Ok this week once again had no web focus. I don't mean I wasn't on the Internet. I mean I was and yet had no focus. So ... you get more photos to focus on.

Each image opens a larger image. This time there is no compelling reason to open the larger image unless you want to see a little better.

At the bottom of this post you'll find a link to a photo page on my site where you can just click through the titles in order. That way you won't have to keep jumping back and forth between the images here and the larger images there.

I really know very little about the Appalachian Trail ... So again ... feel free to fill me in.

Snow Strolling

Twice now we've taken the trail west from the Appalachian Trail train platform on the Harlem Line. The trail eventually turns south over towards the Hudson River. I love this portion of the trail because even though it starts out looking rather la-de-da and oh so normal ...

Beam Balancing / Grass Stalking

It soon turns into a trek through the swamp ... designed to challenge your balance. Yes that's a balancing beam. In the fall, it's not frozen on the right side. And I also love those really tall grasses. I have no idea what they are. Do you?

Cinder Striding

Then we have cinder blocks to walk on. No, the swamp isn't frozen in that spot and, yes, one slip and it would have been very cold.

Beam Bopping / Pallet Prowling

One of my very favorite turns through the stalking grass includes a cinder block to beam to pallet transfer. Billy went in in the fall -- not so cold then but still he was glad it was on the way back to the train.

Post Meeting

White stripes like this on poles, trees, and rocks mark the trail. This pole has at least two faces. Do you see them?

Plank Walking

And then we get two planks to walk on for a distance. This trip the swamp was fairly frozen in this portion. Last trip Shelbie dog loved wading in the water.

Creek Bridging

Then we cross a little creek on a nicely maintained bridge. The light changes very rapidly up here unlike in Texas (Very bright) or in Oregon (very dim) ... so I ended up with two very dark snaps of the bridge.

Bridge Posing

Then Billy saw his chance for a shot at of me.

Green Glistening

This is an attempt to capture the creek (again). The water is only green in appearance because of the vegetation. It is actually very clear.

Twig Catching

It fascinated me how the snow could pile up like that on litttttle slender branches / twigs.

White Wandering

Oh, I forgot to tell you ... after the bridge there's a steady climb up a hill. I believe we are going to have to get a very decent map of the trail so we can talk about elevations and the like. Anyway the trees are as beautiful dressed in snow as they are in fall colors.

Winter Farming

This is the scene once you are over the top of the hill. Let me tell you ... it was Blinding White!

Hotwire Hopping

So we thought we'd only be out until the 2:41 train but we dawdled around and missed it by almost 1/2 an hour. There are two hours between trains. The only way we were going to survive well was to keep moving. So we left the train platform again but went east. It is also very pretty over that way. We had enough time to go over a few hills.

Oh that thing that Billy's standing on ... those are ladders that allow hikers to go over electric fence wires. I think we went over four going and again coming back. They are not designed for short legged people!

Locomotion Waiting

Bonus ... the one that got away! So very frustrating. We got back to the train platform and I wanted to take a pic of the train coming down the track at us. I took some test shots. The sun was starting to set a bit. It was going to be perfect. And so ... the train came into view and ... I raised my camera ... and ... I saw ... a red battery outline and then ... fade to black. sigh

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Well ... day two of my writing marathon ... hmmm ... yesterday I told you about my frustrations re Flick'r and then I told you to go look out our pics from the Appalachian Trail ... and I think I even misspelled it yesterday. I will go look and fix what I can. But! I didn't tell you anything at all about our little hike on the trail.

We didn't go for a long hike. We went to go wander around, have a picnic, take some photos, and enjoy the color, and let Shelbie have some fun ...

The Metro North has a stop that literally sits right on the trail. You get out and get to decide ... continue in New York towards the west or hike out towards Connecticut to the east. On the way there, we asked the conductor if he'd ever been out on the trail ... of course not ... he's lived here all his life and never been out on the trail. It's a normal thing but ... Wrong! Anyway he said if it were him he'd head off toward Connecticut.

