August 29, 2024 - September 11, 2024 -- Thousand Trials Rondout Valley, NY
Written By: Wendy
11 years old Scott and I traveled the East Coast in the fall. We followed the leaves, explored quaint old towns, immersed ourselves in the history, took epic hikes, and marveled at the beauty of the fall colors. We loved every single second of it. We have been dreaming about coming back out east for another fall since we left. After that fall, the East Coast became synonymous with fall for us, and one of the first places we think of is Upstate New York. We absolutely loved our time in Upstate New York. So with that said, we were beyond excited to get to Upstate New York and for our East Coast fall to begin. We knew it was still August and bit early for the leaves to start to turning, but we were so close to fall. We'd had summer since we got to Arizona in January, and we were longing for a change of weather and to feel cold (or at least cool) again. I longed to put on warm socks, cozy sweaters, and soft flannels. I wanted a chill in the air when I woke up and to see my breath in the evenings. A couple days into our stay in the Catskills, right after Labor Day, it happened. The temperatures started to drop at night and there was a slight chill in the air. Some of the leaves were even barely starting to turn on the trees. It. Was. Happening. Fall, we have arrived! Just as planned! So with that ever so slight change in the weather, I pulled out my long socks, Blundstone boots, and flannel shirts. Even if it warmed up to 72 degrees during the day, and I was sweating, it was now fall and there was no going back.
Last time, we spent most our time in Upstate New York in the Adirondacks and near Lake Placid. This time we were farther south in the Catskills. We were excited to explore a new area, and it did not disappoint. We went to an apple orchard and picked apples, we did a train ride and got to see the start of fall foliage, and we explore all the nearby towns and their offerings.
One of our favorite days was the ice caves hike we did in Minnewaska State Park Preserve. The hike started on an old carriage road, so the path was wide and gravel. There was a steady incline, but not too steep, and the visitor center supplied us with a nature scavenger hunt so the kids were motivated to keep hiking to find the items. About 3/4 of a mile in, we made it to the top of Sam's Point, and there was an amazing view of the mountains and surrounding valley below. We took in the views and marveled at the beauty and then continued hiking a bit beyond that to make it to the ice caves. The ice caves was loop through old caves made of quartz conglomerate. Parker was beyond excited to explore the caves and climb up the serval ladders that were propped up against steep rock faces. I had Caroline in our big Osprey backpack, and there were some narrow passages and parts where I had to crawl on my hands and knees to fit through with her on my back. She loved every second of it, and we made it through. When we emerged on the other side of the caves, there was another breathtaking view of the valley below and blue skies to meet us. Some ladies were eating their lunches just outside the caves, and they were shocked to see me emerge with a large backpack and child on my back. I felt so tough! We were all so energized by the caves that we decided to add a bit onto our hike and turn it into a loop and see a lake on the way back. Parker crushed the hike, and only once complained about being tired when we only had about a quarter of a mile left. It ended up being almost 5 miles, and we were all exhausted when we reached our truck, but it was a hike we'll never forget.
We also managed to squeeze in a 50 Pies party with some old friends while we were in the Catskills. Two of our friends from college now lived in New York City, and they stopped at our campground to see us on their way back into the city after a weekend getaway in upstate New York. We hadn't see each other in probably 10 years, so it was great to catch up and reminisce over some tasty pizza and fresh peach pie.
As our time in the Catskills came to a close, we said good bye to the Herd family. They were heading to Florida to meet up with family members for a cruise, and we were heading north to the Adirondacks for a week and a half. Scott and I decided that this would be the perfect time for us to do a family retreat. We had been going hard since...hmmm, July? No since May? April? Well, when was the last time we took a multiple day breather? December?? Anyways, we were excited to have a week and a half to ourselves with very little planned other than our family retreat and exploring the nature in the area.