2021-06-14: Doman Road

I took a risk this week and walked a six-mile loop along some roads in northwest Cairo for my first dedicated roadwalk in the town. I left without checking the weather and ended up spending the entire time racing an approaching thunderstorm, which thankfully held off until a few minutes after I returned to the car. There was intermittent drizzle the whole time however, the first time I've walked in the rain since getting my camera over two years ago.

Roads Walked: CR-67, Canniff Road, Doman Road, Plattekill Road

Part of my walk took me through Cairo Lockwood State Forest, a small state forest in the town's northwest region.

Small rapids flow below a downed tree on the Jan De Bakkers Kill, north of its crossing under Canniff Road.

Tall trees beneath clouds in Cairo Lockwood State Forest. I don't usually walk in cloudy weather, so the ambiance was somewhat unfamiliar to me.

A shrub understory sits beneath a stand of elm and maple trees along the state forest on Doman Road.

Tall, skinny ferns stand straight, growing from a large moss-covered boulder along Doman Road.

The further of two in a roadside paddock, this short-haired horse paid me little mind as I walked by.

As the stormclouds darkened, I found this odd, solitary purple-pink flower along the wayside. It's relatively rare for me to run into unfamiliar flowers in this area at this point.

A forest of pine and hemlock, partially cleared at some point in the past decade or so, now plays host to a carpet of bright green ferns.

The golf course at Thunderhart along the border with Greenville. The greens had just emptied due to the oncoming rain, with the dark clouds an ominous diversion from my usual bright blue backdrops.

A field of hay blows in the strong winds. Most farmers have gotten their first cutting already, a full month earlier than usual; some are hopeful for an almost unheard-of three harvests this summer.

The prominent peaks of the Catskill Escarpment were mostly obscured by cloud, their forested lower slopes peeking out, like looking below a curtain that doesn't quite touch the ground.

More clouds over the lower slopes of the Escarpment, seen from Plattekill Road.

Moss-covered, degraded boulders like these were common along all the roads in this hike, a typical feature of mixed forests like these. 

A line of rusted power poles stretch out into the distant flat forests of northwestern Cairo.

A bit of orange caught my eye as I approached the car, running between the first real raindrops. This eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), in a juvenile form known as an "eft", appears blurry because raindrops had begun to cloud my camera's lens.