Escape to Escarpment

Spring has arrived (we hope!) in Saugerties and we left our pots back at the ranch so we could run and play a little. We are close to New York State's Catskill Park so we hopped into the car and drove about 5-6 miles before we started hiking. There is still snow on the ground up there from the last 5' dump while we were at the ACC Baltimore show in late February. We went up to the South/North Lake area where we found many people basking in the sun or walking their dogs. As we rounded the lakes, there was a sign mentioning the actual site where Thomas Cole painted his 'Lake with Dead Trees' painting.
 Cole was responsible for drawing attention to the natural beauty of the area and helped form the 'Hudson Valley School of Painters' which was the nation's first home grown art movement.

This is the spot. If you look carefully you can see the connection in the center between the North and South Lakes. The mountain in the distance is Roundtop.

After walking around the lake a bit, we decided to meander up to the Escarpment trail to check it out.
The views on this trail are as beautiful as most in the Catskills without a lot of climbing because it looks over the Hudson Valley. If you look, you can see the Hudson River.

When we turned into the forest again, we ran into some large slippery ice patches. We were headed for Mary's Glen to make a circle out of the hike. Along the way we found waterfalls where there aren't usually waterfalls:

As we walked down, it became obvious that even navigating the trail would be a challenge.

We eventually reached the bridge over THE Ashbury Falls of Mary's Glen and then hiked down to the bottom for a photo.

So now you know....... we do play hooky now and then!