My walk this week was disturbed by gang violence on Franklin Street again. The violence came out of nowhere. I was peacefully walking down the street when I heard a guttural sound that was most disturbing. Looking around I saw the attack. Crows attacking a hawk. The hawk was somewhat smaller than the typical hawk in Stamford. I did not realize the hawk could make such a sorrowful noise. Luckily the attack was soon over, and the hawk flew away.
This was my second attack by crows in the last few months. Last time they attacked a raven. You would have thought a child was being attacked from the screaming of the raven.
I have learned that crows are very territorial and will attack other competing birds in the territory.
This event is another reason I enjoy walking It is amazing all the wildlife hidden in plain sight in Stamford. Only by walking do I observe a small percentage of Wildlife that coexists with us in Stamford, CT.
My biggest hope is to see a bear some day. They are in the area.
Stamford is a great town to walk in. However, there is one issue that is annoying to me and my fellow travelers. Horn honking. Based on my observations 99% of horn honking is unnecessary and downright obnoxious
The other day I had three honking incidents. The first one involving me. I waited for the light to turn green and started walking. The lead car was turning left and was waiting for me to cross the road to turn. The driver in the second car started to honk the horn not knowing I was crossing the street. I hear this horn action all the time.
The second incident was at Bedford and Forest. A car was blocking another car from turning into Forest. They laid on the HORN for at least twenty seconds. It did no good at all. The car on Forest Street couldn’t move.
The third horn incident was sad and ironic. I was waiting on Broad Steet for the light to change to cross the intersection. The second car honked at the first car to make a right on red. Finally, the car turned right, and the honker followed the car and almost hit the car crossing the intersection. The driver was too angry to look and see if it was clear to make a right on red.
I wish I could say this day was unusual. Sadly, it is not.
I seriously started walking when the Covid Lockdown started. I had to get out of the house. Staying home all the time was not an option for me. I have always enjoyed walking and quite often would walk three to five miles at a time before Covid.
My first walk was six miles from the New York border to my house. I was soon walking seven to eight miles a day and it was a struggle. Climbing the stairs when I arrived home after a walk was challenging. I kept on walking and after a month I could enjoy the walks.
Now earlier this week I walked 17.5 miles in one day. I had no trouble doing the walk and I did not feel exhausted at the end of the day. It is amazing the difference between then and now.
Then my plans were to walk all over Stamford. Now I walk all over Stamford and the greater Stamford area.
As I am writing the blog, I am on the train to New York City. I will get off at 125th Street and take a subway up to the George Washington Bridge for an appointment. After the appointment I will walk North to the Inwood section of Manhattan and cross over the Harlem River into the Bronx borough. I will Continue walking till I reach the Fordham train station and catch the train to Stamford.
Back Then I would never have planned a walk like this. Now it is second nature.
When I walk around Stamford, I observe a lot. I also see trends starting. One trend I see emerging is left turn on red. I know it is against the law. Yet it is happening.
This spring I saw a new trend happening. The D*Dat crowd (drive, drink and toss) was changing from Bud Light to Modelo. There were Modelo cans everywhere and just a few Bud Light cans tossed to the side of road.
I can now report that the D*Dat crowd is back to drinking Bud Light. There are Bud Light cans everywhere again. I plan on picking up the cans soon. I will let you know how much money I will get returning the cans
The other day I went to the Pound Ridge Reservation for a hike with my grandson. He enjoys finding reptiles and amphibians. We had to drive as there is no way to take mass transit or walk to the park.
The Pound Ridge Reservation is north of Stamford and the drive will take about 30 minutes. The reservation is a wonderful place to hike. It is big almost 5,000 acres. There are miles of trails. The high point in the reservation is nine hundred feet and Lookout Point is over six hundred feet up with a majestic view to the west.
There is an abundance of wildlife in the reservation. We saw toads, newts, birds, fish and heard frogs on our hike. We also saw signs warning us about bears. Our goal that day was to find the holy grail of creatures a Copperhead snake.
I have been going to the reservation all my life and I have always been told there are copperhead snakes there. Copperhead snakes are venomous. However, if you are bitten by one, they will only make you feel extremely sick I have been told. Anyway, I have never seen one in all my years of going.
This time we were going to Lookout Point. We had a ranger last year told us there are Copperheads at Lookout Point. Our goal was to find a Copperhead.
We went first to the river. There was a class working the river, so we decided to walk to the next bridge, look for turtles, and fish there. On the walk we spotted
toads. Eleven of them to be precise. We get to the bridge and look down on the river. No turtles. I turn to look at the other side and there sunning on the bridge rail is a Copperhead snake. What a beautiful sight. Finally, after all these years we spotted the snake.
We decided to still go to Overlook Point and try our luck there. We also wanted to go the Leatherman’s Cave which is close by to the point.
On the walk to the Point, we spotted two newts. The heavy rain the day before brought the newts out.
Reaching Overlook Point there are a group of young children with counselors there, having lunch.
The counselor comes up to us and says there is a Copperhead snake on the rock. She asks if we want to see it. Of course, we do. There it is again just beautiful. We wanted to have lunch at the bench, but the snake is two feet from the bench.
We move slightly to the right and sit on a rock to eat lunch only seven feet from the snake.
It was so surreal eating lunch and having a poisonous snake so close and just staring at us. Most snakes when they see a human just vanish. This Copperhead just stared at us the entire lunch. My grandson said he will never forget this lunch. Neither will I.
After lunch we head back to our car with a stop at the Leatherman’s Cave. There are beautiful rock outcroppings along the walk.
All together we walked almost five miles with many stops.
I highly recommend the Pound Ridge Reservation. They have three-sided camp buildings that you can stay the night in if you want to explore nature even more.
The trails are mostly in heavy forest. Even with hot temperatures it was pleasant walking on the trails.
Once upon a weekend strolling, I came upon a raven squawking. Okay enough rhyming. Though I did see and hear a raven last weekend.
Recently my grandson had told me he had seen a raven. I asked what the difference is between a raven and a crow is. He told me the raven is bigger. I can add their caw is louder and more piercing.
I was walking down Summer Street and I hear what I thought was a crow warning the other crows that I am approaching. The sound was off. Looking up at the tree I spot the crow. It was quite big for a crow. Then I realized this bird must be a raven.
Walking past the raven I am smiling. this is one of the joys of walking. Then the piercing scream started. I thought it was a child at first. Looking up I see the raven being attacked by a murder of crows and it is screaming. The crows were relentless attacking the raven. I wonder what the raven did to provoke them.
The piercing screams from the raven continued. The raven landed in a tree branch at that point. There seem to be a standoff at this point between the birds. Unfortunately, I needed to leave at this time. I can’t tell you what the outcome was.
This amazing incident probably happens all the time in Stamford. This is just one reason to walk. You never know what you will see, hear or experience.
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.
Shore Road
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
Stamford By Foot 