It’s been a really hot summer, but we didn’t want to allow that to keep us from what we love the most; traipsing through green lush forests. So, we took advantage of the long summer days and waited until the evening before heading to the lovely Fox Preserve in upstate New York. It recharged our batteries and gave us new strength to face the weekday routine.
A warm fall means lots of outdoor time and this time round, we went to the Schiffendecker Farm Preserve in Bethlehem, New York. We got to traverse over several small bridges, see some water rush by, hear the birds, and spot an old apple orchard. Overall, we had a lovely time, and we were wearing shorts in October; a relatively new phenomenon for us here in upstate New York.
It was a mild winter day, and we decided to take another walk in a local wetland preservation area. We visited the Swift Wetland Preserve, a small nature conservation area in Delmar, New York, and for just a little while, we were able to get away from it all.
Our little weekend adventures to the various preserves in our area have been one of the most wonderful things that we have started doing since our son was born. Our initial intent was to get our son out of the city and into the woods. Now, I see that it’s not just about getting him outside, but it’s for ourselves as well. It keeps things in perspective to get out of the daily chaos into a quieter place. This allows us to focus on the little things that matter, like the changing of the colors of the leaves, or the sound of a raven in the distance.
With that in mind, we visited the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy’s Winifred Matthews Holt Preserve in New Scotland, in upstate New York. It is my favorite Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy preserve to date, and that’s saying a lot.
Continuing our day trip hiking adventures, we visited the Bennett Hill Preserve in upstate New York on a gorgeous crisp fall day. The leaves were just starting to change for autumn, gently padding the path, and the sun was shining brightly. It was a perfect day.
We visited the Winn Preserve on a perfect day. The temperature was in the mid-60s, the air was crisp, the sun was shining, and the leaves were changing color all around us. It was also the first time our son put his boots on the ground and “hiked” on the trail with us! Okay, so he didn’t hike the whole thing, but he did walk a stretch of the trail and loved every second!
The Keleher Preserve is a conservation area in the town of New Scotland that is managed by the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy. This is a larger preserve, with over 440 acres and offers miles of hiking trails with some overlooks of the city of Albany. We got a chance to hike around this gorgeous spot to take in the final days of summer. We even spied some leaves already starting to change color on us!
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.