New York, to that tall skyline I come.....
No place is more diverse from the mountains I so love, than the bustling metropolis of New York City.
You cannot help but feel the energy, diversity and intensity of the big city, especially after having lived in sleepy Utica and it's burbs for so long.
Even more so when you're there and an event like the NYC Marathon is going on. After running this event twice, I love NYC, but I know I have to look for smaller less congested venues to run. NYC with over 50,000 runners this year(just over 40,000 last year) and several million on-lookers and support staff takes a lot out of you. It was a marathon just getting to the start line after all the travelling the day before and getting up at 3am to make sure to get to the start line on-time. I felt it was so big an event, you feel like you become just another number. Just another face flashing by, only to be erased by a mind numbing another runner, and another, and another....Anyway, it is a great event, and I certainly don't want to take anything away from the amazing job that the NY Road Runners and the City of New York did pulling this race off, or from those hoping to run this race.
"And my words won't make a dime's worth a difference, so here's to you New York" `Simon & Garfunkel
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| In a quieter moment a view of Lady Liberty |
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| The Big City from this little "Bug's" eye view |
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| thanks to marathon photo for this nice capture |
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| the "Big Apple" from Jersey City and the new World Trade Center |
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a memory of 9-11
A Somber November on Chimney Mt (near Indian Lake-Adirondacks, NY & West Kill Mts., Catskills, NY)
November can be a cold, brooding and colorless month. So, I find the best remedy is to get outside into nature for a run or a climb. A few weeks after running NY I was afforded the opportunity decompress and to visit charming and cavernous little Chimney Mountain.
What we thought would be a "shake-out" winter climb in the snow, saw almost the opposite. Although there was an occasional trace of snow, the trail and mountain were very dry and easy to navigate. So, it gave us extra time to explore and stick our heads in a few caves.
A few weeks later on Thanksgiving weekend we headed for the Catskills and West Kill Mountain. We enjoy the Cats but they are different and a little more "well worn" it seems than the Adirondacks. Anyway, there was a good enough amount of snow to utilize crampons but nothing to write home about. I've captioned the photos so I won't bore you anymore with laborious details about the climb, etc. My thought here was to share some of the contrast of a "wood-chucks" experiences in November in NYC and the mountains of Upstate, NY. ~Cheers
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View from summit of Chimney Mt
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| The "Chimney" on Chimney Mt |
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| wanna race me? |
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| view from Chimney Mt |
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Farm near Chimney Mt and antique tractor
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| Diamond Notch Falls on way to West Kill Mt, Catskills, NY |
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| A "zen" moment on West Kill Mt |
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| Nothing more cleansing than a grinding climb in the cold |
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| the nice panorama from just below the sumnmit of West Kill Mountain |
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| found the summit marker after walking by it a couple times |
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