Fall — Andy Arthur.org

Autumn at Vromans Nose

Andy | October 11, 2009

After visiting Mount Usayantha earlier in the afternoon, I drove down to Vromans Nose to climb it, and take in the views on a wonderfully warm fall afternoon.

The colors along the hills gracing Vromans Nose where somewhat faded and past peak, but they still where quite amazing.

As I looked down along NY 30 and the Octagon House.

Then proceeded down the cliff.

A map of Vromans Nose. I drew these trails up from memory, they should be rough estimates of location of trails and not exactly GPS tracks.

Joesph Davis State Park was one of the series of parks built in Niagara County during the 1950s when the county under went major changes, as the Fort Niagara Military base was turned over to state hands and then turned into the Robert Moses Parkway, and a series of parks. On weekends in the summer, there is a fee to park a car in the picnic area, and hunting is allowed in season.

Sadly, most of this area was not well maintained or even well developed. The land is flat, but it is still interesting with a series of small ponds and trails that wind through it.

There was all kinds of wildlife through out the area, including this nice looking buck.

This pond was pretty.

As the evening approached, the sky darkened over the east, but sunrays lit up the foreground.

Here is a map of the hike.

View Hikes of 2009 in a larger map

September

Andy | September 1, 2009

The month of September is when the summer season officially winds down. It’s also when it starts getting a bit cooler and clearer our, and when we start seeing the first hints of fall’s beauty.

It’s the time of high-harvest and a closing out of summer. Kids go back to school this month, and young adults go back to college. Primary day comes and goes, political candidates focus on their general election.

Leaves start to fall. The humidity drops even faster. Some of the nicest weather of the entire year comes about. It promises to be a pleasurable time.

October is Here

Andy | October 1, 2007

I look around and take a step out in the brisk October weather. I never expected this month to come so soon.

It was so warm out. It felt like summer for most of the previous month. Certainly not early fall as many of us consider September to be. Yet, fall came and now we are well into it.

The color is poping up. But it’s not as clean yellow, red, or orange as we normally would expect. It’s been too dry to get the beautiful colors this year, so we are seeing more brown. And that brown is spreading all over from crops to the fields.

It was not an excessively dry September of August, as we had some bursts rains, and our early summer was wet. Yet, it still left many with smaller apples, less lush hay, and pumpkins that were not as big or attractive as they might have been other years. But that’s how it goes with farming.

We have to look forward to October and the beautiful weather it will bring. Leaves are still not at their peak and all the crops are still not in. Frost is still a few weeks away, particularly with our warm weather. But clear skies are on the way. So enjoy your October.