the Way of the Turtle

WIND & WATERFOWL
3.5 Mile Walk at Rockland Lake State Park
Saturday, December 3, 2016

Originally I had planned to head over to Kittatinny Valley State Park to ride the Sussex Branch rail trail after finishing this morning's half marathon... except I hadn't counted on how cold the wind would make the weather today, and how much the half marathon would trash my legs (I don't remember the Philips 10k that I ran in the same park being nearly as difficult as today's 10k loops were...) And I really want to ride at Minnewaska tomorrow. So instead I headed back to NY, and since the sun was shining pretty consistently, made a side trip to Rockland Lake State Park.

Lots of geese on the water and also on the grass. The bathrooms in the main building are closed for the winter, so I walked over to the boat launch to use the one there. Along the way I saw several bufflehead, and once there I spotted a group of grebes. The wind wasn't too bad along that side of the lake, so I decided to walk all the way around, which felt fine until I was about a mile from the end - at that point my feet started hurting again and my legs reminded me that I had run and trudged through 13-14 miles of tough trails this morning.

Lots of different ducks along the way... shovelers, coots, and some that I have yet to identify, as well as the usual swans and mallards. Toward the end there was also a lot of activity in the trees along the path - I spotted titmice, nuthatches, and a red-bellied woodpecker.

This is probably the last time I'll be at Rockland Lake for a while... hopefully the Hook Mountain Half will scheduled for a Sunday that I have available next April.

JMH