This spot, the corner of Hill Road and Curtis Road, is a great spot if you’re into road walking. There are three different walks, all excellent, that begin here. Two are woods roads; the one we did is paved.We began by walking east on Hill Road toward South Danby RoadI love rolling hills and old farmhouses nestled in hollows, so I’m a big fan of this stretch of the roadNow we’re on the way back from South Danby Road — great distant view — there’s basically no houses visible from here — you can really see why this is called “Hill” Road if you click on the pphoto and look at how the road undulates and risesThis one stretch past the farm houses looks equally great when you look at it from either directionBack at the starting point, first leg of the walk finishedThe group’s now walking north on Curtis Road toward Route 96BI love overgrown fields like this in winter, especially on a gloomy day Not the most prosperous-looking farm countryside, but very picturesque ….…. assuming you like decayed barnsThis little dome house is quite out of place — straight out of the Whole Earth Catalogue 1970
Stewart Park to the Farmers’ Market along the lake — followed by a belated New Year’s get-together
I was afraid we’d have to start the walk in the rain, but the storm (which wasn’t predicted) moved off shortly before hike time. One result was that the only people who turned out were hikers who don’t stay home just because they might get wetThe storm left behind some fantastic atmosphericsNot everyone shown ….
Get-together at the small pavilion in Stewart Park
The weather changed shortly before we got back to the pavilion — sun came out — wind picked up a littleThe breeze wasn’t all that strong but it was enough to feel really cold if you had your gloves off, which everyone did so they could handle the food. The nagging wind got oppressive and we broke up a little early.
Layen Road to Bruce Hill Road and beyond, Jersey Hill, Danby
Very bad weather was being predicted shortly before hike time — snow and rain likely, and high windsThis walk includes a long stretch through wide open fields — I was here once in the winter when the wind was so fierce we had to turn back after just a couple of minutesIt wasn’t bad at all this time.
Somehow, we never manage to get all the hikers into the formal portraits ….Notice the guy in the black shirt not wearing a jacket? That’s Casey — amazingly cold-hardy — though he suffers from cold hands so he wears fancy heated glovesMaybe the trees that surround the field were holding back the wind — in any case, it wasn’t particularly cold or miserable at alVery nice in the woodsThis is Bruce Hill RoadOnce we reach this point,time starts to run short — there are two attractions to be seen up ahead, a picturesque quarry and another large and dramatic field — unfortunately, if we stop for the quarry, there’s not enough time to reach the field ….We chose to go straight to the field — stood around for a couple of minutes, then had to turn backThere’s a very striking and beautiful gorge in the right side of the photo — too bad you can’t really discern it.
Didn’t rain, no more than a few specks of snow. Very nice walk
