Hiking the Hudson River Valley

After the rain the other day on Friday we spent Saturday just resting and staying out of the rain as it continued to rain most of the day. Finally breaking about 1500; the adults went over to Bard College for the Saint Saens concert. They went to the Spiegelltent for dinner…Connie had clams and Neil had Flank Steak. After dinner they went over to the concert which was an all Saint Saens evening. First Symphony, Fifth Piano Concerto were both great and deserve to be on programs more often. The symphonic poem Le rouet d’Omphale was very nice as well…but the La muse et le poete (a double concerto for violin and cello) didn’t really do anything for them. The Symphony #3 Organ was wonderfully played although the orchestra really deserved a better organ than they had. It was a decent but not spectacular electronic organ.
Today we got up early and went off to St. Christopher parish in Red Hook for Mass then came home and ate breakfast. Following a quick nap in the late morning we had a tuna sandwich for lunch then headed off for a couple of hikes.
First stop was the Five Locks Walk area…this is an abandoned series of locks on the D&H Canal that bypassed a waterfall on the Rondout Creek (which was actually more of a river than a creek) and used to transport coal. The locks were small and overgrown and this was pretty much a bust view wise. So they headed off to the backup plan which was the Black Creek Preserve hike. This included about a 2 ½ mile hike up along the Black Creek, up and over the ridge, and down to the edge of the Hudson River. The only drawback was the ridge; it was pretty steep but at least it was a relatively short climb up the side of the ridge then across the top and down to the river. Then they headed back to the rig after stopping by a farm stand to get some fresh veggies and had a wine cooler and a pork/potato/cranberry dish that Neil came up with.
Here are some shots from the hikes.