When I was younger, I tended to take more anti-vacations then vacations. Vacations, as least as I conceived in years past, are more about getting out and doing things. They are about days of hiking up mountains, kayaking, exploring new lands. They are about rush and hussling to get as much possible into a short period of time.
In contrast, an anti-vacation is about relaxation, camping, and doing as little possible. It’s about not watching the time every minute, but instead just de-stressing and allowing the time to fly by without care. It’s about sitting back, reading, drinking beer, and watching the wind blow through the trees.
An anti-vacation is not about new experiences. It’s not about going to great places, or doing remarkable things. It’s about being lazy, and just enjoying oneself without doing a lot of work. It’s a cold beer, it’s a campfire in the woods. It’s a true vacation, even if it seems more like an anti-vacation then a vacation.
For today’s fodder, we will be checking out some of the land features of Partridge Run from Google Maps Satellite pictures.
1) The Gulf.
The Gulf is one of the most notable features of Partridge Run. A deep cut into the land, it’s cliffs are steep. Going in their, you find plants and animals that can survive only with darkness for long periods of time.
This is the gravel pit off of Peasley Road. It’s the biggest gravel pit at Partridge Run, and always an interesting place to explore, with shot up targets and other interesting places.
We all know the Empire Plaza is big. But how big is it compared to the vast farm lands and forests in the western half of Albany County? Let’s start with an arterial photo in Albany at 500 feet per inch, and then go out to the Switzkill Valley in Berne.
The comparison of the vastness of Rural America as represented by the farm lands of the Switzkill Valley compared to dense urban Downtown Albany, shows how vast the rural portions of our country really are. And this image of Switzkill Valley represents the land occupied by a couple dozen people and half a dozen farms.
I got up early this past Sunday morning to drive out to Partridge Run. While the morning did not work out for photography, I drove out to Beaver Road and parked my pickup down at the Lower Pond, and went out for a walk around the pond.
Something hit me about this area. It’s not like I haven’t been here, dozens of other times. Yet, somehow it’s different at this hour of morning. It’s quieter, more peaceful, more open. It’s also true that it’s been a number of weeks since I’ve been up to Partridge Run, and somehow it’s solitude touched me at the deepest level.
There is nothing up here, but mountains, the pond, and the set of three, Great Blue Harrons that spent the night sleeping on the shore. The sky lets pieces of blue appear between the clouds, any to d the sun continues to try to peak out in the east. The weather may not be perfect, but it sure is beautiful up here.
I honestly do not know what I would do if there was not places like Partridge Run to go up and explore, and find some solitude. The world would be so empty, so lacking just largely unrefined spaces for people to go and be just for a couple of hours.
I spend so much of my life looking at mountains. I’ve spent most of my life living in the mountains, but that’s not what fascinates me the most — it’s the distant mountains. I stare and stare, looking south at the Catskills or looking west towards the many hills in Schoharie County or the Taconics to the east. Or up in Plattsburgh, it’s the Adirondack Mountains to the south and the east, and the Green Mountains to the east.
Mountains are just piles of rock pushed up by the glaciers. When your up in them most of the time they aren’t particularly special. They usually have lousy soil for farming, and it’s difficult to build buildings on them. They are good places for timber and wild life, and for those tough enough to try their hand at farming them.
There also is a human element to mountains. People work to conqueror them. They try their hardest to farm them, to climb them, to build highways up and over them. Sometimes quite unsuccessfully. As humans, it’s our job not only to conqueror but to protect them. We sometimes do a good job at that other times it left to their rugged terrain to protect themselves.
None of that ends my fascination with mountains. They are just so beautiful as those big blue hills in the distance, tinted that color for the atmosphere. Mountains always are something that are calling you to explore and at the same time, reminding you how truly small you are in comparison. They also are a challenge to climb them and do something bigger.
I spend most of my time in the mountains. But there are always mountains where I’m not on or that I have not conquered. There always are distant hills unexplored. I will go there some day, and I will climb them. I will see more how mountain people live, how the farm and embrace the land. Yet, for now I will just look into the distance.
