2020-05-19: John Holtzmann Road

As spring turned the mountains progressively greener, I headed across the border into the town of Cairo for a rather long walk. I focused on a stretch of Route 23 which heads up towards the mountains, walking over the highest point on any thru road in the town of Cairo. I also hit backroads on both sides of the highway, taking me over four hundred feet below my starting elevation, and walked a small segment of road in Durham, passing some waterfalls. The loop's total length was about 7.1 miles.

Roads walked: NY-23, Joseph Chadderdon Road, John Holtzmann Road, Edison Timmerman Road, Old South Durham Highway

Windham's northern slope seen from the the highest point on Cairo's thru roads, around 1014 ft.

A view of Acra Point from along Route 23. This peak, and others along the Catskill Escarpment, are prominent from this area.

The old South Durham Schoolhouse along Joseph Chadderdon Road, built in the 1820s.

Coltsfoot grows between rocks in the Bowery Creek. Taken from the bridge on Joseph Chadderdon Road, the first bridge over the Bowery as it heads down off the mountain.

This old red barn sat beneath a beautiful view of Acra Point too wide to fit in one shot.

Rock faces line a sizeable stretch of Joseph Chadderdon Road; atop this one, a tiny forest of ferns grew.

Crystal-clear water flowed between moss-covered rocks in this unnamed creek.

Although the hole is much older than the fallen limb, it looks as though a birch tree poked right through this abandoned car's roof.

Route 23 between Acra and South Durham is lined with abandoned buildings.

This six-spotted tiger beetle (Cincidela sexguttata) kept flying away from me, so I used a long-range lens to photograph it.

The top of a long-dead pine tree stood out against a clear blue sky.

Young oak leaves, only around half their full-grown size, danced in a mid-afternoon breeze.

This sign along Edison Timmerman Road was riddle with bullet holes, just like many signs in neighboring Durham.

Shades of red still tinted this cluster of young aspen leaves.

Tiny plants peer up through a swamp along Edison Timmerman Road. When I think of Cairo, the town's many wetlands often come to mind.

White flowers covered an ornamental cherry tree along the road.

Boarded-up buildings at an abandoned retreat, located at the crossroads of Edison Timmerman Road and CR-20. This retreat was once run by a baptist church in Brooklyn, but has sat unused for decades.

A view of the Catskill Escarpment looking up Edison Timmerman Road.

After getting a good yellow dandelion picture at Mount Zoar a few days earlier, I tried my hand at one that had already gone to seed.

This small turtle retreated into its shell until I had safely passed by.

Flower buds and immature cones on a white pine (Pinus strobus) tree.

This small waterfall along the Bowery Creek bears a remarkable resemblance to larger falls outside the Catskills.

A downed hickory tree forms a natural bridge across the Bowery on its way down the mountain.

Passing over the border in South Durham, I was surprised to come across the South Durham Falls, a minor attraction (in my own town no less) that I had never heard of before.

A wider view from my phone provides more context. The falls drop maybe fifteen to twenty feet, hidden in a maple forest along an unnamed creek.

Close-up of the main falls, careening through moss on their way to the bottom.

An old foundation in South Durham. The hamlet was quite sizable in the 19th century, but has gradually dwindled to nothing more than a few houses and farms.

Upon returning home, I was greeted by a brave (or perhaps stubborn) deer in my own yard who refused to run from my arrival.