Hiking at Sylvan Glen

Spring is in the air! I had a fantastic time hiking at the Sylvan Glen preserve yesterday. This interesting little preserve is in Westchester county near the Putnam county border. It’s close to Yorktown. I hiked about 4 miles with the hiking group I was with, which didn’t include any joggling since I did that earlier in the day and I didn’t want to distract anyone.

You can get fantastic views in some spots within the park, but be careful. The trails in this park can get very steep in some spots, so you need to be in good shape to make your way through.

The area near the gorge was once an important quarry. It has been abandoned for several decades, but there are still big piles of rock all over the place.

Sylvan Glen also has one of the oldest trees for miles around. This tree is several centuries old. It is probably a white oak, judging by the leaf litter around the tree. It’s been said by some arborists that oaks specialize in not specializing – hence, they grow almost everywhere. I hope this tree survives for another thousand years.

You know its spring when skunk cabbage(Symplocarpus foetidus) starts peaking through the ground. In the north-eastern U.S, it is very often the first green you will see in early spring/late winter. And yes, the plant does live up to its name.

It is an amazing plant due to its ability to produce a lot of heat. According to Craig Holdrege at the Nature Institute:

A couple of times I’ve been lucky enough to see spathes growing up through a thin layer of ice, the ice melted around the spathe in a circular form. This is an indication of skunk cabbage’s remarkable capacity to produce heat when flowering. If you catch the right time, you can put your finger into the cavity formed by the spathe and when you touch the flower head, your finger tip warms up noticeably. Biologist Roger Knutson found that skunk cabbage flowers produce warmth over a period of 12-14 days, remaining on average 20° C (36° F) above the outside air temperature, whether during the day or night. During this time they regulate their warmth, as a warm-blooded animal might!

Skunk cabbage is at best marginally edible if you boil it in 10 changes of water and leave it to dry for a few days. In other words, don’t bother. Native Americans would only eat it when nothing else was available.

If you try to eat it raw or with only a little cooking, the oxalic acid(partially responsible for the plant’s smell) crystals in the leaves will make you feel like you are having holes burned in your tongue.

What is oxalic acid? Oxalic acid is a powerful anti-nutrient that can block the absorption of calcium, iron and other important minerals. Although spinach(and some other vegetables) doesn’t have as much oxalic acid as skunk cabbage, it still has a significant amount. This is one of the reasons I don’t eat much spinach(I prefer kale and cabbage), and strongly advice others to avoid juicing spinach. Cooking spinach can reduce its oxalic acid content, but it won’t eliminate it.

The hike ended just after sunset. I had a great time with some very fun people, although we didn’t get to see much wildlife.

Ruins of house overlooking Long Island Sound at Rye Marshlands

This is all that remains of a house that once stood here many decades ago, in Rye, New York. You can see the Long Island Sound in the background. Even less is known of this place than the ruins of the Parson’s Mansion up the road. There are no ghosts around to tell its story, at least I’ve never met any at this preserve.

These ruins are located in the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye. It’s a not a large nature preserve like the Rockefeller Preserve, but it is a great place to go bird-watching, or joggling, except in the more swampy areas. In the summer the mosquitoes may overwhelm you.

If you very lucky, you may spot a whale by the shore. You will almost certainly see deer if you spend more than a few minutes in this small island of wilderness. Unfortunately, lots of deer means lots of deer ticks that spread Lyme Disease, so take precautions so you don’t get bitten. The area around the heavily forested preserve has a lot of stately mansions, some of which are architectural marvels. The feel of the area is a little reminiscent of Newport, Rhode Island, but the mansions aren’t as grand or historic, and the area isn’t nearly as touristy. It is mostly locals who go hiking in this nature spot. New England is a stone’s throw away, just a few miles north, so this area has a “New England” kind of feel to it.

The sea breeze during the warmer months is simply delicious. They sometimes have guided tours, and it is only 26 miles(41.8 km) north from the big city.

Fantastic time joggling along Croton Trail and Lyndhurst

I had a great time joggling along the Croton Aqueduct trail to Lyndhurst. It was perfect joggling weather. This trail follows the path of a now defunct aqueduct that once provided water to New York City. It zigzags through much of western Westchester county, through several historic villages. Some stretches of it are densely wooded, and many houses along the trail are quite grand and architecturally significant. In some spots, you can get spectacular views of the Hudson. It is often crowded with lots of runners, cyclists, walkers and bird-watchers in calm weather. You may encounter deer along some parts of the trail.

Luckily, hurricane Sandy didn’t destroy a lot trees along the trail. The trail mostly runs on top of the old aqueduct, and so you can almost never see it. You can even go under the aqueduct it in a few places, but be careful.

It’s large alright, but it’s not Downtown Abbey(Highclere Castle)

It runs through Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, villages made famous by Washington Irving’s novels(it also runs through Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-On-Hudson and Yonkers). The Lyndhurst castle is the most important historical mansion along the trail.