[Journal entry for August 4, 2014; Spring Pond and Little Long Pond, Harriman State Park, New York]. The weather this afternoon is very pleasant. The skies are partly sunny, with blue sky showing between puffy cumulous clouds. The air is dry and cool – a welcome break from the rainy weather of the last week. I park at Lake Kanawauke in the early afternoon, and walk Route 106 east, past Kanawauke Circle to Spring Pond. I visited this pond on a grey afternoon a few days ago, but I want to see it again in sunshine. I stand on the dam of this small impoundment and admire the clouds reflected in the pond’s still waters. Much of the pond’s surface is covered with lily pads and the white dots of Milfoil blossoms. The stonework of Building 914, a small cabin containing an old water filtration system and now falling into ruin, is highlighted by the sun.

I then walk back west, past Lake Kanawauke, to Little Long Pond. It is really just the westernmost arm of Lake Kanawauke, and is connected to it by a channel that passes beneath the highway, under a bridge high enough to admit a kayaker but not anything bigger. Its shores are overgrown with water lily and cattail, but unlike Spring Pond, its central portion is open water. A few kayakers are paddling about. I can hear the happy voices of children at the Camp K-20 swim area, across the lake. I walk along Route 106, admiring the lake and examining the wildflowers and other vegetation along the lakeshore. Bees and butterflies are visiting Thistle blossoms. I spot a Bull Frog in the shallows. I pick out several areas along the lakeshore suitable for photography and sit, in sequence, a long while at each, waiting for the sun to shine through between the clouds. I like the tall cumulous clouds in my photographs, for they add drama, but I also need the sun lighting up the pond and its surroundings. My final stop is the peninsula at the eastern end of the pond. Its ledges offer great views of the lake and of a small island just offshore. The island is mostly rock ledge, but hosts one substantial conifer tree and a few bushes. I meet a fellow hiker who says that, an hour ago, an eagle landed in a tree on the peninsula and stayed a long while before again flying off. I’ve missed it.

I head back to my car. The clouds have been building all throughout the afternoon, forming impressive towers beyond Lake Kanawauke but also raising the possibility of a thunderstorm. I drive off while the day is still very pleasant, passing a White Tailed Deer standing beside the road. The clouds seem to be limited to the Highlands. Once I am south of them I am back in sunnier skies once again.

About two and a half hours.