Bike Ride with Marc

After a sweaty bike ride, it's always nice to cool off with a lake swim!
Saying Hello on a Hot Day at Lake Awosting!

A Rainy Hike at Minnewaska State Park

Decided to take a hike around Minnewaska State Park and Preserve while I waited for Marc to return home. It was a little misty from the rain, but its a great time to find things along the trail. Check out some of the finds from my hike!

theChristyBel

Dew-Outlines on Spider's Webs

Reflective Foggy Lake Side Views

Foggy, Creepy Trails
(Also completely all mine!)

The Start to the Mountain Laurel Bloom

Honey Suckle?

Tiny Sheep Laurel Blooms

Striped Maple Leaves the Size of My Hand

Striped Maple Samaras About to Ripen

Purple Columbine

A Spider Playing Camouflage on the Quartz Conglomerate

Wild Turkeys "Hiding" in the Fog

Summer Houses that have No Lake to View

Hiking to Lake Awosting

After several weeks of being stressed from work and this move, I needed some ChristyBel time. With that, a hike was is in order. So I hiked over to one of my favorite places on the Ridge - Lake Awosting. It's a good 4.3 miles from the Lake Minnewaska parking lot (one way). So hiking out my angst, negative energy, and stress on a 8.6-mile hike was the perfect medicine to getting me back to feeling like TheChristyBel. Since it was super cloudy and chances of rain, there were not many people on the trail. So it was great having the area to my self. :) 

TheChristyBel

Enjoy some of the pictures I took of some pretty cool nature finds:

A FOUR-Flower Star Flower

High Bush Blueberry in Bloom

Orange Hawkweed

More Pink Lady Slippers

A Lightning Struck Tree?

A Vacant Lake Awosting

Gorgeous Views of the Catskills

Whitney Visits New Paltz

Whitney Came to Visit!
We took her to Minnewaska State Park!

I was a Minnewaska Winter Unicorn!

We Also Took Her Ice-Skating!

Biking to Awosting

Lake Awosting
Look at that clear, blue water!

Today, I decided to bike at Minnewaska State Park. I really love this park, for many reasons, but one because of the great views, and two because you can swim. I remember when I first visited this place back in 2012, the Toman's took me to Minnewaska State Park where we biked to Lake Awosting. From Minnewaska State Park, it's about a 3.1-mile trek to Awosting down the Upper Awosting Carriage Road. Most of my weekends, I am running solo as Marc guides climbing on those days. So, today, I decided to entertain and occupy myself with a bike ride and a swim. It was a gorgeous and hot day for both. A choice I am very glad I made today, not to mention, there were not that many people at the swimming area. That's one nice thing about Lake Awosting and swimming, since it's a trek for most people (well, not the hiking type people), the swimming hole is never really packed. Yea, it's 3.1-miles, but its a lot of uphill and uneven terrain. It's a great hike/bike and worth it once you get into that crystal clear, blue water! After the swim, I continued the bike loop around the Shawangunk Ridge towards Hamilton Point. Hamilton Point has great views of the valley pretty much during the entire bike ride back to the Minnewaska Lake parking lot. Enjoy!

TheChristyBel

Catching Some Rays After My Bike Ride

The View Back to Minnewaska Lake Parking Lot

My View From Hamilton Point

Biking to Castle Point

Selfie with Fishy at Castle Point

Today, decided to join Fishy with a family bike ride around Minnewaska State Park and celebrate Father's Day with the Toman's. I just LOVE Minnewaska State Park - great biking carriage roads, waterfalls, swimming areas, and some gorgeous views. This Minnewaska adventure, we biked from the Minnewaska Lake parking lot to Castle Point and back. A 4.3-mile carriage road that takes you to the highest part in the state park. You bike along a series of bluffs that define the western rim of the Ridge. It was great seeing a lot of wildflowers along the way - lots of Mountain Laurel and the view from Castle Point was pretty nice too!

TheChristyBel

We Made it!

More PINK Mountain Laurel

Beautiful White Mountain Laurel

Summit Posing at Castle Point with Fishy!
2,200 feet above sea level

High Peterskill Hike

Hiked along the High Peterskill Trail that connects the Preserve to Minnewaska State Park today. I am just loving the spring right now and discovering all the different flowers that give the Ridge its color! Check out some of my favorite flora finds!

TheChristyBel

Bellwort

Star Flower

Painted Trillium

Fires on the Ridge

Now that I have my new wheels, I wanted to take them for a spin on some of the Minnewaska State Park carriage roads (also, because I got my season's pass and wanted to start using it). However, when I got to the gatehouse, they turned me around to go home. Apparently there was a fire on the southern end of the Ridge and in Minnewaska State Park. By the time I got back home, I could see how large this fire was getting. I think officials were saying more than 2,000 - 3,000 acres of Minnewaska State Park and Sam's Point Preserve had been burned over the course of several days. Feel free to check out some information here. Even though this area is used to natural fires coming through and over the Ridge, this particular fire was large because there was a lot of available downed fuel. Unfortunately, officials are believing this fire was no natural fire or prescribed burn, it was a wildfire from a cigarette butt. How sad is that?!? But with the fires getting out of hand, the parks were calling all firemen and our Preserve Rangers to help fight this fire. Below are some images our Chief Ranger, Andrew Bajardi took of the fire.

TheChristyBel

Day 2 of the Fire While I was Biking on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail

 

All photos except for the first one were taken by Andrew Bajardi.

Gertrude's Nose

Patterson's Pellet

Exploring Minnewaska State Park today. I heard of a really cool place to hike to from a co-worker called Gertrude's Nose. This hike is a 7.5-mile loop that takes you to 1,288 ft about a bunch of stunning cliff edges, rock formations, and some really amazing views. From the Minnewaska State Park - Lake parking lot, you head down past the bathing beach area and continue left along the Minnewaska Lake Loop (a red trail). As you continue up and around some s-curves, you'll pass the Castle Point Carriage Road, and then after a few more minutes, you'll reach the Millbrook Mountain Carriage Road on your right. This yellow-blazed carriage road will bring you to a great overlook with an awesome quartz conglomerate erratic called, Patterson's Pellet. It's a boulder that is remarkably balancing and staying put on the edge of the cliff face. As you continue on the yellow trail, you'll reach a junction for a red-blazed foot trail for Gertrude's Nose. You'll pass along some great scenic scapes and cliff edges. You'll eventually head down into the woods along some scrambly rocks and boulders. After the rocky descent you'll pop into a clearing with powelines overhead and continue under them. Back onto the cliff's edge, down again, and back into woods. Once you emerge from the woods, you'll get back to the cliff's edge and head toward Gertrude's Nose. It is definitely a long stroll along the cliff until the nose. Gertrude's Chin is a giant pile of rocks and talus below. The Nose is about 25 minutes from the Chin as you continue forward. The "Nose" means a rock formation that juts out of the cliff with nothing pretty much underneath it. After lots of photos and summit posing and hanging out at the nose area for lunch, we continued the loop going over more of the top of the ridge towards Millbrook Mountain that is the tallest in the Near Trapps (this is on the Mohonk Preserve side). After hanging there and getting some breeze-appreciation, we hiked back towards the middle of the ridge and back towards Minnewaska Lake. There are a lot of Lowbush Blueberry bushes and a great loop hike! I strongly suggest it! Enjoy the photos!

TheChristyBel

Couple Photo on the Nose