Sleepy Hollow Catskills Hike - Part 5

I was on my way back down the mountain and coming near to the end of a hike on the Sleepy Hollow trail with my four dogs - Seamus, Fergus, Daphne and Clover. This was little Clover's first hike and a learning experience both for her and for me. We'd seen out over the beautiful Hudson River Valley and were now hiking downhill toward the trail head:

It was a very hot day, but we'd mostly kept cool in the shady Catskill woods:

Clover, a Papillon puppy, had learned how to walk on a leash and come when she was called. She'd seen her first forest, her first mountain stream, her first horses. Clover had had a good time and advanced in both her training and socialization:

Seamus, my beloved giant, had kept calm and was enjoying being out in nature:

It occurred to me to take a video of what it's like just hiking along the trail with the dogs so I gave it a try. Fergus wanted to stay right there at my feet, so he doesn't appear. But perhaps you'll get a feel for the cool, quiet, shady woods and hiking with the dogs, their excess energy by this time mostly drained:



We arrived back at the trail head without incident, climbed into the car and headed for home. But I just had to shoot a few photos of the scenery from the roadside. This golf course had great views of the adjacent Catskills:

And like so many things in the area, it was named after Rip Van Winkle:

This herd of what appeared to be dairy cattle was slowly traveling, single file, back to their barn at the base of the mountains:

The cattle appeared to be headed to these barns. I never found out how they would get across the road. This farm raises and sells vegetables in a big way. And what a view they have! Those are the mountains in which we'd just hiked. I can still feel their draw even as I look at the picture:

But it was time to get home and resume life as normal. I took one last look at the Catskill Mountains and turned my car towards Albany: