Author: Layne Rodney

I went to Bear Mountain State Park the other day with my grandson. We planned to go hiking and look for reptiles and wildlife.

The Bear Mountain Park is on the west side of the Hudson River. An interesting fact is that the Appalachian Trail runs through the park.

Within minutes of arriving at the park we spotted a serious hiker. I asked him if he was walking the Appalachian Trail. He was. He had begun his hiking journey at the start of the trail in Georgia in March. It was now early July. He walked about 15 Miles a day. Bear Mountain was the 1400-mile point and he had over six hundred miles to go. His plan was to finish in Maine by September. We wished him well and continued our hike.

Thirty minutes later we spot another serious hike coming down the mountain as we are going up. He was also hiking the Appalachian Trail. He had started in April and was averaging twenty miles a day. I asked him where he slept at night. He said either cabins or a tent.

Both hikers looked very fit without an extra pound on them. I would have liked to talk more about their journey. However, I did not want to keep them from their journey.

Bear Mountain Park is a great place to visit. You have hiking, fishing, swimming, and beautiful sights. West Point is just up the road from the park. We did see two five-line skinks. They are lizards

A strange occurrence happened to me this morning.  The system worked. I was walking on the sidewalk on Summer Street and I heard a bell. My mind clicked and I moved to the side and turned around. There was a person on an electric scooter. He passed me and thanked me. The strange occurrence is every thing worked according to the law.  Connecticut law say bikes and scooters need to have a bell and let you know they are passing you.

This almost never happens. I have been hit twice by bikes and have had numerous near misses.  You don’t hear bikes or scooters when they wiz by you.

That is why this was a strange occurrence. Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend among my fellow Stamford Travelers.

If you look at a map of Stamford with the surrounding towns, you will see that Stamford is a rectangle. Not a perfect rectangle yet good enough to be called a rectangle. That means there are four corners for Stamford. Have you been to them? Do you know where the four corners of Stamford are?

I have been to them and here are my findings.

The Southeast Corner is Cove Island by the Holly Pond Dam. As you can see, we have apartment living for the birds in this corner. Cove Island is very accessible by car, bus and of course by walking. If you haven’t been to Cove yet you definitely need to make the journey.

The Southwest Corner is located at Shore Road. There is a sign saying you are now in Greenwich to indicate the corner.  There is not that much to see at this

corner.  Close by is Waterside.  There are some hidden public spaces.

The Northeast Corner is Trinity Pass at the river flowing into Laurel Reservoir. I

am most familiar with this corner. I grew up in Pound Ridge and would often take Trinity Pass to High Ridge to visit Stamford. By the way if you take Trinity Pass to the end you will pass two of Stamford Reservoirs with a third very close by. Also, Scotts Corners has Friday night Food Trucks in the summer.

Now the last corner Northwest.  I believe very few Stamford citizens have been to this corner. I only made it there to write this article.  The Northwest Corner is where Taconic Road ends and intersects with Banksville Road. At this intersection you have Stamford, Greenwich and North Castle New York.

Driving up Taconic Road is interesting to say the least. On your left side is Greenwich and on the right side is Stamford.  There are beautiful Mansions, houses and horse farms. If you turn off Taconic to East Middle Patent Road, you can go to the Mianus Gorge Preserve which is definitely worth the visit and walk.

I am planning on going back to this part of Stamford and try to talk to citizens there.  It must be strange living in this part of Stamford and pretty much unknown by the rest of Stamford.

This last Saturday was Greenwich morning.  The Bruce Museum was having their spring Craft festival and of course the Library exhibit “Sound Garden” was still playing.

I decided the best way to get to Greenwich was the Bus/Train combo. Consulting the schedules, the bus should arrive at the train station two minutes before the train departed. My thought was it’s possible.

Well. The bus was two minutes late. Still possible though.

Turning left off Atlantic Street I see the train arriving at the station. Doubtful at this time to make the train.

Pulling into the station the New Canaan train is there  with both doors open.  I make a dash to my train running thru the New Canaan train I arrived five seconds after they closed the doors. Oh well a good try. Luckily the next train arrives in thirty minutes. I am soon on the way to Greenwich.

By the way with the price of gas so high and the train ticket only $2.50 and the bus free it cost less to take mass transit and walk then do drive the car.

