2021-08-16: Vernal Butler Road

While unpredictable weather kept me off the mountains for a few days, I returned to roadwalking in nearby Cairo to keep myself active. Like Frank Hitchcock and Joseph D Kollar, Vernal Butler Road is names after one of the men from Cairo who died in World War One. Lined with abandoned houses, it connects the hamlets of Purling to the south and Acra to the north, forming only part of this seven-mile loop.

Roads walked: NY-23, CR-24, CR-31, Hearts Content Road, Mountain Avenue, Vernal Butler Road

A view of the Catskill Escarpment, looking up Route 23 from my parking spot at a gas station in Acra.

Looking northeast down Route 23 towards Alander Mountain. I walked this loop on a very humid evening; on clear days, Alander seems clear and far closer than the ~35 miles away it actually is.

Part of this route runs along roads I walked last July, and as such this image has a year-old parallel taken from roughly the same vantage point.

Another 'redo' of an image from last July over a wetland along Route 31.

A bee seeks nectar in an invasive tansy flower (Tanacetum vulgare) along the side of the road. 

The decaying sign for an abandoned bakery along Hearts Content Road in Round Top. While Cairo is rife with abandoned buildings, this business was left to rot only recently; I can remember eating there.

A much smaller bug crawls on a native wild sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus), a common wildflower along the east coast (I photographed one in Delaware a few weeks ago).

Fractured clouds in the sky. I don't usually take sky pictures, but the odd formations in a brief moment of blue sky was too good an opportunity to pass up.

A directory at the intersection of Hearts Content Road and Mountain Avenue, north of Purling. Similar directories exist at intersections in Purling and Round Top, directing visitors to the many resorts and attractions in the area.

A view straight down Mountain Avenue, an unusually straight and flat section of road, clothed in mirages in the summer heat.

To the south, Stoppel Point rises above trees beyond a field along the road.

As I walked down Mountain Avenue, I started to understand how the flat road got its name. This view shows Acra Point rising above a house.

The Escarpment rises directly above the road, to its immediate east. Although no mountaintops are center in this picture, I can never resist a 'road-going-into-mountains' shot.

Blackhead rises above a single maple tree, which stands alone in the midst of a field. This angle shows the irregular downward slope of Blackhead's summit, something that's hidden from most vantage points.

Gentle forested slopes descend from the plateau of Arizona Mountain, disappearing behind the nearer trees below.

A closer shot of the lone maple, backlit in the cloudy evening, Blackhead's summit far too lofty to fit in the shot.

I often post pictures of the landslide along the Shinglekill Creek on Blackhead, as it's an easy-to-spot feature from pretty much anywhere northeast of the mountain. This view provides an unusual vantage point, where you can see the trunks of the trees, a clear scar in the forest.

Wild grapes (Vitis riparia) are perhaps the most common vine in upstate New York, an area known for its vineyards. These grapes aren't quite ripe yet; even when they do ripen, they will remain far more sour than commercial grapes, and with much larger seeds.

A small bridge on Mountain Avenue passed over a small stream, whose floor had these holes drilled into it. Upon closer inspection, I discovered an enormous piece of sheet metal had come to form the bed of the creek.

The Bavarian Manor, a popular resort in Purling, is a perhaps overzealous example of Victorian-style architecture, looking quite out of place on a road populated by trailers and silos.

White bindweed (Calystegia sepium) is a common vine-habit plant, often considered a weed in spite of its impressive flowers.

A cornerstone-like plaque on an otherwise unsuspecting bridge along Vernal Butler Road denotes its date of construction. Ross Ruland, then town superintendent, is the namesakes of another road in Cairo.

An abandoned house along Vernal Butler Road. Although its front yard is totally overgrown and its roof covered in moss, the intact windows and electrical hookup leads me to believe that this house hasn't been empty for long.

Two other buildings, one full collapsed and the other well on its way, occupy the same property.