A stuffed pickup encountered on our camping trip to the Catskills. It was small-game season while we were there, but I didn’t hear any shots. It is illegal to hunt near camping areas, but it would have been wise for me to wear one of those stupid orange hats on hikes.

Flowing water: one of the best parts.

Mushrooms and lichen growing on a fallen tree trunk.

Fungus eating another fallen tree trunk.

Someone created several beautiful, if precarious cairns near one of the falls on Buttermilk Falls Brook.

My friend Chris leading the way.

I see the face of an ape or one of the Geico cavemen.

Another face, Charles Laughton in the Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Moss was everywhere in the forest. This is a very close macro shot. It’s amazing how bug- free the forest is. It was nearly bug-free when we were there in the Spring, as well. A local said this was because how cool and shady the area is, and that moving water doesn’t allow mosquitoes to breed. Some areas are so shady that ice-caves form. Road crews keep their six-packs icy there all through the summer. At least that’s the story we got from this same 4th generation local, encountered on one of our hikes.

Artistically eaten leaves.

These mushrooms look like they should have stunk, but I didn’t notice a smell.

Tree roots on Rondout Creek

More Catskills camping:
August 2005
June 2007

A hike into the hills near where we were camped in the Catskills. The bird at the beginning of the video is a Scarlet Tanager. These red birds were my totem animal on the trip. As the car entered the preserve, I saw one very close, magically hovering over a branch. And this one, maybe the same one, came to our camp inviting me to enter the forest. It reminded me of the fairy/insect in Pan’s Labyrinth, only with a much less dramatic outcome.

More photos