adventures of hiking around the world, until he returned from his explorations.

We then began our return to the car.

In the mining area, there are one or two old buildings. While they are missing roofs, doors, and windows, the concrete walls are sturdy:

Mining building

Near the trail head, we spotted a pair of Speyeria zerene butterflies:

Speyeria zerene

We then returned to the car. This in-and-out hike was therefore 7.8 km (4.8 miles) and had an elevation gain of about 455 m (1,500′), according to the Town of Banff’s website. (Another source says the gain is 2,500′, obviously a big difference. I could not say which is more correct.).

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Johnston Canyon and Ink Pots, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Charlie

We flew into Calgary on Sunday night, August 12, and spent the night there. We had rented a Mazda 3 from Budget in Calgary, and it was a comfortable car. The next day, Monday, August 13, we did some grocery shopping and drove to Canmore, checking into the Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge.

Finally, on Tuesday, August 14, we drove to Banff National Park, only a few minutes north of Canmore. Neither of us had been hiking for the greater part of a year, and while I had been accumulating time and meters on our rowing machine, Batya suggested we start with an easy hike. I suggested the 5.7-mile Garden Path Trail, a relatively flat hike, which our Lonely Planet guide book said was accessible via shuttle bus from Sunshine Village. We drove to Sunshine Village, but then made two unpleasant discoveries that either were not mentioned in the guide book, or which I had overlooked. First, Sunshine Village is a ski resort that is private property grandfathered into Banff National Park. They sell lift tickets in the winter, and sell seats on a shuttle bus in the summer. Tickets seemed expensive, considering it was a 15-minute-ride to the top. Second, the buses only ran until around 5:00, and I had concerns that we would not be able to complete the hike in time to catch the return bus down the mountain.

My experience in U.S. National Parks is that the shuttle buses are usually free throughout the park, and don’t stop running at 5:00 p.m. during the middle of the summer. In Banff, sunset wasn’t until 9:04 p.m.! (We also learned that it was not only the private Sunshine Village shuttle that stopped service so early, but even the free shuttle buses operating elsewhere in the park.)

Happily, we had other options available, so we drove to Johnston Canyon, considered the most popular hike in Banff. The parking lot was full, but it was legal to park along the road leading to the parking lot, and we joined dozens of other cars there. The beginning part of the hike is considered easy, with little elevation change, running through Johnston Canyon and along the Johnston Creek.

Batya stands at the entrance to Johnston Canyon

We started hiking north, and the trail soon reached Johnston Creek, running to the right (east) of the trail. There were many tourists ascending and descending the trail.

Johnston Creek

This part of the trail was largely flat. Some of the trail was asphalt. In places, the trail was constructed of concrete panels that were cantilevered from the rock wall to the left of us. After 1.1 km (0.7 miles), we reached the Lower Falls.

Here, a bridge crossed the creek to an observation point where one could admire the Lower Falls. In addition, there was a short tunnel through which one could walk to a small viewing platform offering a closer look at the falls. The tunnel and viewing platform only had enough room for 2-4 people at a time, so there was a line of tourists waiting for their turn. We joined the queue and waited patiently. In this photo, you can see the falls at center, the bridge and waiting tourists at the bottom right, and the tunnel on the right side:

Lower Falls

Here is the close-up view of the falls from the viewing platform within the tunnel:

Lower Falls from Tunnel’s Viewing Platform

Leaving the Lower Falls, we crossed the bridge back to the west side of the creek, and continued hiking north. The trail was now packed earth. There was a bit more elevation change over the next 1.5 km (0.9 miles), but it still only totaled about 140 meters (400′) of gain. The crowd of tourists continued with us.

Johnston Creek

After an hour, we reached the Upper Falls, which have a drop of about 40 meters (130 feet). The first photo is from a viewing platform around the bottom of the falls:

Upper Falls

Another view of the Upper Falls, from a higher platform:

Upper Falls

A large percentage of the tourists turned back at this point, having reached the Upper Falls after 2.6 km (1.6 miles) of hiking. However, as Batya was doing well, we decided to continue on to the Ink Pots, even though the added distance and elevation would make this an easy/moderate hike instead of the easy hike she had originally requested.

