Happy Hallowe'en!

Hurray for the sun! Hope you enjoyed the latest sunny fall weekend. This Saturday I travelled to Deer Path Park in Flemington, NJ. I wanted a nice walk among trees after purchasing this year's pumpkins at Schaefer Farm (also in Flemington).
This was my first visit to Deer Path, and I could tell the park was beautiful in the summer and fall.

Paths ramble past sports fields, a lake, fields and wooded areas.

Soccer fields, baseball diamonds and open grassy space is available with a killer view of the surrounding hillsides.

This late in the season, many critters were no shows. I saw several song birds, squirrels and the Canada geese (Branta canadensis) above, perhaps migrating through the area.

On Sunday, I took a walk in the wind and increasingly cool weather at Colonial Park in Franklin Township, NJ. The fall colors are still in full swing around the Powder Mill Pond, above.

I walked the trail and took in the increasing layer of colorful leaves on the ground - the season is waining and winter will soon be here.

A carpet of leaves covered the surface of this stream, creating a road to the lake in golden yellow.

The sky this weekend was a brilliant clear blue with only small puffy clouds passing.

A Great Blue Huron (Ardea herodias) paces the far side of the pond.

As I left the park around 4pm, the light was already fading.

Every year I carve several pumpkins - colored glow stick give these faces their color.

I have candles lighting these larger designs. Happy Hallowe'en!

Ithaca, NY Trip

This past week I took a few days off to travel to Ithaca, NY. Aengus and I had a good time walking around the campus, Buttermilk Falls and parts of Owego (a town to the south) despite the wind and cold and skudding clouds.
As you may notice, my camera date and time mysteriously reset without me noticing - oh well. On Thursday, 10/21/10 we cruised around Bebe Lake on Cornell Campus in Ithaca, NY.

Bebe is a man made lake the empties into a creek that flows through the the northern part of campus. There is an impressive falls on the side near campus (above and below).

A pleasant trail of cinders, wood chips, etc. rings the lake and connects to many other trails through the woods in the area.

While I was a student at Cornell, I lived on north campus and passed by this way most everyday going to and from my dorm to class.

Since I graduated (nearly 10 years now!) a lot of goofy signs have been put up.

As we proceed clockwise around the lake, we can seen the mist from the falls rise up beyond the trees.

A chipmunk (Tamias minimus) goes about its business among the leaves.

Clouds roll across the sky as we continue our walk.

On the far end of the lake, water enters the lake from Fall Creek.

Another bridge near Fall Creek.

The shoreline shows fall colors just past their peak.

Two ducks (to be identified later) enjoy the lake.

The bridge above (rebuilt and painted green in the past few years) forms part of the main road to campus.

Students are always doing whatever odd things they can get away with around campus.

Elsewhere on Cornell Campus are the Plantations, a series of gardens and natural areas sustained by the university.

I could write all day about Cornell and how much I loved my time there, but it hurts to be away from there, my favorite town. I look forward to my next visit.

If you happen to travel through the Finger Lakes region of New York state, you may wish to stop and hike through Buttermilk Falls State Park (falls above).

Before I knew it, we were on the road home again. Above is the Delaware Water Gap as we drove through it. Like all trips, this one was over too fast!

More on Autumn

Welcome to another sunny fall weekend. I don't know about your winter routine, but the heat doesn't go on until November at my place and we sure needed it Friday night - it was cold (35 degrees)! I waited until 12:30pm to hit the trail Saturday (about 65 degrees, maybe less out of the sun). Conditions were extra windy with clouds scudding across the sky, letting the sun peak out then disappear periodically.
Beautiful blumes of color had appeared in Washington Valley Park, near the Gilbride Road trail head.

I happily took many photos of the changing leaves.

The forest was noisy and alive with the sound of wind through the branches and the new layer of dry leaves crunching underfoot.

Despite the wind and cold, a solitary Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) appeared mysteriously on a floating log. As I approaching to get a closer shot, it deftly returned to the water without a sound.

There is no time quite like fall. Every season painted a new season in yellow, orange and greens.

Every surface shows off the bright colors.

Entire trees show their fall colors.

Drawing circles on the water by throwing a rock into the creek.

I enjoy the splashing sound a few small rocks make disappearing into the water.

If you can make it out to enjoy the fall or enjoy Washington Valley especially, I highly recommend this park over the next few weeks.

On Sunday I took a brief bike ride down the Delaware-Raritan Canal. The sun had warmed the air by 11am to near 70 degrees.

The sunshine through the leaves was beautiful.

I encountered several fish and the two large Painted Turtles along the way. Next week I have designs on visiting Ithaca, NY where I lived for four years (several years ago now).

A Fine October Weekend

Welcome to another sunny October weekend. I was very pleased with the mild weather - beginning at 65 degrees or so in the early morning and warming up to 75 - 80 degrees at the hottest part of the day.

I began the days adventures with a drive to Manheim, PA to enjoy the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. I happily attend every year when I get the chance. Fall was in full swing as we drove down Route 78 and strolled through the fair grounds.

The costumes were wonderful as always. Hallowe'en will be hear before you know it.
On Sunday I returned to Hillsborough and took a nice walk down the Delaware-Raritan Canal, Amwell Road trailhead to Colonial Park.

Photo ops abounded as the 2pm sunshine shown through the colorful leaves.

While I heard several, there was only one Eastern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus sauritus) that stayed in the open long enough for me to grab a quick shot.

As I neared the parking area on my return trip, I reflected that this might be an exciting October indeed if the warm weather continued.