The leaves are changing in the Catskills! I put together the collage above from some of the leaves I saw around the yard this week. One of my drones is also now perched (probably permanently) in the top of one our tallest trees. But that is a story for a different day. I have uploaded a 10kx10k px version of the photo over here, for any other nerds who might be interested.
Drone Snap over the Moose River
The last weekend of July was spent on two wheels. Finding time in the saddle has been a bit tricky this summer since the arrival of our newest family member. Thanks to his grandma’s willingness to trek northward and hang out with the dude, I was able to sneak away for a long weekend and put in some serious mileage upstate with a couple of friends.
Similar to a trip we did last August, we started in Catskill Park on a Friday and snaked through back roads northward to North Creek, where we spent the night. We racked up the odometer day Saturday doing a huge loop of the Adirondacks through Lake Placid and Old Forge, ending back in North Creek for the night. Sunday morning we set out for a leisurely ride back to the Catskills. Unlike last year, we had perfect weather the entire time. Really couldn’t have asked for more ideal riding conditions. I posted more details about the route over here, for anyone interested.
The gallery below is a set of photos from the trip mostly by me, with a handful of snaps from my new friend Lukas, who was riding the Street Fighter. Good times were had by all–
Our neck of the Catskills is a bit like Narnia between Oct 1 and mid-May. I say this because it can (and will) snow almost every day, even if it is just a little flurry overnight. Continue reading
Gisele on a Moody Whiteface Mountain
What seems like the rainiest summer I can remember, appears to be drawing to a close. Despite unexpectedly getting soaked to the bone on more than one occasion, I can’t be too angry because our Catskills lawn has never looked better! Continue reading
I hope that people have been managing okay the past couple of weeks without any new hiking content on here. Sorry to those who have been going through withdrawals. I’m here with this post to satisfy all of your hiking content cravings.Continue reading
Motorcycle season can be relatively short in the Catskills. There are some folks who are much more hardcore than I who have been riding since early April. We sneaked in one lap around the Pepacton in late April on an unseasonably warm evening. But it was quick, with no real stops and we both got pretty cold. For Britt and I, the first week of May was the first instance this spring when the weather was finally warm and dry enough to suit up and roll out for a “real” ride. Continue reading
The rain has been no joke, this spring. The last two weekends in April it rained almost every day in our corner the Catskills. The last two weekends of the month, precipitation seemed merely to oscillate between drizzle and downpour, with little or no actual break. While this is awesome for all of the greenery that it starting to come out, I am not hardcore enough to get out for my typical outdoor activities when it is coming down like that, especially when the temps are still in the 30s and 40s.Continue reading
December 2022 has been one of the snowiest Decembers in the Catskills, in recent memory. As luck would have it, B and I were able to spend the entire second half of the month enjoying said snow. Here is a mega-gallery from some of our adventures in the snowy outdoors the last couple of weeks in 2022.Continue reading
I made it to Tarrytown again for a walk around the reservoir. It is an easy place to be able to walk through the woods without having to go too far upstate. This time I brought a real camera. There was no fog this time. But there was plenty other cool stuff to look at, including a couple of bald eagles. I had never seen them in this part of the country before this. I did some unscientific internet research when I got home and learned that they are pretty common around here, you just have to keep your eyes open.
It was kind of cool to wake up to the sounds of fog horns on the East River Saturday morning. It was one of those days where it never really rained, but everything was wet all day. It has officially been three weeks since surgery. I’ll be starting regular PT week after next. I have enjoyed the steady return of my mobility, and decided to capitalize on it Saturday after spending some time with PJ. I drove to the Tarrytown reservoir and took a lap on the reservoir trail. I wished so badly that I would have brought my real camera with me. Instead, all I have are these mediocre-ish cellphone snaps. The fog transformed the depressing dead-looking winter woods into a nearly silent ethereal dreamscape. I felt like I was walking through an Isabella Stahl photo.
Switching gears completely — One of my 2020 goals is to get back on the horse creatively. As a part of my end-of-year and end-of-decade reflections, I became painfully aware of how drastically my time spent being creative has waned over the past several years. One decision that I have executed to proactively kickstart said goal, is taking a break from Instagram. I disabled my account shortly before midnight on Dec 31. It was an idea that I had been leaning toward for a while (since the app was acquired by F@#$book).
When the app first came on the scene, I feel like it actually may have helped my creative juice via the inspiration I gleaned from the photographic works of my peers and acquaintances. In the past couple of years it seems to have devolved into the same torrent of internet diarrhea that is F@#$book. Having so much additional down time lately while recovering from surgery has intensified my awareness of how much time can be wasted mindlessly scrolling absolute nonsense (yikes!). Some people do dry January. I’m doing ‘gram-free January. So far I don’t miss it at all. I’ll re-evaluate on Feb 1. In the meantime, perhaps I’ll find the juice to expand the content on Jake.News beyond monthly playlists and the occasional book review, hehe. I realize that the ‘blog’ as a format has been dead for a while now … oh well.
For now, please enjoy this set of photos from my walk through the woods in the fog.
