[Journal entry for November 6, 2011; Lake Lawahunta] The day began with frost and is spectacularly clear, a welcome relief after October’s foul weather, which culminated in last week’s snow storm. The fall foliage is past peak, but full of beautiful ambers, browns and an occasional red. The trees along the Palisades Parkway and Seven Lakes Drive are really quite spectacular. I park at the big lot by Silvermine Lake in Harriman State Park (NY), built to service the now defunct ski area, and walk south along the road for a few minutes until I reach Lake Nawahunta. It is a relatively small body of water, impounded by a low earth fill dam on the west side. The east bank, along the road, is in shade as I arrive and is still covered by a few inches of snow. I stand for a few minutes on the dam near the spillway, watching the water in the little creek flow over stones. I then walk the length of the dam, past an old iron valve that I suppose controls water flow. The path atop the dam terminates in a grassy peninsula that commands a very picturesque view of the lake. The morning sun has warmed up the grass, making the spot very pleasant. A stand of White Pine is on the opposite side of the lake to my right, but deciduous trees are across and to my left, growing up the side of Stockbridge Mountain. They still have some of their leaves. I then walk the lakeshore counterclockwise, beginning with the Minomine hiking trail (blazed in yellow) that heads west. I cross the northernmost of the inflow streams, stepping from rock to rock. I take a little detour to examine a Phragmites marsh that seems to be the source of the stream. I then enter the pine woods and walk along an informal trail along the lakeshore. I pass a largish animal den, dug into the ground beneath tree roots. The lake shore is littered with the skeletons of pines, some half sunk in the water. Some are bare; others are adorned by grasses and other small plants. I cross another inlet stream, smaller than the first, at the southern edge of the pine woods. I then bushwhack through relatively difficult terrain, full of boulders and thorn bushes, finding just one spot where I can approach the lakeshore. I reach a marshy area that parallels Seven Lakes Drive that contains another largish inset stream. It lack stones and so is difficult to cross; my feet are rather wet when I reach the road on the other side. I walk the eastern shoulder of the road back north. It is elevated above the road level and provides a nice perspective on the lake. I then take a detour through a large derelict parking lot, south of the one where I’m parked, also built for ski traffic. The asphalt of its surface is very weathered and cracked, yet still more or less intact. Grasses, bushes and small trees grow on its surface. Some of the vegetation seems to have captured little piles of gravel and soil with its roots; others are growing out of the cracks. Much of the vegetation is on a rectilinear grid, which gives what is superficially a field a rather odd appearance. The outlet stream wraps around the southeast edge of the parking lot. Hummocky grasses and bushes with red fall foliage grow along its banks. I follow it back to the Silvermine picnic area, where it descends through a series of cataracts among large boulders. I’ve now completed the look and am back at my car. I stop at the Hayward Deli in Sloatsburg NY for coffee. I didn’t notice any birds while at the lake, but I sight a great blue heron flying above the NYS Thruway as I drive home. About an hour and a half.