[Journal Entry for January 30, 2014; Tallman Mountain State Park , New York and the Greenbrook Sanctuary, New Jersey]

It’s a beautifully clear winter day, with clear skies and temperatures in the twenties, Fahrenheit. About six inches of snow lies on the ground.

Greenbrook Sanctuary. Around lunchtime, I drive to the Greenbush Sanctuary. Although in Palisades Interstate Park, this land is administered by the Palisades Nature Association, a Not-for-Profit Organization. Membership in the association confers a gate key and the right to walk the trails. I park by the office and I don my instep crampons. I then walk along the Gravel Road (Trail C, blazed with a letter C) and connect with Trail H. It crosses the Green Brook via a foot bridge and then winds through the woods, crossing the much smaller Kelder’s Brook via stepping stones. In a few minutes, I connect with Trail J, which I take down to the southern shore of Greenbrook Pond. This southern shore of the pond is boggy with many of the tall bushes that are common in wetlands throughout the region. The trail takes me about a quarter of the way around the pond before rejoining the Gravel Road (now called Trail L). I follow the Gravel Road to the old concrete and stone dam at the north end of the pond. It has been built across a narrow valley bordered by steep hills on both sides. The southern hill shows signs of quarrying. I climb down to the outflow, where Green Brook is reborn and begins its short journey to the Hudson River. The brook is a black ribbon that cuts across with snow fields. Boulders in the brook are covered with snow and ice and look like large eggs. I return to the dam, cross it, and then take Trail B eastward. It follows North Brook, which is somewhat smaller than Green Brook and has separate headwaters. It meanders through a flat-bottom valley that is bordered by low but very steep-sided hills. I am surprised: most of ridge-crest of the Husdon Palisades as fairly flat, but the region containing the Sanctuary has significant topography. I reach the cliff-edge in a few minutes. The North Brook disappears over it; I suppose it makes a waterfall, but if so, I cannot see it from my vantage. The view of the Hudson River is a little disappointing, for although I can see it and the City of Yonkers on its eastern shore, the view is interrupted by trees. I then continue on Trail B south to where Green Brook plunges over the cliff-edge to make Greenbrook Falls. Here a narrow prong of a rock just out past the falls, allowing a good view. Being afternoon, the falls are in shadow, but I can see that the cliff face is covered with ice formations. I then continue along Trail B, which follows Green Brook upstream. I spot a group of about a half-dozen White-Tailed Deer standing on a hilltop. I join the Gravel Road at the dam and take it back to my car. About an hour.

Tallman Mountain State Park. In the morning, Dallas and I park at the South Lot, where the bicycle path intersects Route 9W in Palisades NY. Dallas cross-country skis along the bicycle path, but I don my instep crampons and walk along the hiking trails. The snow, which has been on the ground for more than a week, is full of animal tracks. I walk down to the little stream near the parking lot and examine some tracks left by a raccoon (or so I suppose). I then take the Long Path (blazed in blue) to the larger of Tallman Park’s ponds (which is still pretty small). This pond is set is a natural gulley and is impounded by several levees that date back to a time when the land was being prepared for a tank farm that, thankfully, was never built. The pond is solidly frozen and crossed by many deer tracks, so I walk across its snow-covered surface. Many bushes grow along the shore. I take one of the levee-top trails back to the Bicycle Path and then connect with the trail that follows the cliff-edge. I pass another small pond, set right at the precipice. I don’t detect any water beneath the snow cover; it has dried out completely in the dry fall that we had last year. I stop at the East Overlook, a rocky ledge that juts out towards the Hudson River. It affords a very nice view of Piermont Marsh, directly below the cliff, the Tappan Zee Bridge to the north and the Westchester shore. The edges of the river are covered with ice and while the channel is open, plates of ice are floating in the current. I follow the cliff edge trail northwards for about a half mile and then bushwhack over to the Bicycle Path. I rejoin Dallas, who has skied as far as the South Picnic Area and is now on her way back. About and hour.