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wintergreen forest hike
Monday, September 15 2025
setting: rural Hurley Township, Ulster County, New York
The King of the Lunchroom Court is absent on Mondays, and, since he insists on dominating the conversation, his absence generally opens things up for unusual discussions. Today, though, there were only two other guys in the Court, and when I arrived, they were having the most basic, dull conversation one can have between two bros: one about last night's football game(s). I kept silent and ate my lunch (leftover pilaf, the very one Gretchen had made just before the dogs returned yesterday evening in the Adirondacks). At some point though, the project manager turned to me and asked about the picture of mushrooms he'd sent me Friday (I'm known in my workplace as being something of a mushroom expert). "Yeah, they were just puffballs," I said. I then brought up the story about the recent sentencing of the woman in Australia who poisoned her in-laws with Amanita mushrooms. (She got life in prison.) From there conversation turned to ladders and then using leaf blowers to clean out gutters. (Home maintenance, with an emphasis on lawn care, is probably the single most common topic in the Lunchroom Court.)
On the drive back home, I stopped at MyTown Marketplace mostly to get black tea and soup crackers, but while there I also got bagels, tempeh, beans, thick spaghetti, and a 12 pack of a strong IPA.
Back home on Hurley Mountain, I took both dogs down the Stick Trail about a half mile and then climbed the highest part of the escarpment to the west to return home via the Chamomile Headwaters Trail. I kept chewing wintergreen leaves as I walked, which made for an unexpectedly pleasant mouth experience.
We had so many leftovers that I didn't bother making dinner. I ended up eating soup leftover from last week and Gretchen made herself an arugula-chickpea salad and ate a leftover tamale.
Since I'd been up unusually late last night, tonight I went to bed a little after 8:00pm so I could pay down my sleep deficit. (I've never been someone who considers sleep a luxury.)
A potential den site beneath a semi-fallen tree along the Stick Trail south of the Chamomile. Click to enlarge.
Neville wading through the Japanese stiltgrass on the Stick Trail just north of the Chamomile, heading south. Click to enlarge.
A mysterious nest-like shape in the highlands of the Chamomile headwaters. Click to enlarge.
A big pickerel frog along the Chamomile Headwaters Trail. Click to enlarge.
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