Fall Foliage and Apple Picking in the Gunks
See all the photos here.
Having been in California last year, I kinda missed out on autumn. Sure there was the aspen tree display in the Sierra Nevada, but that's about it... I mean c'mon! Today I headed off with a bunch of MCEers in search of the good ol' Northeastern fall experience I fondly remembered. So Laura, Ti, Dave, David and I headed up to Minnewaska State Park Preserve, near the Shawangunks in New Paltz, New York to soak up some fall foliage.
The drive up was wonderful, and the trees became ever more varied as we headed north, and with an early start, we were sugared up on donuts and coffee. There were lots of people out for the day... New Paltz was filled with tourists, the Gunks were overfilled with climbers as usual for a weekend, and we just about made it into the park before it filled up and was closed off. We headed out for a walk in the trees, with the Catskills unfolding to the north, and the traprock ridges of the Gunks, the Hudson River valley, and the Taconic mountains unfolding to the east. Since they close the park when the lots fill up, we felt as if we had half of New York State to ourselves.
As with all of my hiking trips, we had more than enough food... and after numerous snack stops along the way, we finished with a relaxing lunch overlooking Lake Minnewaska. Suddenly the weather closed in and the sunny morning was gone. The peaks of the Catskills disappeared under the clouds, and the air took on an icy chill. Not to be defeated, we decided we'd had enough hiking for the day, and headed out for the afternoon to go apple picking back in New Paltz.
We were certainly not alone at the apple farm... but seeing all the little kids romping in the pumpkin patch and swinging from apple trees made the day feel more like autumn than I'd felt in ten years. There's nothing like clambering up to the tops of apple trees and munching on a big Red Delicious to ward off the chill in the air! We loaded up the car with fresh apples, cider, and pie... and headed back to Connecticut tired but refreshed.