Hiking Westside Overland Trail (L north), An Overcast Morning, Alas

Kayak Afternoon, The Good Life

7:35

Up at 7:30, to roar of a boat next door, the only one at the dock.  I had forgotten about the early morning noise, so this was a final reminder of summer, the last I think.  It's gray on gray, lake and sky, for the first time since last Monday, the morning of heavy rain, gray skies, when we headed off for Letchworth State Park.  Today calls for more clouds, the possibility of rain in the afternoon, still warm however, high in the low 70's.

We wanted to get a decent walk in yesterday morning, not too long because we wanted to enjoy the perfect fall day at our house.  So, we decided to walk a leg of Westside Trail, one we had not been on before, seven miles from our house.

Trail Head

Follow The Creek

Cathedral of Trees

One of Many Forests 

We drove out the Stedman/Panama Road, took a right of Eiden Road, to Wall, a left on Wall to Eggleston Road, then a right for about a mile, where the trail head south begins.  We took the south trail last year but not north.  So we had to go along Eggleston for another mile, to the trail head L, which heads north.  There, we entered the woods, and for 3/4's of a mile, we were in a beautiful forest, crunching through two to three inches of leaves until we came to a back road.  Unfortunately, to continue the trail, we had to walk the road for a mile, to get to the next leg of the trail through the woods, the Edward J. Whalen Memorial State Forest. By the time we got to the new trail head, we decided to just walk the road back the way we came, make it a shorter walk, less than two hours, less than four miles, just right because we were back home by noon.  We did find out where to start our hike next time, by taking Eiden till it dead ends, hanging a left on Stebbins or Town Line Road for a couple of miles, where the trail crosses the road.  Once we walk both of those legs, we will have hiked the entire Fred Cusimano Westside Overland Trail, 19 miles or so over the past two years.  Not much of an achievement but still something we have done together, have enjoyed, and will do again, especially in the winter with the snow.

It was another warm afternoon on the lake, some traffic because this may be the last Indian summer like weekend, and lots of people are up to enjoy the good weather.  We lounged in the sun, on the dock, as the leaves fell on the lawn, ignored by Evie, who jumped into the lake and swam twice, a crazy lady. Around 5:00, we went for a kayak ride, over to Long Point, the brilliant sun warming our backs, so bright that when we returned, we had to paddle close to shore, to be in the shadow of the shoreline and avoid the blinding sun.

The Ultimate Decadence, Turkish Chai on the Dock

For dinner, Evie made portabello mushrooms stuffed with garlic spinach and tomato, along with brown rice and a salad with blue cheese dressing, a good way to start the evening.  We finally happened upon a good film on Netflix , THE LATE QUARTET, the story of four musicians who have been together for  twenty five years until their bass player comes down with Parkinson's disease, threatening the group as a whole, flaying bare the emotions and conflicts hidden for years.  We both were transfixed on the tube for a couple of hours, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as usual, was perfect as the 2nd violinist, as was Christopher Walken, the bass player