Falling Waters- Saugerties

 Today we made a true effort to not get tied up in things that HAD to be done. We played our game, and read. We are trying to finish a book this week. We'll make it- only a few pages to go. We talked. OK, we made soup and salad and went to church, but it wasn't an all-out race to accomplish things.

We hiked at a nature preserve called Falling Waters. We were there last summer too (see link below). But this time we hiked both trails. This is the waterfall on an unnamed creek that gives it the name.

The upper trail is mostly smooth and graveled, but the return loop has some pretty good hills as it goes down by the river and back up the bluff.

The river is the Hudson, of course. Always impressive.

Today, we had the time to hike both loops of the trail, so I didn't see this second waterfall last summer.

In the 1800s, cutting ice from the river to ship to New York City was big business. There were huge icehouses that held 10,000 tons of ice. This wall is one of the few remnants of the buildings.

Good botanical find- this is snake fern (or common polypody). Nothing is really sprouting yet. These are evergreen, but it's nice to see patches of anything green.

Bad botanical find. These are the seed pods of the "water chestnut" (not the one you eat in Asian food) that are clogging the eastern waterways. See pix of the plants in the link below.

Tomorrow is my last day here.

Miles hiked in 2025: 35.7

Falling Waters Preserve, Saugerties, NY. Two trails and a little more. 2.5 miles

See Falling Waters Summer 2024