7 June 2024
Unsurprisingly after yesterday’s hike, I slept quite well. My site stayed well shaded even after the sun woke up and I was able to laze until about 8am.
But I kept hearing someone walking through my site and was getting annoyed until the “footsteps” came right up to my tent and I could see it was actually a squirrel making all the ruckus!
My site, despite being shallow and unprotected from the wind off the lake, was conveniently positioned between the trails and nearby (but not too close to) the bathroom (which had free showers!):
The water fountain outside the bathroom was extra powerful:
The wind had definitely died down, but there was enough of a breeze that I had to protect my stove’s flame while making breakfast:
Oatmeal, breakfast of champions and hikers
While waiting for my water to boil, I started breaking down my tent only to find this beautiful green bug!
He was so shiny!!!
Today’s plan is to hit all the trails I didn’t hike yesterday, though it did mean backtracking a bit along the Little Falls Trail (green), where I spotted several butterflies, like these Red-spotted purple butterflies:
and this Swallowtail!
Along the way, I stopped at the Nature Center (which was closed), but its trails were open, so I hiked the Hidden Ponds Trail.
There was a box of books at the start of the trail and several of these posts along the way that you could make rubbing of:
Each one featured a different critter and its tracks.
I didn’t spot any animals, but I did find this Ebony jewelwing dragonfly:
and another Red-spotted purple butterfly:
The loop was a nice way to warm up my legs before hitting the Oak Ridge Trail (brown). I don’t have a lot of pictures from this trail, and I really should have looked at a topo map before setting out, because this stretch of hike was almost all uphill. A few little ups and downs, but overall, mostly up.
Not fun.
I did, however, spot several more of these beautiful Ebony jewelwings:
Of course, the tip of this guy’s wing is obscured, but some of them had white dots at the tip- not sure why… male vs female maybe?
These two were having a very loud discussion:
Swallowtail!
He refused to land somewhere where I could get a good wing shot 🙁
About 3/4 of the way through this trail, I came across the White Tail Trail (red):
I chose this direction because it started with a downhill and, even if that means I have to go back uphill later, I really needed a break.
It’s a bit hard to read, but that sign says “difficult”… not sure how that bodes for this portion of the hike, but there’s not way I’m hiking back up the hill I just came down, so, onward!
Good news: I later came across a map showing the winter use trails, and they are rated with difficulties- that marker is a leftover from the ski trails.
Back on the Oak Ridge Trail (brown), I enjoyed the last of my tree cover before it thinned and became the open fields of the Knapwood Trail (orange):
I didn’t take many pictures- it was getting hot and I was getting tired. This would have been a better path to hike yesterday, when it was overcast and cooler. Also, hike this one in the opposite direction- far fewer uphills if you go east to west instead.
There was one more viewpoint on the map, so I linked up with the Pioneer Trail (yellow):
Which led me to this area with some cool old machinery:
Back in the day, the river was dammed, first to run a grist mill, then for hydroelectrics, which provided Hudson with power. These are some of the remants:
I’m not sure if this rock was part of the mill, or if it’s just a convenient place to sit, but it is a nice rock.
The view from here wasn’t stellar, so I moved on. Since the Falls are so close, I figured I should probably check them out.
The path going from the Willow Falls Parking lot down to the Falls is seriously steep. I wish there was a way to capture it in picture, but it’s something like a 20% grade at one point.
Worth the hike down though- even though there were even more people than yesterday, the selfie corner was free, so I snapped this stellar picture:
And while I had every intention of hiking back up and finishing the Pioneer Trail (yellow), I really didn’t want to make that climb, and I could see parts of it from the Knapwood Trail (orange) and it looked like it was also very exposed and honestly, I was tired. It just didn’t sound fun.
But I’ve hike the Willow Falls Trail (blue) a few times now, and it’s nice and shaded, and there’s a lot of wildlife, so I decided to just take that back to camp.
And that was a great choice! I finally spotted some turtles sunning themselves!
AND the Oriole I spotted yesterday, but missed getting a picture of, was back!
Isn’t he pretty!?
I assumed these were geese, but when I zoomed in, I think they are actually cormorants:
This was definitely the right choice, I mean, look at that view!
Back at camp, I enjoyed this mango-lemon shortbread post-hike treat (also from my bakery stop yesterday):
and said good-bye to the lake:
Today’s hike was much shorter than yesterday, just over 6.6 miles, but I felt like I could go a bit longer, so I’m proud of today. This was a good trip!