It was overcast and humid with the promise of rain but I only saw a few drops on the way home plus there didn't seem to be much rain overnight. There were 10 of us and we met in the usual parking lot. [When I got home there was a phone message regarding how to get to parking lot. Since it was to my home phone, I didn't answer it in time. I did have my cell on ... I try to keep it on so people can contact me on Saturdays. However, I realize that number doesn't appear on this blog and I've changed it tonight.]
We decided to go the opposite direction [north] instead of our usual route and we met a gentleman in the parking lot who told us how to access the Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary. We were to walk past the water treatment facility and the Gardens for Nutrition and turn right onto the reserve property. We got to the Gardens...they are gigantic and the assumption [at least by me] that it would be mostly vegetables seemed to be incorrect. There were many, many flowers...and a wide variety of them.
We walked on a very nice trail along the river, passing some fields and, somehow missing the entrance to the sanctuary, reached the end of the river trail. So we backtracked past the fields and found a mowed area along the side of a field and turned left toward what we hoped was the sanctuary and Huguenot Street. We felt like explorers as we walked along trying to reach our goal. It appeared that the sanctuary was actually on our right with some trees and other stuff in our way and we couldn't see a trail.
We finally made it to Huguenot Street and headed in the direction of the parking area. As we walked along, we met a couple of friendly people, encountered our male friend [I think for the third time] and he introduced us to Mr. Nyquist who was responsible for creating the sanctuary that bears his name. They directed us to the entrance off Huguenot Street and our friend walked us across the bridge and told us how to get to our cars.
This route was really nice and, although it was very humid, I think that at least most of our group enjoyed taking a new route and a bit of exploration.
Six of us decided to dine at the College Diner near the thruway entrance. We were fortunate to be able to make the left turn thru town. Traffic was horrific [a total standstill all the way thru New Paltz to the diner including coming off the thruway...apparently due to the craft fair] but fortunately going the opposite direction. Even tho CJ and I would ordinarily take Albany Post Road [involving going back thru New Paltz] toward Montgomery to get home, we opted to use Rte. 9W instead.
Oh gee, I took too many pictures again...but it was so nice there...hope readers don't mind.
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| some flowers and a "sculpture" at the garden entrance |
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| pretty sunflowers |
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| the veggies weren't nearly pretty as these flowers [morning glories] |
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| some of the sunflower heads were huge [on right] |
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| unknown "berries" |
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| river view |
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| the river trail and a place to relax |
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| kayaking on the Wallkill |
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| one of the very big fields |
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| planted with winter wheat [ we think] |
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| one of so many varieties of mushrooms that we've seen on our walks |
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| one of our explorers, John "Where the heck should we go next?" |
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| we think this was part of the sanctuary but we couldn't see a trail |
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| and another view |
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| we're almost to Huguenot street |
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| some berries |
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| at first glance from the rear we thought this "person" was real but it was part of an artists' gallery |
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| chicory and grass |
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| nice birdhouse at entrance of beautiful Huguenot Street home |
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| great blue heron |
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| interesting scene at Huguenot home with a kind of old fashioned view |
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| view from one side of the bridge below-as we begin our visit to the sanctuary |
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| crossing the bridge |
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| swan parents and their almost grown "ugly ducklings" |
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| looking back across the bridge |
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| I loved the combination of loostrife and another plant [a form of clover?] |
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| what a pretty path!! |
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| another view of the loostrife combination |
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| I think this is the oxbow area |
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| we're on our way |
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| we can almost see mountain top thru the humidity |
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| and another view with mountain top barely visible in background |
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| oxbow view |
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| some pretty pink flowers |
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| more mushrooms...these were really tiny |
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| these flowers were really tiny and just barely visible on the ground |
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| chicory and post |
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