2020-12-01: Willow Brook Road

The first day of December this year was incredibly warm, at least by New York standards, with temperatures well in the fifties. I took advantage of this fleetingly pleasant weather to take a walk in eastern Greenville, north of the hamlet of Surprise. I walked a 5.4-mile loop around the confusingly-named Willow Brook Road and Willow Brook drive, which are two different roads adjacent to one another. Covering mostly flat, forested ground near the town line, this walk didn't have many remarkable views, but is notable as it crossed into the neighboring town of New Baltimore. I had never walked in New Baltimore before, the the towns westernmost portions host some beautiful fields and rolling hills.

Roads Walked: CR-26, Willow Brook Road, Willow Brook Drive

A horse stands fenced-in in this field on rural Willow Brook Road.

Storms moving to the south made for some excellent art in the sky.

Electrified fencing, meant to keep livestock in, runs over some hills near central Surprise.

A section of open fields just over the border in New Baltimore was ripe with winter pastoral scenes.

Oblique shadows beneath approaching stormclouds.

The bottoms of these hilly fields were notably greener than their tops, likely due to runoff keeping the grass warm and wet.

More hilly fields in New Baltimore.

Headstones in the Grapeville Cemetery, a moderately-sized resting ground at the crossroads of Willow Brook Lane and Route 26.

An old farm building sits on the town line. The farther east one goes in Greene County, the older the buildings get.

Bare forests guard the edges of long, rolling hayfields, which sit empty for the season.

Oblique afternoon shadows cross over moss-covered rocks along Route 26.

An old, degraded sign at the town line along Route 26. There was no sign announcing entry into Greenville, nor was there any border signage on Willow Brook Drive.

An old juniper tree guards the edge of some steep pasture.

The rolling hills of east Greenville seem almost comically steep at times.

A small waterfall on a tributary of the Cob Creek, enlarged by recent rains.

Cattle lounge in open pasture along the nearby Cedar Lane, as seen from Route 26.