2020-07-31: Scutt Road

On the last day of July, I walked an eight-mile loop north of Greenville Center in Greenville NY. This loop encircled on of Greenville's three named hills, Murder Bridge Hill, at around 830 feet in elevation. Although mostly forested, the route included some open fields with views to the mountains in the south.

Roads walked: NY-81, CR-26, CR-37/Newry Road, CR-41, Highland Road, Scutt Road

Summer heat and humidity add waves to this eastward shot down Route 81.

Geese swim in an algae-covered pond along Scutt Road. Geese generally prefer clear waters; apparently these ones aren't too picky.

The slope of Murder Bridge Hill rises to the left over a large shed.

Young hemlock forests line a tributary of the Cob Creek along Scutt Road.

These berry bushes, filled with fruit just a few weeks ago, are now empty and dying.

The north end of Scutt Road is lined by long, flat fallow fields. Here Windham (L) rises above some trees at the far end of one.

Moss-covered rocks lie in dancing shade in an unnamed creek.

White moonflowers (Ipomoea violacea) grew along old buildings on Route 26.

This building appears in very good condition, given the fact that it's surrounded by rusted machinery and tall, unkempt shrubs.

Pine Lake, adjacent to a resort of the same name, is used mostly for canoeing.

A dragonfly rests atop a branch's end, waiting for the camera-wielding giant to leave.

A large tree guards a rise in a sizable hayfield along Newry Road.

A shot down the remarkable straight Newry Road. The houses are over a mile away.

Naturalized purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) grows along the edges of several small swamps.

The iconic peaks of the Blackhead Range (Blackhead, Black Dome, and Thomas Cole) rise above a flat field along Route 41.

A beautiful array of clouds filled the skies as I walked through Greenville Center.

A view south from Route 81 towards Stoppel Point.

Northeastern Greenville is a very flat area, with many wide-open, fairly featureless fields.

From this angle, Stoppel Point takes on more of a mountainous silhouette than any other picture I've taken of it.

A fence protects this flat field beneath Blackhead Mountain and its long eastern plateau, informally called 'Arizona Mountain'.

Although Greenville is a town of many swamps, this section of Route 81 seems to bisect an abnormally high number of them.

An odd house along the highway was fully decorated in hundreds of skeletons. This little scene sat in a field by the edge of its side yard.

A rare action shot: This deer, spooked by a nearby car, fled through the length of this recently mowed hayfield, stopping to rest once it reached the shade of the treeline.

A wider view of the hayfield and its gradual uphill slope.