Strolling Near Cooperstown

It's been a long, long week.  We can't even tell you.  One week ago, Kathy was driving south to pick William up for some time at Camp Sharktooth; David was nursing an allergy or cold.  That was only the start.  Thursday, David had lunch with his brother Laird and nephew Isaac with the cold manifesting itself slightly more.  But Isaac sowed enough doubt in David's mind that David decided to get a Covid test.  Problem was, Kathy had the Jeep, and David was stranded until Kathy and William arrived on Friday.  Kathy and William arrived, and David was off for a test.  Unfortunately, on Sunday morning, it came back positive, and we had to terminate Camp Sharktooth early.  Being asymptomatic, Kathy got elected to (once again) drive William home.

From Sunday evening until today, Wednesday, August 25, 2021, we waited out David's light case of Covid.  Kathy got tested (as it turned out, she was negative), with symptoms slowly getting better.

This morning, David felt nearly 100%, so we decided to celebrate with a couple of light hikes in the area near our campground.

LAKE CANANDARAGO OVERLOOK LOOP

Our first walk was a short, 1.2 mile loop in the Fetterly Forest to an overlook with a view of Lake Canandarago.

The trail loops through a conservation area, and the trailhead area is graced with a wildflower demonstration garden that Kathy inspected:

As we headed over to the loop we intended to hike, we ran across this wild display of Fall's first color, which increased our anticipation for what we would see on the little hike:

Here is David at the Overlook Loop trailhead:

A little over a half mile later, we came to the overlook, which, while it offered a limited view of Lake Canandarago, was disappointing in that it is getting overgrown, but we could spot Deowongo Island, one of two on the lake:

The hike gave us our best surprise just as we were heading back along the far end of the loop.  Lo and behold, we spotted THIMBLEBERRY BUSHES!

This is the furthest South and East we have spotted thimbleberries, which we learned to know and love years ago in the Northern Rockies and along the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes!  What a surprise to find some here.  They are luscious, sweet, very fragile, and are only ripe for a few days before they dry out and taste like cardboard:

This got us excited about hiking today.  The morning was beautiful and not yet hot, so we decided to go after another short hike nearby.  It was:

BEAVER POND TRAIL AT GLIMMERGLASS STATE PARK

Each of these two hikes were ones that we had chosen for William to walk with us in his Camp Sharktooth visit.  However, that was all cut short by Covid.  In this case, we had been to Glimmerglass State Park before and hiked some of its other, more challenging trails, but we decided to check out the Covered Bridge and the Beaver Pond.

Here is the Hyde Hall Covered Bridge:

It is recognized as the oldest still-standing covered bridge in North America, having been built in 1825.  The bridge consists of a single 53-foot span using a Burr Arch Truss and was constructed by master carpenter Cyrenus Clark with assistance from carpenter Andrew Alden and stonemason Lorenzo Bates. Renovations to the bridge were performed by the State of New York in 1967.

We then hiked from the Hyde Hall Bridge to Beaver Pond, noting the colorful late-summer/early fall wildflower color and the birdhouses gracing the fields through which our soggy path ran:

Eventually, we made our way to Beaver Pond, which, unfortunately, does not seem to be an active beaver pond anymore.  We were lucky to catch sight of a Great Blue Heron surveying his fishing prospects on the pond.  Primitive campsites were occupied by humans along the shore of the pond.

It was a short hike back around the pond and then to our Jeep in its parking area.  We returned to our campground in time for lunch and an opportunity to learn that Kathy's Covid test was negative!

Yay!  We're living to fight another day.  Now, if our relatives can get through their own infections due to exposures to us, our guilt will pass and our happiness return and we can bring you more adventures along our way.