Hiking The Hudson Valley

One of the great perks of living in New York City is having access to the best of both worlds... the jolt of the city and the recharging elements of nature. Being able to experience both extremes helps provide contrast and uncovers details in both terrains that I would not ordinarily see.

And this past Saturday proved to be a day of uncovering details.

We left Grand Central Station at 8:47am on Metro-North and arrived to Garrison Station at 9:55am, a 49.9 mile excursion from New York City. Located in Putnam County along the Hudson Valley, Arden Point and Glenclyffe Trail were steps away from the train station. It had just rained and the air along with the ground was still slightly damp.

It looked like it might rain again but luckily the clouds passed us by....

The rain earlier in the morning gave everything a lush feel and brought out many little critters....

One of the highlights of the hike was using iBird Explorer Backyard on my iPhone.  We got to a resting point for lunch which is shown below, and we saw a bright blue bird that kept flying by and I was curious what it was.  I pulled out my iPhone and typed in "New York"-"perching-like"-"small"-"Lakes,Rivers & Ponds"-"color: blue" and Indigo Bunting came up on my screen.  I then hit the speaker icon to play the sound of the indigo bunting and it was a match to what we were hearing!  They began chirping, responding to our call and came in for a closer look.  There were some other birds conversing in the area but we couldn't figure out what species they were.  I think they need to make a "shazam" feature for the iBird Backyard application now! =)

We continued on our hike after a snack and discussions with the Indigo Buntings....

Being able to get out of the city for a little while and smell the flowers so to speak is always a treat.  You can find a lot of nature in the city as well, however there is definitely something to be said for a hike along the Hudson River Valley.