The Corning Preserve Trail, Part 1

Our temperatures had reached a relatively balmy 30 degrees and I was getting cabin fever. I knew the hiking trails had several feet of snow on them, but perhaps the paved city trail along the river would be plowed. So I loaded the four younger dogs into the car and headed across the river. I found the trail unplowed, but passable. So we set off on a snowy adventure along the Hudson River on The Corning Preserve Trail:

Having been photographing Albany from the eastern side of the river just that same morning, it seemed odd to be doing the reverse. But this is the city of Rensselaer (in Rensselaer County) on the eastern shore of the Hudson River as seen from the city of Albany on the western shore. You may notice that road climbing steeply up the hill out of the river valley. I travel that road to and from work every day and it's quite hazardous after a snowfall:

The Corning Preserve Trail is quite narrow at the beginning, squeezed between a multi-lane highway and the Hudson River. It soon widens into a park, but we had some awkward walking through crusty slush before we got that far:

That green square is the top of a sort of lighthouse/warning buoy alerting ships to a rocky peninsula:

Once we left the parking lot, I let the dogs off of their leashes. This made them very happy:

We passed a quiet, unfrozen inlet filled with Mallards:

And a closer view of the ducks. I think there were other species also, but I couldn't see them very well and my identification skills are rusty anyway. But most of them were Mallards:

The quiet inlet seemed to be a continuation of another stream feeding the Hudson River and it curled to the right and around a rocky peninsula before it joined the bigger river:

But the dogs saw none of this. For them it was play time. Even Seamus roused himself into a frolicking mood:

When we arrived at the spot where the park widens out, we all stopped for a look around. That's the I-90 bridge off in the distance on the right. It's just about one mile north of my house and of where we were on the trail. I'll post more tomorrow: