July 14, 2012 Black Creek Preserve

the entrance

crossing the suspension bridge

waiting for the photographer to get her act together

crossing the bridge

Black Creek

you can just see the creek down below---where we started the walk

some scenes on the level part before we started downhill to river

river in distance - we still need to go downhill

we've reached the river

Esopus Lighthouse in the distance

we thought that was Norrie Point across and up the river

garbage "sculpture"

view from the gazebo on the private property

we walked down to cove where creek enters river

Black Creek reflections

creek scenes near the entrance

This was a new walk for the club and all ten of us enjoyed it.  As we were getting ready to start, a resident stopped by to warn us  that there had been black bear sightings recently.  Since we were a group of 10, we decided that we were noisy enough that the bear wouldn't bother us and we didn't see any sign of it.  Although we were walking down to the river, the first part of the walk involved a big climb uphill.  Then we had a nice walk down to the river.  The resident had given  us permission to walk on the private property at the bottom of the hill.  This allowed us to access the road and avoid some of the significant uphill walk of the trail.  When we reached the trail access, five of us decided to take the easier walk up the road to the parking lot and the other five took the longer trail.  When we got to our cars, the temperature in mine said it was 82 degrees.  The sun had come out and it was humid so it felt a lot hotter.   We agreed that this walk is a keeper.  Six of us enjoyed lunch at the diner on 9W in Highland.

July 7, 2012 Ferncliff

the pond at the beginning of trail

several views from the tower courtesy of Pat & John

Esopus Lighthouse [I think]...lots of humidity in the air

waiting for the climbers

the photographers, Pat & John

a swamp along the trail

back at the pond

log cabin near beginning of trail

There were only six of us on this walk. It wasn't too bad when we started out thanks to some cloud cover plus the heat didn't build up till later in the day when the sun came out in full force.  [It was only 81 when I got in the car after the walk].  It was very humid and we worked up a sweat walking.  We all enjoyed the walk though.  We were fortunate to be in the forest for the whole walk except for one very brief spot.  John & Pat climbed the tower and took some pictures of the view.  The rest of us waited at the bottom.

June 30, 2012 Chuang Yen Monastery

first view of the monastery

one of the many Buddhas on the walk up to the monastery

the monastery

the group in front of the monastery

the bell

interior view

small Buddha in front of the big one

the lake and pagoda

in the pagoda

     There were nine of us at the monastery.  In addition, we had the pleasure of meeting John's wife, Rena.  It was quite hot but not humid and there was a little bit of a breeze.  This was a short walk.  We started by visiting the Great Buddha Hall which contains the largest Buddha in the United States.  [Unfortunately, my picture did not come out.]  We then walked around the lake observing the many carp and some turtles.   After the walk six of us lunched at the Red Line Diner in Fishkill.