the Way of the Turtle

4.5 Mile Walk at the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve
Saturday, November 28, 2009

Since I couldn't get out to Rochester with my car still in the shop, Ann decided to come down to Albany for the weekend, even though the weather forecast (wind and rain) for Saturday wasn't too promising. Happily, while we did get the wind, today proved to be a gorgeous sunny day, and I decided we'd go to the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve today rather than tomorrow. Ann had never been there and it's usually a good spot to see lots of waterfowl and other birds.

We parked at the main entrance, near the restored Whipple Bridge, and immediately spotted a Great Blue Heron across the road in a little marshy area on the corner. Then we headed east along one of the old towpaths, with the water on either side of the path. When we reached the access road we briefly headed toward the river, then back west along the other side of the canal. Along the way we spotted lots of ducks and geese out on the water. I was a bit surprised at how few birds there were in the trees and bushes along the path, but maybe the wind had them hunkered down waiting for better conditions.

Back at the bridge we headed west along the towpath. We walked out to old Lock 19, where we took a short break (I'm glad they hauled the picnic table back up out of the lock where the idiot kids had thrown it a few years ago) and then continued on to the access road and down to the edge of the river. Ann was surprised to learn that we were right across the road from the bike path and just a short distance west of the Niskayuna Lions Park, and she was really happy to find a rope hanging from a tree branch on the edge of the river - I guess in the summer somebody must enjoy swinging out into the water. Naturally she had to swing on it for a bit!

My knee was getting pretty sore and we were starting to get hungry (we had a late breakfast and then skipped lunch while we were walking) so we headed back the way we came, spotting more ducks and geese and a hawk as well. I kept hoping we'd see some of the less typical waterfowl, but it really looked like all the visible birds were mallards and Canada geese. We did see a pair of muskrats in the old canal, first swimming around and then crouched on a deadfall munching on something green.

Since we were right there, after we got back to the car we drove down to the remains of Clute's dry dock, and Ann walked out on the floating dock that's used as a canoe/kayak launch. Then we drove east the Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway until we were driving parallel to the river in Halfmoon. I was particularly interested to see a new stone dust path between the road and the edge of the river - I had read that work had been done along that area but hadn't really been through there since the 2008 Mohawk Towpath Duathlon, so I'll definitely have to get back there with my bike sometime soon and check it out more closely.

I think we made a good choice in going to Vischer Ferry today... while the preserve isn't quite a pretty as it is in the summer and fall, it was still a great day to be there and Ann really seemed to enjoy our walk (possibly because for once I wasn't dragging her up and down some mountain somewhere.)

JMH