We therefore continued on another 2.6 km, this time hiking through forest, and continually gaining about 200m (650′) of elevation. The trail was more rugged, though still very easy to follow:

Ink Pots Trail

This image, a fused High Dynamic Range composition, shows the Hillsdale Slide in the vicinity of Mt. Ishbel, which occurred in early post-glacial times:

Hillsdale Slide

This would be a good time to mention the forest fires. For the past few years, there have been forest fires in British Colombia during the summer months, and unfortunately this year was no exception. Banff is in Alberta, but borders British Colombia, and in fact the smoke created problems for a significant part of Canada. It seriously affected our visibility, and at times we could smell the smoke in the air.

Trees on the Ink Pots Trail:

Trees on the Ink Pots Trail

At 5.2 km (3.2 miles) into the hike, we reached the Ink Pots, five small mineral springs that vary in color.

Ink Pot

The Ink Pots themselves were underwhelming to me, especially after having seen similar pools (and some much larger ones) at Yellowstone.

Ink Pot

The scenery in general was nice, though as noted, the forest fires in the adjacent province cast a pall.

Ink Pot

I’m sure that the site would have been more impressive if the skies had been clear.

Ink Pot

I’ll end with a stitched panorama that provides some idea of the surrounding mountains, and I imagine that many more would have been visible if not for the smoke:

Panorama of Ink Pots and Meadow

We then retraced our steps on the Ink Pots trail and the Johnston Canyon trail, completing the 10.4 km (6.5 miles) hike, which had an elevation gain of about 340 meters (1,100 feet). [Guide books and Internet sites give widely varying distances and elevations for the hikes in Banff, and I cannot guarantee that my numbers are accurate.]

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Ringwood State Park, Passaic County, New Jersey

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Charlie

We drove to Ringwood State Park, which I had last visited over five years earlier. We parked in the northern parking lot at Ringwood Manor, and discovered that the wooden pedestrian bridge across the Ringwood River had a board across it, suggesting that it was not to be used. Nevertheless, there was no signage, and a couple carrying an infant was crossing the bridge from the other direction, so we also crossed it.

At the far side, we carefully and quickly crossed a blind curve on Sloatsburg Road, only to discover that the white blazes of the former trail had been removed. I suspect that the Trail Commission realized that it was simply too dangerous to cross Sloatsburg Road at that point, and rerouted the trail. While I had purchased a nice set of maps for the parks in my area, I had not made the point of replacing them with new versions, which is prudent. Hiking is one of the cheapest hobbies a person can pursue, and buying up-to-date maps is not a great expense. We were able to follow the route of the former white trail, still a relatively broad expanse through an otherwise crowded forest, and soon came to red blazes of the Ringwood Ramapo trail.

Leaf-covered trail

We passed the yellow-blazed Cooper Union trail, which was our objective for this day, as I wanted to show Batya the ancient lean-to shelter built in the days when the land had been owned by Cooper Union college. The walls looked about the same as on my previous trip (that is to say, looking as though a strong wind would blow it down). However, the roof was much worse, now featuring large holes. It seemed clear that the park had no interest in maintaining or restoring the shelter.

Cooper Union shelter

We backtracked to the west, and then turned south onto the yellow trail:

Yellow trail

We found one scenic view that was not represented by a star on the map:

Scenic view

We crossed Morris Road, the first of two roads that the yellow trail would cross.

Even though it was the Fall, with many dead leaves on the ground, there were still many green ones remaining on the trees:

Greenery in the Fall

I always enjoy a tree tunnel:

Tree tunnel

It was bow hunting season, and a hunter had erected a stand:

Hunter’s stand

More greenery:

Cooper Union trail

A chipmunk:

Chipmunk

Is there any significance to nailing a shovel to a tree? Did the trail builders just think it was an interesting artifact, and they moved it to a tree for others to appreciate? Or did they think the owner had lost it and might see it if it were prominently displayed in this way?

Shovel nailed to tree

Leaves changing color:

Leaves changing color

We crossed the Carletondale Road, the second of two roads that we encountered on the yellow trail.

Glacial erratics:

Glacial erratics

More glacial erratics:

Glacial erratics

The yellow trail is a lollipop trail. After about 2 miles on the yellow trail, we reached the loop part of the lollipop. We continued to the right, moving counterclockwise on the loop. After another 3/4 mile, we reached the southernmost point of the trail, called Governor Mountain, though the elevation wasn’t even 600 feet. A decent view was available on the Greenwood Lake Turnpike, the Wanaque Reservoir, and Board Mountain:

View of Board Mountain from Governor Mountain

Loop part of yellow trail:

Yellow trail

The loop part of the yellow trail included rock outcroppings:

Rock outcropping

Another example:

Rock outcropping

There was also an area of fallen trees, though trail maintenance had used saws to make the area easy to hike:

Fallen trees

When the yellow trail met the red trail, we turned west, following the red blazes of the rerouted trail, which crossed Sloatsburg Road in a safer location. It was almost dark by that point, and I couldn’t find blazes into Ringwood Manor, but we just walked across the short strip of land between the road and the facility, then followed the service roads to the parking lot and our car.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged New Jersey, Passaic County | Leave a comment

Mashomack Preserve, Suffolk County, New York

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Charlie

After spending the night in Medford, we drove northeast to Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island, where we caught a ferry to Shelter Island:

Crossing the Peconic River from Greenport to Shelter Island

Arriving on Shelter Island, we drove to Mashomack Preserve, a 2,039-acre preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy, constituting 1/3 of the island. We were greeted by Eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris), among other feathered subjects:

Wild turkeys

The visitor center of the preserve had a large bird feeder, which attracted the turkeys, as well as at least one chipmunk and rat that were playing tag with each other. Here a common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) rests not far from the feeder:

Common grackle

Am American goldfinch (Spinus tristus) enjoys the seed:

American goldfinch

A juvenile blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) was also hanging out at the feeder:

Juvenile blue jay

We could have stayed longer at the visitor center, which also had a nice collection of bird’s eggs, but we at the preserve to hike. The preserve has a varied terrain, including mature oak woodlands, fields, tidal creeks and freshwater marshes. The trails are only marked in one direction. Only hiking is allowed; biking, horseback riding, and even jogging is prohibited.

We decided to hike without applying any bug repellent. I was probably thinking that none was needed because I had hiked the day before without problems, and Batya was probably thinking that it wouldn’t do any good because mosquitoes had attacked her the day before despite the insect repellent. We probably both would have benefited from repellent, as Batya was bitten by additional mosquitoes, and I was attacked by something else–probably sandfleas.

We began our hike on the red trail, hiking east through a wooded area:

Red trail

A kettle pond, formed by receding glaciers:

Kettle pond

A black cherry tree (Prunus serotina):

Black cherry tree

Wetland:

Wetland

After 3/4 mile, the red trail reached Miss Annie’s Creek, a natural tidal inlet and small cove:

Miss Annie’s Creek

Tidal inlet:

Tidal inlet

Salt marsh:

Salt marsh

Common reed (Phragmite australis):

Common reed

We left the red trail and continued east on the yellow trail, which passed briefly through a meadow:

Meadow

The meadow included this bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), whose seeds are enjoyed by the American goldfinch (though perhaps not by the one we saw at the bird feeder):

Bull thistle

After only about 1/2 mile we left the yellow trail. Our choice now was to follow a green-blazed lollipop trail south or to take the blue trail to the east. We continued east on the blue trail, which led through a lightly forested area in which I did not take any noteworthy photos.

After about 1.7 miles on the blue trail we reached Gardiner’s Bay, at the east side of the island, which included a tiny beach and a nice ocean view, with several islands visible some miles in the distance:

Gardiner’s Bay

The blue trail turned south, and included a counterclockwise detour around a swampy area. Part of the trail again moved through lightly forested area:

Blue trail

After about another 1.5 miles, the blue trail reached the southeastern point of the preserve, Nicoll’s Point, again providing us with water views:

Nicoll’s Point

A feather from a wild turkey:

Wild turkey feather

Over the course of another 1.1 mile, the blue trail ran west, passing by Plum Pond and Bass Creek. I will guess these two photos are Plum Pond, though I am uncertain:

Plum Pond?

We reached the end of the blue trail and turned south on the green trail. This was hiking in the opposite direction from that intended, though I thought the trail would be easy enough to follow. After about 1/2 mile, we reached Sanctuary Pond, where we followed a short Laspia Family Trail along the west side of the pond.

A great egret (Ardea alba) was standing guard over the pond:

Great egret

Canadian geese (Branta canadensis) were also there:

Canadian geese

We returned to the green trail and continued a short distance, but we ran into a residential area within the preserve that was no doubt grandfathered into the park at the time of its acquisition, and we could not tell where the trail continued. As I noted earlier, we were traveling in the opposite direction from that in which the trail was blazed. We therefore turned around and traveled north on the green trail, soon passing the junction with the blue trail, and continuing west on the green trail. This led through more of the lightly wooded area:

Green trail

Stairs on the green trail:

Stairs on the green trail

The green trail returned us to the meadow area that we had encountered briefly on the yellow trail:

Meadow

After 1.5 miles, the green trail came to an end, and we returned to the yellow trail, this time moving north and then east through the meadow:

Meadow of yellow trail

The red berries of the shining sumac (Rhus copallinum) are said to attract wildlife:

Shining sumac

A hollow log:

Hollow log

We completed the remaining 0.4 miles of the yellow trail and the 3/4 mile of the red trail, returning to the parking lot after a hike of about 9.2 miles.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged New York, Suffolk County | 1 Comment

Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge, Suffolk County, New York

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Charlie

We decided to take an overnight trip to Long Island for Labor Day, and first drove to Shirley, to the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge features wetlands on both sides of the Lower Carmans River. While the visitor’s center is closed on Sundays, the refuge is still open for visitors. As we drove into the property we saw a few wild turkeys, but they did not wait to be photographed.

Two trails lead from the parking lot. The White Oak Trail begins behind the visitor center on the north (right) side, then after continuing north a short distance, it turns west and crosses a bridge over the river, after which it runs south, visiting the western side of the river. The Black Tupelo trail begins on the south (left) side of the visitor center, and continues south to explore the eastern side of the river.

We began on the White Oak Trail:

White Oak Trail

I spotted a small white butterfly, which was nicely camouflaged as it sat on the trail. I believe this is a Summer azur (Celastrina neglecta).

Summer Azure

Vivid red leaves, identified by the fine folks at GardenWeb.com as part of a 5-leaflet compound (palmate) leaf of a Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia):

Virginia creeper

The Long Island Rail Road Montauk Branch bridge:

Long Island Rail Road Montauk Branch bridge

The trees of the preserve include oak, pitch pine, tupelo, blackgum, pepperidge tree, and red maple.

Trees

Common reed (Phragmite australis) grew beside the river:

Phragmite beside the Carmans River

Two eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina).

Eastern box turtles

A dragonfly, probably Golden-winged skimmer (Libellula auripennis):

Golden-winged skimmer

The trail was very flat and easy to follow. There was no danger of getting lost in this park:

White Oak Trail

Another view of the Carmans River:

Carmans River

I noticed an orb-weaver spider (Araneidae) about 20′ away. He was hard to photograph, as he kept running up and down a strand of silk that was blowing in the wind, and as I was trying to steady my camera and 200mm lens. I finally captured his photo ascending:

Orb-weaver spider

and descending:

Orb-weaver spider

This large and scary-looking wasp, the Cicada killer (Sphecius speciosus), rarely causes any harm to humans.

Cicada killer

Another view from the White Oak Trail:

View from the White Oak Trail

We reached the southern end of the White Oak Trail. The trail is actually a lollipop trail with a narrow loop, and when we reached the loop we hiked it clockwise, starting closest to the water.

On the return, we spotted this northern brown snake (Storeria dekayi dekayi) sitting in the middle of the footpath:

Northern brown snake

A dock behind the visitor center also features a nice view of the river:

Carmans River

The Black Tupelo Trail was less exciting in my opinion. This was also a lollipop loop, but there weren’t as many views of the river. Despite having sprayed ourselves with insect repellent, we attracted a cloud of mosquitoes, which were feasting on Batya. Perhaps they were also feeding on these American robins (Turdus migratorius):

One feature that I did enjoy on the Black Tupelo Trail was Indian Landing, a tiny beach at the southern end of the trail, said to have been a meeting place of the Unkechaug tribe:

Indian Landing

Indian Landing also provided a nice panoramic view of the Carmans River:

View of Carmans River from Indian Landing

We began our return to the parking lot. In contrast to the relatively benign Cicada killers, these Bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) are bad news. Do not disturb their nest!

Bald-faced hornets

We returned to the car, and drove to Medford, where we spent the night.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged New York, Suffolk County | 1 Comment

Kaaterskill Wild Forest, Greene County, New York

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Charlie

On Monday, we decided on a moderate 7.2 mile hike, the Catskill Escarpment Loop. We drove from Saugerties into Haines Falls, turning right onto North Lake Road and then right onto Schutt Road, parking at GPS coordinates 42.20105/-74.05807.

We crossed to the other side of Schutt Road and followed the blue-blazed Escarpment Trail south.

Batya hiking on the Escarpment Trail

This part of the hike was flat and easy.

Escarpment Trail

I found a stone wall, the only one I would note that day:

Stone wall

After about a mile, we reached a four-way junction and left the blue-blazed trail, continuing on the red-blazed Schutt Road Trail, which followed an old carriage road:

Schutt Road Trail

The red-blazed trail gradually made a turn from south to southeast to east.

A fallen tree resting on a boulder:

Fallen tree on boulder

After another mile, we reached another intersection with the blue-blazed Escarpment Trail, which we rejoined.

Footpath on Escarpment Trail

After another 1/2 mile, we reached a junction whereby the blue-blazed path detoured to the right, while a red-blazed path continued as a shortcut ahead. We turned right onto the longer blue-blazed path, which shouldn’t be missed.

First, this short detour took us to Split Rock, a fissure in the rock:

Split Rock

Soon after, we reached the area around Boulder Rock, which includes an open rock ledge with beautiful views over the Hudson River Valley:

Panorama of Hudson River Valley

Kaaterskill High Peak, a prominent peak in the range, can be seen in this panorama, with Round Top partially hidden by foliage to the right:

Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top

Panorama from ledge at Boulder Rock:

Panorama from Boulder Rock

Another panorama:

Another Panorama from Boulder Rock

I couldn’t resist the temptation to climb Boulder Rock.

Charlie climbs Boulder Rock

I stood on the top for a couple of seconds, but the top was sloped, and I didn’t want to risk losing my balance, so I decided to sit down and enjoy the view:

Charlie on top of Boulder Rock

We left Boulder Rock and continued on the blue-blazed trail, which soon reached the second junction with the red-blazed shortcut. We were glad not to have taken the shortcut, as we would have missed Boulder Rock and some nice views.

We continued on the blue-blazed trail, traveling northeast, and soon reached another open rock ledge with great views of the Hudson River Valley:

Panorama of Hudson River Valley

I stayed about six feet behind the edge:

Charlie enjoying view of Hudson River Valley

We continued on, enjoying a wooded area with rock walls:

Rock walls in wooded area

Batya poses in front of rock wall

We soon exited the woods to an open grass lawn, the site of the famous Catskill Mountain House, visited by U.S. Presidents and other rich and famous people in the 19th Century:

Site of Catskill Mountain Club

A plaque provides a history of the hotel:

Plaque describing the Catskill Mountain House

We continued our counterclockwise loop, as the blue-blazed Escarpment trail now curved to the north. We reached a parking area for the beach at North/South Lake, and continued across the parking lot and reentered the woods, hiking through an area that included a number of picnic spots.

Escarpment Trail

We passed two nice stands of Mountain Laurel on the hike, this being one of them:

Mountain laurel

Batya hiked past a horizontal tree barely clinging to life:

Fallen tree

We passed Artist’s Rock, an east-facing rock ledge providing panoramic views, but didn’t stop, as the ledge was crowded with other hikers.

The trail ascended steeply, and there were a few places where a hiker would have to use a hand to assist his scramble up a few rocks. We followed a rock outcrop:

Rock wall

Rock wall:

Rock wall

We then detoured onto a short yellow-blazed trail on the right which led to Lookout Rock, providing a beautiful view to the east:

View from Lookout Rock

Another view:

View from Lookout Rock

After 0.2 miles, the yellow-blazed trail ended at Sunset Rock, which provided a beautiful view to the west of North/South Lake, and of Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top behind the lake:

North/South Lake, Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top

A panoramic view:

North/South Lake, Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top

We followed the yellow-blazed trail back to the Escarpment Trail, and continued to the north, climbing briefly through a rocky wooded area:

Rocks and trees of the Escarpment Trail

We reached Newman’s Ledge, providing a beautiful panoramic view of the Hudson Valley:

Hudson Valley from Newman’s Ledge

The Escarpment Trail continued, ascending slightly in places.

Break in rock wall

Rocky part of Escarpment Trail

We reached Badman’s Cave, an overhanging rock, and Batya invited me to hike up there, though she didn’t want to do so herself. I declined, in part because there was a large and loud group of people there. This was unfortunately not one of our hikes conducted in solitude, and while most of the hikers were quiet enough, there were a few loud ones. In places, we tried to outpace the loud hikers, which didn’t work, so we let them pass us. After we left Badman’s Cave, we departed from the blue-blazed Escarpment Trail, turning onto the yellow-blazed Rock Shelter Trail, which took us on a southwest heading. The loud group from Badman’s Cave quickly overtook us and passed us, and was perhaps a family unit, though with a teenaged boy holding a boombox that was playing something like “Teenage Wasteland.” We were glad to see them speed off ahead of us.

