No, no, it wasn't the first time I ever visited the NY-NJ Palisades Interstate Park in an aluminum canoe rigged for sailing and rowing. Although I gotta say it was a pretty neat-looking setup! That's just a guy we saw who said I could take his picture.
My first? Nothing big, pretty silly one, but fun! I've been living in NYC for over 15 years now & have spent many wonderful days in that park. One of the nicest ceilis around happens there every spring & fall, and I've attended many of those; I've also paddled the shoreline more times than I can possibly remember. It was always one of my favorite day trips from NYC, I always loved the launching from that rusty old barge on the urban shore & paddling up to those magnificent cliffs.
But although I've known for years that there are hiking trails that run the full length of the park - somehow, I'd never thought to hike them. It was always either a boating trip, or a day spent dancing on the big WPA pavilion at the Alpine - Closter Boat Basin.
Finally rectified that on Sunday! I'd enjoyed last weekend's kayak and hike combo tremendously. TQ came down for the Sebago 75th Anniversary Splash (we had a great time dressing up & seeing all our paddling friends similarly dressed up - fun change from fleece!) and stuck around for the weekend. We had no plans, and that was absolutely splendid - no trains to catch, no people to meet, none of that - just whatever the heck we felt like doing.
Saturday, naturally, we paddled. Gerritsen Creek and back, 12 miles or so. It was a gray and drizzly day, but warm, and sometimes that's the nicest paddling weather. I'd had some clever idea about going to a book release party at Vox Pop, but that went by the wayside somewhere around the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge - too nice out to hurry back.
Sunday was beautiful. We talked about paddling again but somehow that wasn't grabbing us. I checked in on going to Governor's Island (which I STILL haven't done) - too late, closed until April '09. I liked the idea of doing something on foot, though, and we finally ended up packing up some food, water, headlamps & extra layers & heading up to Alpine - Closter for a rather splendid afternoon's hike.
Fiery foliage...
blue sky, towering cliffs, sun sparkling on the water, sunset & moonrise -- how could there NOT be a Flickr set?
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