Journey's end: The happy smiles on the faces of those of us who successfully completed our 10+ mile hike.
Sunday, October 20, the day we picked for our Richard Buegler Fall 10-mile Greenbelt Hike, could not have been more perfect. First, it was the weather, a beautiful calm autumnal day with crisp blue skies, bright sunshine, and almost late summer temperatures. Passing the pond at Willowbrook Park in the early morning gave a preview of what the day offered in the shimmering water reflecting back sunlight and the lovely image of colorful leaves.
I was met at the carousel by 6 eager, friendly adults ready to roam the width and breadth of the Greenbelt led by me and Don—a respectable number making for easy camaraderie. Today’s walk was planned in advance to take us on the White trail up to the Greenbelt Nature Center, continuing down to the Meisner Dam; the Yellow trail to the Moses' Mountain (Paulo’s Peak) summit; then the Greta Moulton trail up to the top of the Nevada Avenue picnic area of High Rock Park for lunch. The route continued down the Blue trail/Paw trail to Walker Pond and then through Egbertville Ravine. Instead of going back to the Nature Center, the route took us on the Red trail deep into the woods of the Greenbelt and out onto the multi-use trail back to Willowbrook Park and to our starting point, which clocked in at almost 11 miles.
Our GPS-recorded hike, courtesy of Don. The beginning and ending was at the Carousel at Willowbrook Park, at the upper left.
Among the most important points in leading a Greenbelt walk to new and veteran hikers is to explain the concept and history of the Greenbelt. Like New York State’s Adirondack Park, the Greenbelt is an amalgamation of city parks, state land holdings and private parcels, these last having an overlay of state restrictions. The model works for this urban park, where the goal is the preservation of open space and natural habitat. We also pointed out to our fellow hikers that we were hiking on trails through the mapped and designated Willowbrook and Richmond Parkways. Official park signage attests to this, and it’s a reminder that the state can dispose of these corridors at will, in any way it sees fit. We at Protectors are not complacent and we remain ever vigilant in our mission to protect and defend against natural habitat and open space destruction.
This map shows the still-mapped proposed Willowbrook and Richmond Parkways. Astute readers will recognize many of the projects already completed in the right-of-way, making the reality of a future parkway tenuous at best. So why not demap the land and transfer it to Parks?
But on this glorious fall Sunday, the Greenbelt was perfect, full of groups of people, of families with children, of seekers of Nature. When we reached the Nature Center trail, we were met by a group going in the opposite direction, led by Park Rangers, and we chatted for a bit. It turns out that a festive birthday celebration was being held at the Nature Center, sponsored by a Greenbelt Conservancy board member, and we were heartily invited to stop in and partake of refreshment. Several of us stopped briefly for coffee and a snack and thanked the host for his hospitality and generosity.
Birthday feast at the Greenbelt Nature Center
We took the White trail down to the Meisner Dam and discussed the wonderful concept of the Bluebelt system, designed to both create habitat and manage stormwater. How fortunate Staten Island is that it still had plenty of open space to utilize for the creation of Bluebelts. Our hike continued with a stop at Moses’ Mountain (Paulo’s Peak), with its expansive view of the fall canopy, and later up to High Rock for lunch at the picnic tables at the top of Nevada Avenue.
It was only later that we got deep into the woods, and only after we passed through the wild scenery of Egbertville Ravine. Here was the heart of the Greenbelt, the woods of LaTourette Park, where the Greenbelt comes into its own. Here, set apart from parking lots, roads and infrastructure, it was only us and the forest, and the forest settled around us like a welcomed friend. The quiet nurtured us and the golden slant of the afternoon light made us want to linger as we became aware of the fading day.
As we neared the end of the White trail, by the archery range at Willowbrook Park, we were thrilled to see a Cooper’s hawk hunting a black squirrel. We think this is a resident hawk, as we saw it in the same area when we did a runthrough of our walk two weeks before. The hawk stalked the squirrel, repeatedly swooping low and finally directly pounced to get its prize. The hawk landed on a fallen log, watched us guardedly, possessively, and then commenced to eat its prey’s head. You can watch a juvenile Cooper’s hawk actively worrying a squirrel on the YouTube video here. It shows the hunting display, almost a dance, we witnessed with our hawk.
Cooper's hawk
It was a parting gift from the Greenbelt on a day of many wonderful experiences. Won’t you join us next time?
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