05-15-2019: Bridging the Gap

Despite my desire to start walking in Greenville as soon as possible, rain and snow kept me indoors for much of this week. When the sun finally emerged, I drew up a gameplan. I will continue my roadwalking, with the new goal of walking every road in the town of Greenville, which borders Durham to the east. I have devised an approach that sees me completing all public thru roads within the town limits in a series of 29 five-mile walks. I am unfamiliar with much of Greenville, so I look forward to exploring roads and areas I have never seen before.

For Wednesday's walk, the first of the Greenville series, I hiked a loop around NY-81 and Old Plank Road in the hamlet of Norton Hill, near the town's western border. Part of this loop took me back into Durham, along a section of road I've never posted on here. Therefore, some of these pictures are still from Durham, despite this being a designated Greenville walk.

Sign at the Durham-Greenville border along NY-81. I've noticed this is the first Durham sign I've photographed, looking in from outside for the first time.

Windham towers over a farm along NY-81 in Durham.

Shadows dance over Zoar and Ginseng over a sunlit field.

Blackhead, Black Dome, and Thomas Cole peer over the Catskill Escarpment. This spot by the border is one of the only places in Durham from which the entire Blackhead Range is visible.

Power lines cross a pine-covered hill.

This large mushroom colony was growing on a stump near the side of the road.

View of North Mountain (L) and the limb of Stoppel Point (R). This stretch of NY-81 is also one of the only places from which North Mountain is visible from Durham.

Sunlight reflects off a rusted power structure. These are the same power lines that cut through Oak Hill to the northwest.

A clear view of Windham shows snow going right down to the spring leaf line.

A less-clear view of Windham shows the same thing.

Lingering snow on Blackhead and Acra Point. Snow as late as Memorial Day isn't unheard of in the Catskills, but this is the first time I've seen this much this late in the year.

Greenville is a fairly flat town; even its tallest hills are unable to obscure the towering High Peaks to its south.

Unlike Durham, the entire Blackhead Range is visible from most roads in Greenville.

Dilapidated barn along Old Plank Road in Greenville.

Greene County has so many abandoned homes that I rarely stop to photograph them. This house, however, with its busted-open door, growing roof, and State Police notices littering the property, looked too creepy to pass by.

Windham towers over trees along NY-81 east of Norton Hill.

This ominous-looking sign was placed at the end of Carter Bridge Road, which I hope to walk in the next week or two.

Snowy North Mountain, seem from downtown Norton Hill.