It’s been months since I last went on a real hike. My camera and trail shoes have been gathering dust. This morning it was time to get back out, and while rain was forcasted, I packed appropriate gear and set out, intending to spend a good portion of the day in the woods.
Plotter Kill, a tributary of the Mohawk River, winds through a gorge that was carved out 10,000 years ago by the melt waters of the ice age. A steep trail, crisscrossed with gnarly roots, traverses a loop along the ridges; shorter offshoots descend to the bottom of the gorge and provide access to three beautiful waterfalls. Byron and I walked down to the creek several times to wade in the cool water and peer over the falls. We saw frogs, fish, dragonflies, and newts. This nature preserve is known for it’s unique plant species as well, but I’m not a botanist, so I don’t recognize them readily.
Of the photos I took today, the above shot is my favorite. The colors down in the creek bed were warm and welcoming – greens, tans, browns, reds. The sunlight (there was no rain after all) flickered through the dense canopy, falling in patches across the smooth, broken shale. Standing on a ledge, I observed the abstract shape of my shadow, solid and contoured like the rock beneath me, but fluid like the water moving onward, downstream.
more photos here
