2020-07-13: NY-81

The majority of my roadwalking ventures are very intentional, mapped-out and measured before I ever leave the house. This walk was a relative oddity; my car was at the mechanic's and I needed to get somewhere. The roughly five-mile walk brought me through Oak Hill, which I walked in Spring 2019, but also through a portion of Rensselaerville, near the hamlet of Cooksburg, where I hadn't yet walked, so I brought my camera with me.

A view downstream on the Catskill Creek from a bridge in central Cooksburg.

White flowers of the invasive Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) plant. The flower grows so well in the northeast that it's been banned in Massachusetts.

Mount Hayden seen over some forests along Route 81.

A view from near the county line shows Windham High Peak (R) towering over its surrounding mountains.

Windham takes on a less sharp, more bulky look from the northeast.

A view of Mount Zoar. The right side of its plateau-like summit is the highest point, which I climbed in May.

Mount Pisgah presides over the valley, from this angle seeming very detached from the other northwestern Catskills.

Old farm buildings fill the overgrown fields just over the border into Durham.

Rocks and ponds in some distant fields near the highway.

The back ends of houses a few miles away on Route 145, along with a recently-built quarry.

Left for lunch, a piece of machinery sits idle in a half-hayed field.

Little yellow wildflowers (probably birdsfoot trefoil) cover a field beneath Acra Point and Burnt Knob.

A view of mounts Hayden (L) and Nebo (R), along with some fields on their lower slopes.

Four miles distant, these fields on Sutton Road aren't quite ready for haying yet due to their altitude.

Vaguely closer fields on Allen Teator Road stand against some rising clouds to the west.

Windham's silhouette forms an impressive backdrop to this house along Route 81 in Durham.