2020-11-29: Vly Road

After months in flat Florida and days in dreadful quarantine, I was eager to get back to hiking back home in New York. I'm currently in the process of acquiring proper gear that will allow me to do serious hiking in the winter months. In the mean time, I resumed roadwalking in the town of Greenville, eager to finish the final few walks inside the town limit. Sunday, I walked a 6.3-mile loop in the southeast portion of the town, between the hamlets of Place Corners and Gayhead.

Roads Walked: CR-67, Vly Road, Drake Hill Road, Mountain View Road

A moss-covered garage tops this hill on Route 67 west of the Jan de Baakers Kill.

A ten-mile view to Black Dome (L) and Thomas Cole (R) mountains.

A few lingering leaves cling to these bushes in the middle of a fallow field.

A change of focus. Dead goldenrod stretches to the treeline.

This decrepit shed looks as though the ground underneath it has shifted while it stayed put.

Route 67 forms much of the border between Greenville and neighboring Cairo, to the south. This view looks over a field towards a hill in the adjacent town.

Shadows and sunlight, looking south down Vly Road.

Gaps in the trees provided glimpses of the 120-acre Gayhead Vly that gives Vly Road its name.

A bit of odd framing seems to fit this barn at the crossroads of Vly and Drake Hill.

Cattle graze in open pastures along the north half of Vly Road.

I appreciated the unusually warm temperatures (approaching 50 F), but certainly not as much as the cows do.

Massive spruce trees delineate the barrier between pasture and uneaten grass.

Greenville is criss-crossed by tall power lines, such as these, which run through this farmer's fields.

One lonely cow near the edge of the field.

This upside-down sign on Drake Hill Road rather accurately describes the downhill twists that follow it. As far as I could tell, its arrangement is intentional, not an act of vandalism.

Scraggly trees dot the greenest grass in town on the leeward side of Mountain View Road.

Mountain View Road is split evenly between big, newly-built mansions, and less impressive hayfields. Personally I find the fields more appealing.

This hay bale contains an unusual, three-pronged shape in its center. 

True to its name, Mountain View Road has many excellent views of the mountains, such as this shot of Windham High Peak.

Lesser hills to the west include Mount Hayden (C) and Richtmeyer Peak (R)

Through a hole in the trees, the triple humps of the Blackhead Range dominate the southwestern horizon.

Looking straight west over a field some of the smaller hills of Schoharie County are visible.

A closeup of Scott Patent Hill, 18 miles northwest, behind the nearer forests of central Greenville.

When the shoulder lines on CR-67 were last painted, a maple leaf left its mark on the pavement.