[Journal entry for October 25, 2014; Congers Lake Trailway, Congers, New York] In the late morning, I walked the Congers Lake Trailway around that lake. I parked off of Lake Road East at the north end of the lake. The view southward from the viewing area by the lakeshore looks out over a shallow area full of water lilies, towards a wooded shoreline now full of fall foliage. A freight train passed by, heading north on the line that parallels the west side of the lake. I took the trail on the east side. It crosses the inlet stream and then follows the lakeshore, passing through a wide strip of woods between the lake and Route 303. I took a few detours on informal trails; some were narrow lanes through the Phragmites. One detour, through rather too many thorn bushes, took me to a pretty bay that opened up to the north. The fall foliage on its shores was really beautiful. The trail crossed a more built-up park and then passed the DeBaun Swartwout Cemetary (1810-1878), a small graveyared with mostly snapped-off and decaying grave markers. I walked into its grounds, read a few of the more legible markers and sang a hymn. The trail then winds under unusually large trees, on a peninsula on the west side of the bay that I had just visited. It passes a playground and then heads south again to the end of the lake. This end slowly narrows as it approaches the dam. I took a brief side trip to inspect the Paul farm (c. 1810), which consists of a smallish farmhouse and adjacent barn, and to view the river below the dam. I then crosses the walkway atop the dam and headed north on the Trailway on the west side of the lake. The views up the long axis of the lake are very nice. Much of the Trailway is on a boardwalk built a little offshore, set among water lilies, with vegetation in its fall foliage overhanging the bank. I passed a log on which roosted a dozen turtles or more, most relatively small, with shells four inches long, but a couple of very large ones, too, with shells more than a foot in length. The Trailway forks near the north end of the lake, by a small wetland, full of cattails. I took the right hand path and was soon back at my car.

About one and a half hours.