We’ve been having some really beautiful and warm fall days this year here in Upstate New York. As a person who tends to hibernate all winter, this extension of summer, as my husband calls it, is allowing us a bit more time to wear shorts and tromp through the woods. We spent a beautiful morning hiking along the Vlomankill Trail at Five Rivers and have some pictures to prove it!
Nestled just a short drive outside of the city limits of Schenectady, New York, is the lovely Indian Kill Nature Preserve. We got the chance to explore around on a beautiful sunny day. There was a wonderful feeling to the place. Especially walking down around the creek edge, it felt simply… magical.
I’m always amazed to find such wonderful and vast areas for hiking within a short drive of the Capital District. The Plotter Kill Preserve in Rotterdam in upstate New York is a wonderful place that provides miles and miles of trails in addition to scenic waterfalls and is great for those who want to get out into nature but who don’t have a lot of time.
Natural Bridge State Park in Virginia is centered around a giant and beautiful natural bridge limestone landform that has been carved out by Cedar Creek over millions of years. This was once considered one of the great natural wonders of the Americas, and one that tourists have flocked to for centuries. We visited Virginia’s newest state park on our drive up north from the Carolinas. I can honestly say that in real life, it really is so much more impressive than any picture can ever convey. I mean, look at those tiny trees up top!
We had a mild winter’s day, and wanted to give our year and a half old son some fresh air. So, we decided to take him for a walk along the boardwalk at the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve. We had a beautiful winter walk that heightened the senses and energized the whole family. Even on a winter’s day, it was a wonderful way to spend some family time together and be closer to the nature that we love so very much.
We decided to try a short little hike in the Catskills that we found using our AllTrails app that promised a waterfall along Kiskatom Brook, and stumbled onto a large network of trails created and maintained by the Round Top Mountain Bike Association (R.T.M.B.A.). The R.T.M.B.A. is working on providing riders with more mountain trails, and connecting local businesses in the process.
We found this little walk along the Lower Waterfall Trail and Ale Trail to be a lot of fun. With so many interconnecting trails, you really have a lot of flexibility when choosing your path. For such a short walk, the waterfall was totally worth it. However, now knowing that the trails were created for mountain bikes, next time I return it will be with a bike.
The Lisha Kill Preserve is a beautiful place, and echoes the feeling I had while traipsing though the Black Forest in Germany. The forests here consist of tall, dark trees and soft pine needles trail riddled with roots to walk on. It’s simply magical.
How does one beat 94 degree weather during summer in New York state? Going for a nice walk under a canopy of trees along a fast-flowing creek works really well! That’s what we did when we recently visited the Wolf Creek Falls Preserve in Knox, New York.
There’s nothing like the height of summer. Long hours of sunshine paired with lush greenery is what I look forward to all year and is what I got to enjoy at the Normans Kill Preserve West. Add golden hour to the mix, that special time just before sunset where the angle of the sun casts a warm glow on everything it touches, with stark shadows on everything else, and you have a pretty perfect setting.