Mohonk Mountain

mohonk house
Originally uploaded by kalz.

Me, my dad and my brother Jimmy went to one of my favorite places the other day...Mohonk Mountain! We were planning on horseback riding so started to head for the barn on the reservation. We walked through Hugenot, Fox Path, Bruin & the Garden Path Trails and discovered the Barn Museum. This place had some ol' treasures from the Mohonk House, like furniture, tools, signs, an elevator with mirrors & a couch seat, books, school desks, paintings, carriages...it was amazing! My dad recognized some things he grew up with on the the island, in Greece, like the ice box, kitchen supplies, tools and a knitting wheel. We must of been in this place for at least an hour, it was so cool...oh, and dad took a horseshoe to nail above the door at home.

We decided to ride next time and headed for the house, went to the gift shop and got batteries for my camera. Then dad & Jimmy fed the coy in the lake. In the summertime you can take the row boats out on the lake, we did that last year...this place is beau-ti-ful!!

Then we proceeded to The Labyrinth, where I remembered it being no more than half an hour, it was well over an hour...scary, dangerous, but fun, a rush for sure. We followed the red arrows, went under rocks, over rocks, climbed rocks, wooden ladders and crossed small wooden bridges. About half way, we came upon a stairwell that led to one of the gazeebos and dad waited there for me & Jimmy to finish the labyrinth and conquer through the crevice, aka 'the lemon squeeze'. The crevice has these narrow ladders you must climb and literally squeeze through, at some parts, to get to the top of the mountain. It seems impossible but this tested our balance, flexibility, endurance, strength and we bonded through this, which was really nice. We had to think of how we would get through the next obstacle and help each other get there. We made it a top Mohonk Mountain, and it was awe-some!!

It started to get dark out so we headed back, met up with dad who waited about half an hour & was worried about us. We went back on the trails through the garden...the garden in the springtime, with it's flowers is a canvas of these vibrant colors you just want to jump into, of purples, yellows, pinks, blues, whites, greens...like the colors of the trees this time of the year. I found myself mesmirized at the colors of reds, yellows, golds, and greens on the trees up there...even when I drive past the trees on an open highway or parkway, so pretty.

Well, we ended up at the maze of trees, then it was getting darker and darker...we couldn't take the trails any longer because the leaves were disguising the rocks and we were tripping over them. Without a flashlight, or map we got off the Fox Path trail and onto a road where we could see and walk a little better to the parking lot, out of Mohonk to the Guilded Otter for dinner & brews that are brewed at the restaurant, the Rail Trail brew is good..it's citrus-ie, then home. Will be back to Mohonk Mountain soon, love this place...it's in New Paltz, NY.

Click on the picture above to see more pictures!

Link about Mohonk, www.mohonk.com