going solo

I conquered my first solo hike!

Before I have anyone freaking out. a) it wasn't anything major or impressive b) I was smart and cautious.

Now.
I drove up to Kaaterskill Falls, about an hour north, which boasts one of the larger waterfalls of NY. It's a double drop waterfall with a total drop of 260 feet. A fairly easy hike with a rocky climbing trail for about .5 miles and brings you to the bottom of the falls. It wasn't heavily trafficked while I was there so I had a lot of peace and quiet, soaking up God's glory. The weather was unusually and blessedly warm.... and highly appreciated.

I know there are other trails that take you to the middle and the top of the falls but I couldn't find trail markers, information, or any leads on where to find the trail heads for those hikes. If I get back up this way, I'll have to do some more investigating.

Altogether it was glorious and beautiful.... I'll be putting pictures up on my flickr soon.

gypsies

Not much to report.
I'm here.
I'm working.
I haven't been eaten by a bear or gone entirely stir crazy mad. (yet. if it rains again, beware.)

News? Gypsies! that play kicking music!

Turns out the Byrdcliffe Property Manager is a talented little musician and is part of a gypsy band. We happened to hear a tuba (he plays a tuba) drifting into the house the other night, realize that it was their band rehearsal.... so what'd we do?

Crash it.

We grabbed our beer and went down to the barn where they were rehearsing. It was such an enchanting experience I don't even have words for it. The barn was all clean and glitzed up since there was a wedding there this weekend... twinkle lights all over the place. And these gypsies (who aren't really)... an accordion, a tuba, a violin, and one handheld drum instrument (maybe Russian?). It was absolutely gloriously happy. We drank our beer in perfect contentment, happy as larks, bouncing around enjoying their beautiful and jovial sound.

They had a gig in town the next night. We ventured out to hear them. They had an amazing performance but it didn't have the same vibe. They are fairly new and are adamant about sticking to the streets. They will play gigs, house parties, various venues, etc but refuse to engage virtually. No facebook, no youtube, no digital. It's a refreshing change in thought.

I'm planning on buying their CD so I can carry the gypsy joy home with me.

Other than that:
We went hiking this morning. stunningly beautiful.
I'm making work... and trying to get out of my new found artistic existential crisis.
*but, as my best friend put it... "if you had the answers you'd be done... enjoy the process" and she's right. and I am. mostly. sometimes art making is a painful process... I do seem to have some semblance of a direction now, though, and that is a glorious beautiful thing.*

That's all for now. If my hiking post didn't satiate your picture lust, you can find more on my flickr. It's a pain to upload photos through blogger so I'll probably just link to flickr from now on.

I love and miss everyone back home!!

Overlook Mountain - 8/15/10

Me and Lucy

Trail Head

Heading to the Overlook Rock

Markings at the rock... Yes, that one is marked 1857. wowza.

View from the rock

View once we reach the top. And the Fire Tower.

From the Fire Tower:

Yesterday my roomate and I hiked up Overlook Mountain. It's a 2.5 hike up to the top, then the 2.5 back down. Not a bad hike at all. The view.... COMPLETELY worth it. I could spend hours upon hours with that view. I'll be doing that hike again, for sure.

The hike starts at the Buddhist Monastery. I haven't been in to explore but I'm sure I will. How often do you get that opportunity? My roommate says they let you stay and have tea at no charge. (yum)

The hike is a wide gravel covered trail that only narrows when you get close to the top... and is all hill. It's pretty much straight up. No switchbacks, just a steady upward climb.

At the top is a Fire Tower you can climb up and get an even greater unobstructed view. I wasn't sure I could handle the height but I managed to make it to the top and back down with no real issue. I took a LOT of pictures, so enjoy!

The dog you see is Lucy, Rich's dog. He was on vacation so my roomate was dog sitting. Lucy absolutely adored being on the trail. Apparently she went with one of Rich's pottery pals on the Appalachian Trail for about 3 weeks. She had her own little dog pack and everything. Go, Lucy!