the Way of the Turtle

2.5 Mile Walk at the Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

I originally wanted to visit the Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary last summer, after reading about it in Peggy Turco's Walks and Rambles in the Western Hudson Valley, but never managed to get down to New Paltz early enough to stop there on the way to Minnewaska or Mohonk. Today I made sure to get on the road early enough to stop there and walk the mile or so of trails before heading up to Minnewaska.

The guide book gives the location of the trailhead and mentions a pulloff for one car directly across the road. I drove past it once, and when I came back through the reason why was obvious - the pulloff was blocked by several large stones, presumably to keep people from parking there. A check of the map in the book showed the trail running all the way down to the parking area along the Walkill River where I stopped last summer to ride the rail trail, so I headed there instead. Driving past all the old stone buildings on Hugenot Street reminded me that on a future visit I should leave enough time to walk the historical district.

I followed the Hugenot Trail down past the community gardens and along the river, which was running fairly high - no great surprise, given the amount of rain we've had recently. The path was very muddy and it was apparent that the area had been flooded recently. I followed the path all the way to its end - I have to admit, it wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped - then made my way back to the gardens and the path over to the Harcourt Sanctuary.

The path led through fields and was also pretty wet and muddy - I hit a spot pretty quickly that ended up soaking my feet. Off in the distance I spotted one of the oxbow ponds; the frogs were croaking up a storm, and I'm pretty sure I spotted a wood duck and ducklings heading for cover. From there the trail wound through the woods, which were nice to look at but nothing spectacular.

After the woods the trail came out at a wooden bridge across the other oxbow pond, probably one of the coolest areas on the whole walk. I spent a while there watching turtles and blackbirds, then walked up to the Hugenot Street trailhead I'd driven past earlier. On my way back to the car I took a second trail that made its way through the fields with the oxbow pond off to one side and not only saw a lot more birds but also had a great view of Skytop off on the distance.

I think I'd like to visit here in fall and winter and see how it changes... maybe I can stop after the race at Minnewaska in November or make a trip down to do some skiing or snowshoeing next winter...

JMH