County Route 49 In Brasher, New York

I crossed the St. Regis River from the town of Stockholm to the town of Brasher, NY on a short section of County Route 49:

And passed by a small shed and two old, abandoned silos:

This old farm house sits close to the edge of the St. Regis River:

And the St. Regis River runs for quite a distance along this section of road. Its surface was frozen and snow covered, so in many places it was hard to tell where the land ended and the river began:

I was struck by this section of snow laden tree. Once I got a closer look at the picture, however, I noticed that the entire top section of the tree was missing, probably lopped off by the power company so as not to endanger the power line:

A ranch style home with a double garage. These are folks who, like me, enjoy country living:

Rows of hay bales. I didn't see any cattle, but I'm sure they weren't too far away:

A steel-clad barn in such good shape that I couldn't tell if it was of new or old-but-restored construction:

A small, old house with a big porch and a Cedar tree, up on a hill:

A dump truck in a field full of small piles, apparently fill from some other site:

A small shed in the woods, perhaps a hunting cabin from long ago. There didn't appear to be much left of it anymore:

I ended my brief driving tour at this pleasant home. I don't know what that tower behind it is, but I suppose it must be some kind of antenna:

Hiking Vroman's Nose, Part 3

I was hiking to the top of Vroman's Nose, a small mountain in New York's Schoharie Valley, with my four youngest dogs. I put them on leashes when we'd arrived at the first cliff's edge and scenic overlook. Then we climbed higher to another and then, just ahead of us, I saw a rocky crag where I was sure there'd be a third cliff and scenic overlook:

And there certainly was. The houses and barns which had looked so very far beneath us at the beginning were by now looking downright minuscule, like toys:

Those picturesque, twisted evergreens growing all over the rocky cliffs were a mystery to me. I wanted to call them Junipers but they were not the Juniper one might grow in a front yard. They were different. They had bark much like an Eastern White Cedar but the needles were not the same. I looked them up when I got home and decided that they were Eastern Red Cedar which are, it turned out, a variety of Juniper. Or you might be happy just enjoying their beauty:

Just in case you've been thinking I was exaggerating about the dangerous steepness of those cliffs, here's a photo to change your mind:

We kept hiking upwards and discovered yet a fourth rocky crag. This one had a little path right up through the bulky rocks:

And when I took that path I discovered a broad, flat expanse of rock. I've read that this is sometimes called the dance floor and it was actually much larger than it appears here:

I walked cautiously to the edge to take a look, keeping the dogs on their leashes and behind me:

Adventurous souls had been chiseling their initials into the rock of the dance floor for centuries. This one, with the initials of A.J.M., was chiseled in 1863:

I timidly approached the edge to look down on the farms and barns I'd seen at the very first overlook. Yep, they were still there but getting smaller:

And the view through the Red Cedars out across the Schoharie Valley was grand:

But we had lots more trail to hike. As I began, I kept the dogs on their leases because, as you can plainly see, the trail was very close to the edge of the cliff:

I don't remember how this photo of Daphne without a leash got in this sequence, but here it is. She's a sweet little sprite who can brighten up any experience. But we still weren't finished with this hike. I'll post more tomorrow: