Tag Archives: Nature

New York

A Tale of Two Hikes

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .

Oh wait, someone already wrote that.

Hike the First: Urban
At around 3:40pm every weekday afternoon, one of my colleagues crosses off a day on the chart pinned above her desk. A few others join in for a song that might remind discerning listeners of a ditty involving bottles of a certain beverage. There’s one fewer bottle at the end of each verse. (Following? Good.)

For me, this countdown also means that there are fewer and fewer days to complete my exploration of New York City. I’ve been wanting to walk the Brooklyn Bridge for a while and mentioned it to a friend a couple weeks ago. The forecast promised (and delivered!) a dry weekend, so off on an adventure we went!

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This helpful hint turned out to be more of a suggestion than a rule.

We took the 6 train to Brooklyn Bridge City Hall and followed the crowds. For whatever reason, I didn’t expect to be as high up as we were or to literally walk over traffic. It was very crowded, very loud, and a really neat sensory experience to be walking on concrete over the East River. There were skyscrapers behind and in front of us, and miles of river on either side.

Looking towards Brooklyn:

 

Looking towards Manhattan (the far more spectacular view):

 

Architecturally, the bridge is also just really beautiful:

 

Once back on the ground in Dumbo, we decided it was time to find something to eat. We ended up at Untamed Sandwiches, which was absolutely delicious. And they compost! So that was exciting, too. Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is right along the water and it was a warm enough day for that, so we stopped there before walking through Brooklyn Bridge Park. It reminded me of the microcreamery where I worked over the summers during high school and college. Lines out the door, ice cream machines in the back, smells of milk and sugar, cash only. Delicious.

Brooklyn Bridge Park leads through a garden right up along the river, providing more views of Manhattan:

 

I’ve spent very little time in Brooklyn and I have no excuse for that since I live one stop from Brooklyn on the L. It really does feel like a completely different city and that’s enjoyable on its own. The streets have real names, the elevation of the land actually changes, the buildings are lower, and there seems to be more space in the sky. Brooklyn’s neighborhoods are as distinct from one another as Manhattan’s and I don’t know them nearly as well as I’d like to. Now that the weather is nice enough to do some real exploring, it’s time to change that.

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Hike the Second: Nature
After wandering through an art show on University Place on Sunday and seeing beautiful photographs of nature, I wanted to find some. I sent a message to my urban hiking buddy and headed to Cranberry Lake Preserve in Westchester for a change of scenery.

The first thing I noticed, much like when we explored Silver Lake Preserve, was the air. It smelled fresh and earthy, clean and new. That I even noticed tells me that I’ve spent far too much time in the city.

 

We followed a couple different trails to see where they’d lead and I climbed some logs because it’s fun to be tall, but I’d really classify this as an easy walk rather than a hike. Hiking involves mountains and sweating and legs that are satisfyingly achy when you’re done. This was just pretty, which was perfectly fine with me.

There were a lot of fallen trees that looked as though they’d been there for decades . . .

 

. . . some really great trail markers . . .

 

. . . and, of course, water!

 

I love all forms of exploring and being outside. I don’t have that much time left here to do it and there’s a lot to do!

Happy trails, wherever they are!

 

New York

Finding a Secret

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It’s been a while since I’ve gone hiking. It was last year, in fact, when I visited friends in Southern California over December break. I love hiking and exploring nature and breathing clear air, so I immediately said yes when a coworker suggested a walk through Silver Lake Preserve in Westchester County last week. We had a heat wave, too, so it really was summer for about three days, which is as good a time as any to seek shade and relief from humidity by wandering through trails and trees.

The vast majority of the trail was deserted and I’m not sure many people actually know Silver Lake Preserve exists. It’s beautiful, so I’m not quite sure why that is, though parking was a challenge so maybe that’s a deterrent.

Every so often, however, we came across signs that others had been there. And we felt strangely like we were documenting our own version of the The Blair Witch Project.

We did our best to follow the Heritage Trail around the lake but were not very successful following the trail markers, which also contributed to an uncanny Blair Witch sensation. We were pretty sure we wanted the blue trail, but saw an equal number of yellow, red, and white squares and groupings of circles painted on trees. But we must have done something right because here I am telling you about it!

It is not an exaggeration to say that we couldn’t hear or see any cars or any signs of civilization for most of our time in the woods. I felt a sense of peace and quiet that surprised me; I didn’t realize how much I missed places like Mendon Ponds Park back home in Rochester. I felt light and free and enjoyed myself without thinking too hard about it, jumping on rocks and logs and smiling at the sound of mud squishing underfoot. My new Tevas did not disappoint!

And then, of course, there was the lake itself. Water is my happy place. No doubt about it. I love the way it looks, sounds, and smells. I love throwing my head back and opening my whole body to absorb as much of its energy as I can. It makes me feel alive, each and every time.

I’ve been remiss in not really venturing anywhere in Westchester County aside from school. I’m glad to know that places like Silver Lake Preserve exist, especially when I spend so much time in the noise, crowds, and concrete of the city. The good company and very welcome change of scenery left me with a feeling of relaxation that carried me through the rest of the week. I’ve learned that there are other parks in Westchester and I’m looking forward to exploring them, too!

In nature nothing exists alone. – Rachel Carson

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: The Kinneret

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After four nights in Jerusalem and two nights in the Negev on our eighth grade Israel trip, we headed north to the Kinneret, the region of Israel around the Sea of Galilee (Yam Kinneret in Hebrew). We stayed at a kibbutz where I’ve been before and had the best food of the entire trip. Unfortunately, we also had an insect infestation to go along with the stomach bug, fever, and colds freely passing from student to student. This meant changing the kids’ rooms every night to quarantine the sick and avoid the rooms with unliveable colonies of insects. No exaggeration. I slept in a different room each night and spent one night on the couch of a room two colleagues were sharing. Our sleepover was honestly a lot of fun!

As much as I love the desert, I do agree that the Kinneret is beautiful.

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Sunrise

The Kinneret is home to the Banias, which our trip guides consider Israel’s most beautiful hike. The site centers on a waterfall and a cave with shrines dedicated to the Greek god Pan. It was a gorgeous day, warm with spring flowers blooming. After our time in the Negev, it was nice to see the world returning to life after the winter.

 

After our hike, we drove to Har (Mountain) Bental in the Golan Heights, Israel’s most strategic defense point and one that it has so far refused to give up. From Har Bental, you can see the border between Israel and Lebanon, as well as the remains of an army bunker.

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We spent the afternoon in the Golan and visited De Karina Chocolate Factory to learn how chocolates are made and try out making our own. My favorite part of De Karina was the hot chocolate I bought at the café after the tour. It was simply melted chocolate, whole milk (which I never drink), and real whipped cream (which I never have) topped with chocolate shavings and served with a house-made praline. It brought a huge smile to my face.

 

The next day, we participated in the first of two service projects for the trip (the second was Latet in Jerusalem, which happened three days after this one even though I wrote about it first). This was my favorite activity so far and, I think, my favorite activity from the entire two weeks. We volunteered with Leket, an organization that collects surplus food products from a variety of venues to distribute to people in need, harvests farm produce that will otherwise go unharvested, and also runs its own farm with all products going to the hungry. Our task was to harvest a field of kohlrabi. If we could accomplish that quickly, the Leket staff told us, there was a field of beets that also needed harvesting.

Our eighth graders didn’t need telling twice. It was a bright, sunny day and energy was high. Excited about playing in the dirt, the kids filled buckets and buckets of kohlrabi and emptied them into packing crates. I heard more than a few races and competitions and tried to point out that the goal was the same, no matter who filled the most buckets. However, I ultimately found myself in a flow state much like what Levin describes in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina when he mows hay with his peasants.

 

Time slipped away and I didn’t notice the dirt under my nails, the stiffness in my knees, or the sunburn on the back of my neck until we were done with both fields about an hour later. All I knew was that you use both hands to pull up the kohlrabi, break off the leaves, and throw it in the bucket. The beets were easier to pull out of the ground but the technique was the same. If I could make a living just doing service work with students, I think I would.

That night, two drummers came to the kibbutz to lead us in a drum circle. I was pleasantly surprised at how many Jewish and Israeli folk songs the kids knew – and how many I knew! Songs I hadn’t heard in years and some of the dances that came with them just soared. It was such a great experience to have as a community, especially following an afternoon working together to help others directly from the land that we were singing about.

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One of the drummers playing a shofar as an instrument!

Energy was obviously running high and it took us a while to get the kids calmed down with suitcases packed and into bed. We needed to leave the next morning for host family destinations for the weekend. For my colleagues and me, that meant a free weekend to relax and refresh. More on that soon!