If you have the chance to go the Greenwich Library, you should check out the Sound Garden. The exhibit will be there until June 12th

I had no definite walking plans this Friday.  I did walk around Stamford in the morning and by lunch I had walked five miles

I decided to take the train to Greenwich in the afternoon and walk to the library.  They have an art gallery, and I was hoping to see the new art exhibit.

I was in luck.  The new exhibit had opened the day before. Eagerly walking up the stairs I wondered why the door was closed.  The exhibit was closed as they were doing a video-interview with the artist.  Just my luck it had to be closed when I arrived.  If I was suspicious, I would blame Friday the 13^th.

I proceeded to walk back to the train station and decided to walk down Greenwich Ave. Greenwich Ave is the shopping avenue to be on.

Walking down the avenue I walked by the Sorokin Art Gallery. The door was open. I came to see art and in I walked.  There were three people there, a couple and an employee. 

The couple was walking out when I told the employee I really liked the art being exhibited.  He ran after the couple.  They were the artist and his agent. They came back and we talked about his paintings

The artist is Daro Campanile. He mentioned that he had worked with Salvatore Dali early in his career.

The painting I liked the most he told me he just started painting and the theme came to him as he painted.  As I looked at the painting longer fine details kept showing up.

It was such a joy to see these paintings and talk to the artist.

Friday the 13^th became a very lucky day for me.

One of the joys of walking, you never know what you will experience or see.

I checked their website, and the paintings will be there Thru June 8th

This was the last day of my walk from Stamford to Secaucus.  This segment would start at the George Washington Bridge (GWB). The plan was to get off at 125^th Street and take the subway to the (GWB).

Well, I got on the wrong subway and luckily realized it.  I got off at 135^th Street. At this point I decided to deviate from my plan and walk all the way up to the GWB. It was so worth it.  There are brownstone buildings all over Harlem  in New York City.  I have seen many. These brownstones were just elegant.  In the middle of the walk is this beautiful house. I would recommend for everyone to

walk the upper West Side of NY sometime.

Crossing the Bridge, I was able to get a view of the New York Skyline. Unfortunately, you can see the cloud cover blocked a lot of the view.

Reaching New Jersey, I deviated again.  The plan was to walk along Route One. I chose the River Road instead which ran along the Hudson River and it was a potpourri of architecture.  Houses, Apartments, Giant Apartments, and a lot of commercial buildings.  Always with New York City in the background.

The final deviation was in West New York, New Jersey.  The terminal for the ferry to NYC was there.  Time to take the ferry back to Manhattan. The ferry was

ten minutes, and I met a person who travels the country by Motorcycle. He has ridden over 150,000 miles all over the country. He mentioned you see so much more when you get out of a car.  My thoughts exactly.

I believe my next walking journey will be the Hudson River starting in NYC. There are trains along the route.  Hopefully I will start this summer.  

When I started my Stamford to Secaucus Journey (STS) I knew I would find the walking journey interesting. However, the journey has been so joyous.  There was so much to experience and take in what a delight it was.

The walk followed the Boston Post Road when possible.  There were times when the Boston Post Road shared I-95 and the is no way to walk that road safely or legally

Greenwich was a surprise. I have walked there many times, yet I still discovered new things There is a plaque saying this site was a rock quarry and the stones were used in building the Brooklyn Bridge. Walking past the Mianus River and dam is always interesting

Route One in Rye was tree lined and lovely houses and quiet for a main road.  The High School is like a college campus. One surprise was Long Island Sound.  I was usually just a mile or two from it, but I rarely spotted it except in Mamaroneck.

New York City and New Jersey were pure delights.  I walked thru the Bronx. The part I started out was all industry. Warehouses, car-repair shops, and recycling buildings.  Slowly there were more dwellings and stores.  I had lunch at White

Castle.  They offer the square hamburger. It was delicious. Approaching the Cross Bronx expressway brought me back to familiar territory.  I followed the road until the East River.  There was no sidewalk to cross the river on Rt 95.  Instead, there was the High Bridge. This bridge was built in the 1830’s to bring water into the growing city.

The second day of traveling ended at the George Washington Bridge.  I took the famous A train down to 42^nd street to catch the train home.

Tomorrow, New Jersey and the conclusion.

I have started my walking journey to Secaucus New Jersey. The trip will follow the Boston Post Road into New York City and across the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey.

The trip starts at the Old Town Hall where this plaque is. It is nice starting where George Washington and Lafayette were.

I am looking forward to finding more bronze plaques and learning more about the history of the tri-state.

The journey begins.