We got off the train and looked out towards Connecticut and there was no indication really of where to go on the trail ... it just kind of wandered off toward a thoroughfare. And the hills were far off. As we stepped down off the platform, we discovered that there were maps in a mailbox attached to the signpost for the train station. There were about 6 others who got off the train and wandered off in various directions ... maps in hand ... all looking as unsure as we. But we were sure we wanted a pic of the train station so we got that first. Then we went back to puzzling. And suddenly ... there was a man ... carrying a little tool box ... saying, "Hello, you look lost."

So we asked him which way and what he thought and did he have a favorite. He said both directions were beautiful and so we said, "We want to to up and soon." So he said to absolutely go west. We felt very blessed that he showed up just when he did because we were about to take off in the direction of Connecticut.

And so we took off. Pretty soon we figured out where he'd come from and why he was carrying a tool box. The trail starts out and crosses a finger of The Great Swamp and is made up of several combos of cinder blocks, planks, and wood pallets. There were several fresh patches in the planks and pallets. Do you know that a lot of trails are maintained by volunteers? Yep. I was very glad he'd been out before we went. I enjoyed having a more solid footing.

The Great Swamp is wet. It doesn't smell bad and it's not creepy. It's just wet and mushy. The ground around the edges of the swamp is very springy ... like walking on moss. I didn't walk in the swamp though. Shelbie did. She loved it. She didn't get too very muddy either.

When the swamp congregates in ponds and pools and small lakes, it is very beautiful. We hope to spend more time with the water areas when spring comes. Also, when spring comes we are taking a tent up on the trail. You can count on it.

As soon as we left the swamp we started a very gentle climb until we were near the top of the ridge then it got sort of steep for about 15 minutes. Then the top of the ridge was rather flat. The side of the hill (maybe a mountain ... but I don't recall them being called mountains ... they're very short mts if they are mts) we went up was covered in trees. The other side was farmland. And beyond the farms were more hills covered in color!

When we set out that morning, we felt very silly packing our winter coats – especially me since my mid-weight coat is still in Oregon and so I have been gifted with a down coat. Usually it is still too warm. We also took a little military poncho liner. They are very thin light-weight sheets of polyester fill covered in camo and they are very warm. I love mine ... I call him blankie ... shhh that's a secret. So I balled him up tight and stuck him in a spot in my backpack. I put him in case Shelbie should end up in some sort of situation.

But it turns out that blankie just made great ground cover for our picnic. And I also wore my coat during lunch up on the ridge and very much enjoyed it's thick downy-ness. Oh did I tell you? We got to the top of the ridge and sat down to feel very smug about (and grateful for) living in such a beautiful place. We said a prayer of thanks over lunch. And then ... just because it wasn't enough to be looking out onto such incredible color and enjoying such a peaceful, sunny, warm(ish) day, and each other's company and the company of our beautiful dog ... Valerie called. She finally has a real graphics design job. She starts next Monday. She's excited. She's nervous. She won't refuse your prayers.

Oh and while we're on the subject of new jobs ... my daughter-in-law Sam called a few days ago and she is also getting to start a new job. Very very good news all around.

So after dawdling over lunch for about an hour we went reluctantly back down the trail. It was just a perfectly breath-taking day. Slowly we all trickled back in to the train station and compared notes. There were no regrets – even though a few of us were moving a little slower than when we left. Shortly after reaching the station (let's just be honest here and say platform) we were wearing our coats and Billy's light jacket was on loan until the train showed up. We didn't feel quite as silly walking back home after we got off the train.

I have a favorite photo. You can go look at the albums. And please leave me notes somewhere as to which version of presentation you found easiest. The batch at Picasa has about five or six photos that the one at Flick'r doesn't ... but then once you get over to Flick'r you can see pics of a little hike we took in Duchess County. Usually I'd fill this post with links to the individual pics but I'm outta time!

We have often talked about wanting to go hike the Appalachian Trail. Now we live right beside it. We're going to find ways to take full advantage of that! And one more BTW: The trail is very easy and very well marked. We met up with at least one person every 20 minutes or so. I would feel comfortable going back with Shelbie to goof off one afternoon.

If you want to know more: The Appalachian Trail article at Wikipedia is a good starting point.

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