My favorite walk actually. Wednesday June 19 arrived bright and clear, with low humidity and moderate temperatures. Already a miracle for this time of year in the East! But around this time we also have the laurel bushes blooming, a brief botantical burst that is here today and gone tomorrow. So I decided to carpe the diem and headed for Minnewaska State Park.

Unfortunately, I left my cameras big and small behind, and had to make do with an iPhone. I shot some panoramas with it, but the iPhone lacks the control over exposure needed to disguise the evidence of stitched pieces. My apologies in advance for giving a glimpse of the man behind the curtain. [Edit: actually you can lock exposure. I didn't know this when I was taking the shots, however.]

Lake Minnewaska from near the starting point at the parking lot.

A brief climb on carriage roads passes some laurel blooms

and leads to an overlook, with the lake and behind it the Castskills.


Continuing around the lake, one encounters a funky bridge.

Shortly after, there is a view to the South, with Millbrook Mountain the high point of the ridge rising to the right.

The carriage road descends to the lake, at which point one leaves the wide crushed shale path for the Millbrook Mountain Trail, crossing the Minnewaska Lake outlet stream.

After diving into the first of many laurel blooms,

a clearing along the trail reveals Sky Top to the North.

The trail drops down and crosses a small stream

after which it climbs to the top of Millbrook. The view from the top here shows the Catskills to the left, Skytop right of them and the Hudson Valley spread out below.

One continues South along the ridge, encountering open slabs,

easy going,

more blooms,

boulder-hopping,

and petal-strewn walkways.

OK, time for a selfie:

Then, quite suddenly, you pop out of the woods onto the slabs that form the top of the crags of Gertrude's Nose.


Now the path follows the cliff edge on slabs sometimes riven by deep crevices



The broom crowberry in the picture above is a state-endangered species---its only known occurrence in New York State is at Gertrude's Nose.

The slabs eventually dip down the the Palmaghatt Ravine, and crossing this, you are back in the woods.

A sometimes steep ascent brings one back to a juncture with the Millbrook Carriageway, beginning a more civilized finish to the walk.

A feature of the walk back is a boulder called Patterson's Pellet, with the Palmagatt Ravine behind and, on the right in the distance, Hamilton and Castle Points.

A look back at Patterson's Pellet before continuing on carriage roads back to Lake Minnewaska, the parking lot, and the mechanized world waiting beyond.