The Rock Shelter Trail passed over a rocky area, so it was a little slow going.

Moss-covered rocks

A chipmunk posed for a photo:

Chipmunk

Puncheon through a wet area:

Puncheon through a wet area

The Rock Shelter Trail ended on North Lake Road, and we turned right onto Schutt Road and returned to the parking lot where we left the car.

Other than the occasional noisy hiker, this was an enjoyable 7.2 mile hike without much elevation change, ranked moderate only because of its length and because of a few very short scrambles. As noted, the hike featured many beautiful features and scenic views.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged Greene County, New York | Leave a comment

Kaaterskill Wild Forest, Greene County, New York

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Charlie

On Friday afternoon, we endured two hours of painful bumper-to-bumper traffic to escape from New York City, and then continued driving to the Catskills, where we checked into the Howard Johnson’s in Saugerties.

On Sunday, we enjoyed an easy/moderate 4.5 mile hike on the Huckleberry Point Trail, with an elevation gain of about 1000′. Batya wanted to avoid strenuous hikes, as she was still recovering from a broken shoulder and subsequent surgery. This hike promised a big view of the Hudson Valley.

We drove from Saugerties past Haines Falls and through Tannersville, turning south on Spruce Street and then east onto Platte Cove Road. We drove to GPS coordinates 42.13316/-74.08275, turning left (north) on an access road, which after about 50 yards ended at the Steenburg Road Parking Area. (I wondered why the parking lot was called Steenburg Road when we had driven there on Platte Cove Road. It turns out that Steenburg Road was the name of a woods road that now serves as a hiking trail.)

After the usual ritual of applying sunscreen and bugspray, we set out, hiking on the aforementioned woods road, with red and blue blazes. The hike began passing through the land of the Platte Cove Preserve, owned by the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. The blue blaze represented the Long Path, which typically uses aqua blazes, with some variability.

Eroded portion of Steenburg Road

We continued on the Long Path:

Long Path

After about three quarters of a mile, we were within the boundaries of the Kaaterskill Wild Forest, an 8,550 acre area managed by the N.Y. State Department of Environmental Conservation.

After about another quarter mile, we reached an intersection with the yellow-blazed Huckleberry Point Trail. We turned right onto that trail, crossing a small stream (which can reportedly be challenging to cross in wetter seasons).

Stream crossing

Having made it across the stream without getting wet, we proceeded on the yellow-blazed trail:

Huckleberry Point Trail

Some moss-covered rocks added texture to the hike:

Rocks on the Huckleberry Point Trail

More rocks:

Rocks on the Huckleberry Point Trail

We also found mountain laurel (kalmia latifolia) in a few places, though it may have been a few weeks past its most glorious state:

Mountain laurel

Three tree trunks growing together:

Triplet tree

Getting closer to Huckleberry Point:

Huckleberry Point Trail

Wild forest:

Huckleberry Point Trail

We reach Huckleberry Point:

View from Huckleberry Point

The elevation at the parking lot was 1872′, and the high point on this hike was 2516′. I should note that the high point did not occur at the midp0int (the scenic view). Rather, the high point occurs at about 1.75 miles into the hike, after which there is a drop of 200′ of elevation by the time the scenic view is reached at the 2.25 mile midpoint of the hike.

We settled in for a nice lunch, enjoying the scenic view from Huckleberry Point:

View from Huckleberry Point

After lunch, we retraced our steps back to the car.

On the way back to Saugerties, we wanted to visit Kaaterskill Falls, a 260′ waterfall between Haines Falls and Palenville. Ideally, we would have liked to have hiked to the base of the falls. The problem is that there are only two tiny parking lots on N.Y. State Road 23A, both of which are almost always filled to capacity. There also seemed to be a dangerous walk from either of these parking lots to the trail that would lead to the base of the falls. We never were able to visit the waterfall from this location.

Happily, we saw a sign in Haines Falls that directed us to Lake Road, where we were able to park the car on Laurel House Road and take a short trail that led to a scenic view looking down on the waterfall.

