June 22, 2013 Winnakee

     There were eleven of us on this day.  It wasn't that long a walk but just right for a hot and getting hotter, humid day.  Fortunately, the walk was in the woods so we stayed in the shade.  Two of our group decided to walk an additional Hyde Park trail and six of us enjoyed brunch at Perkins in Wappingers.
     The pictures aren't that exciting this week some water, trees, up and down small hills.  It's a nice little park.

we begin the walk

ok which way now?

almost at the end

June 15, 2013 Cornish Estate

     Our hope this time was to see the "big" waterfall.  It was a beautiful day [with sun, temps in the 70's and not too bad humidity] and there were 9 of us.  The parking lot at Mt Beacon [where CJ and I met Alice and Eileen] was almost full before 9 am.  The lot at entrance to Bull Hill/Stony Kill was also almost full at 9 am.  Most people seemed to be headed for the more strenuous hikes over Bull Hill or Breakneck Ridge [more power to them].
     We began by trying to access the trail from the parking lot but were thwarted by overgrown vegetation and ended up walking down 9D [not the easiest walk due to mucho traffic] to the gate signifying the entrance to the Cornish Estate trail. 
     Then we started up the hill to the ruins.  It's a pretty good uphill and there was quite a bit of water running down the hill.  We walked around the ruins and then walked kinda straight to the left from the ruins to a smaller waterfall.  Six of our group walked across a not too bad part of the stream.  Altho it didn't seem too bad, three of us opted not to try fording the stream.  The three of us walked up to the blue trail and, while two waited, I walked uphill hoping to meet the other six.  It was only about a year ago but I sure don't remember it being quite so far to the intersection of blue and red.   But I continued on and finally met the other six who had  found the "big" falls plus some other nice ones shortly after crossing the stream.  They had a pretty good climb up the hill before crossing a "meadow" and meeting me at the blue trail.  I had hoped to have a picture of the big falls to share [from one of the other walkers] but maybe it can be included in a future blog.
     At that point, two of our group, Rich & Pat, decided to continue upward to explore while the rest of worked our way down to the parking lot.  I was surprised to see how far I'd gone uphill from where I'd left my two friends.   It's definitely not an easy walk for me and I can't believe that I went "over the mountain" last year.
     Five of us headed for an excellent brunch at the Beacon Falls Cafe in Beacon.  We'd eaten  there quite a while ago and really enjoyed our meal.   After lunch, CJ and I stopped for a couple of views of the Fishkill Falls before heading for home

the gigantic rock near beginning of the trail

more interesting rocks

the trail beginning to not far beyond the ruins of house is concrete

we saw many mini waterfalls

the first of several views of the ruins

2 views of a pretty falls - don't know why the greenish cast

and some more waterfalls

Fishkill Falls was raging in Beacon

     

    

June 8, 2013 Reese Park

     The weather people had predicted a rainy Saturday and I was certain we'd be cancelled for a third Saturday this year.  So I was very surprised to see the sun when I awoke.  A check with the Beacon crew revealed good weather there also and off we went.  There were 10 of us at the meeting place.  We usually start the actual walking at 9:30 but we started about 5 minutes early only to discover that 2 more of our members had arrived just after we'd left  and ended up doing  their own walk.  We were sorry to have missed walking with them but happy for a brief encounter with them.
     We began by walking to the left  on the E trail which winds along Hunter Creek which was raging with all the recent rain.  We walked across the creek at one point and then headed back toward the main path.  Some of the group took the main path to the parking lot and a few of us diverged on another side path through the woods to the parking lot.
     After some confusion about where we were dining [unfortunately caused by moi] eight of us enjoyed brunch at the Dutchess Diner.

flowers at the beginning of the trail

it's a nice trail through the woods

our first view of the rain swollen creek

we walked along the creek

ferns

winding our way down a bit of a rough spot

interesting? millipedes

a nice place to sit and ponder...not very relaxing on this day

one view of the raging water

and another

there were a couple of these bridges with slippery footing

more ferns

woodsy view

we crossed the metal bridge - view on one side

and then the other

these steps lead to one exit from the park - we thought of Florence here - she didn't like these steps

trees and flowers

mountain roses at start of alternate path to parking lot

close up of roses

another view of path