Observation deck of Kaaterskill Falls:

Observation Deck of Kaaterskill Falls

The view of the top of the falls, from the observation deck:

Kaaterskill Falls

Batya was pleased with the Huckleberry Point trail and the visit to the falls, as neither was too strenuous.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged Greene County, New York | Leave a comment

Ramapo Mountain State Forest, Bergen & Passaic Counties, New Jersey

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Charlie

I joined Rachel, Martin, and Nachi, whom I’ve hiked with many times before, as well as Aaron and Yitzy, whom I don’t know if I’ve met before or not. My wife Batya didn’t join us, as she had to take care of training for work, and also because she is still recovering from her shoulder injury and was afraid this might be too rugged a hike.

We met on Skyline Drive, parking at the northern of the two parking areas within Ramapo Mountain State Forest. While Batya and I had previously explored trails to the east of Skyline Drive, today we were hiking to the west of the road. We began hiking south on the yellow-blazed Hoeferlin Memorial Trail.

Ducking under a fallen tree on the Hoeferlin Memorial Trail

A rock wall:

Rock wall

We soon arrived at Ramapo Lake, a 120-acre man-made lake within the forest. In addition to the yellow trail, there are blue-blazed and red-blazed trails in this area, so we had to carefully consult our maps and compass once or twice.

Ramapo Lake

We skirted the east side of the lake, continuing south on the yellow trail, which included a few scenic views:

Scenic View

In a few areas, the trail crossed over exposed rock. There were a few areas where a bit of scrambling was required, or at least seemed prudent to many of us, and I thought that perhaps Batya would have been uncomfortable with those areas. For the most part the terrain was fine.

Exposed rock

A contrast in wood and stone:

Wood and stone

We weren’t sure how long the hike would be, and feared that it would end too soon, so we decided to explore a small section in the southernmost part of the forest that is isolated from the rest by Interstate 287. We therefore began a descent, still on the yellow trail, from around 800′ in elevation to 400′.

Descending on the yellow trail

We reached the pedestrian walkway over I-287, noting men with dirt bikes at the far end:

Pedestrian walkway over I-287

We explored the southern section of the park, where the yellow trail led us south and then east, where we took the white-blazed South Ridge trail further south. We then turned north on the red-blazed Cannonball trail. Some of the group were grumbling that the southern portion seemed larger than is shown on the map, and that it was too muddy. It was not especially interesting, and I have no photos to show.

Having hiked through the southern portion, we again crossed over I-287 via the walkway and re-entered the primary part of the park, this time on the red trail. At an intersection with the Indian Rock trail (also red-blazed, to be confusing), we turned left (west), and after a short distance, turned north onto the orange-blazed Wanaque Ridge trail:

Start of Wanaque Ridge Trail

The trail passed over underground utility lines above which no trees were allowed to grow:

Underground utilities

We reached another scenic view:

Scenic view

A pair of turkey vultures were sitting in a tree, and waited long enough for me to switch to my telephoto lens:

Pair of turkey vultures

One of the pair flew away, and I caught the second about to take flight:

Turkey vulture taking flight

We came to another scenic view, this time of the huge Wanaque Reservoir:

Wanaque Reservoir

We continued on the orange-blazed trail:

Hiking on Wanaque Ridge Trail

The orange blazed trail ended, and we turned right (south) onto the blue-blazed Macevoy Trail, which followed a woods road. We then turned left (east) for a short distance on the red-blazed Cannonball Trail, before turning left (north) on the white-blazed Castle Point trail. This brought us to the Castle Ruins, a large house built around 1909 and initially called Foxcroft Mansion by its owner, stockbroker William Porter. He died in a car accident in 1911, leaving the property to his widow (her second time being widowed from a wealthy man). She then married Warren Van Slyke, an attorney, and the mansion became known as Slyke Castle. The home was abandoned in the 1950s and burned by arsonists in 1959.

Slyke Castle Ruins

Chimney of Slyke Castle

We continued hiking north on the white-blazed trail, passing a water tower that provided water to the Slyke Castle:

Water Tower

The white-blazed trail led us back to the Cannonball Trail very close to Skyline Drive, and then we walked along a very short white-and-red blazed trail back to the parking area. While the hike did not have much elevation loss and gain, there was some, and the length of the hike was about 11 miles, so I would call it a moderate hike.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged Bergen County, New Jersey, Passaic County | Leave a comment

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Kaaterskill Wild Forest, Greene County, New York

Kaaterskill Wild Forest, Greene County, New York

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