As you may know I like to walk. On a good day I will walk ten to twelve miles. Last year my daily average was 11.1 per day for a total of 4051 miles for the year.
One of my joys of walking is seeing the sights surrounding us that we never see when driving.
Last week I saw a herd of deer in the swamp literally fifty feet from me. I never would have seen them driving.
Today I hit the jackpot. I was walking north on Atlantic Street coming up to the Old Town Hall. I looked up to see the time and there was a hawk watching the sights of downtown Stamford.
If I hadn’t been walking and looked up at that moment I never would have spotted the hawk. Quite often I will see a hawk landing on a tree. If I didn’t see them land, they would be invisible on the tree. They blend in very well sitting on trees.
In one sense I don’t like the leaves arriving in the Spring. The leaves camouflage the birds and animals too well.
My goal is to spot a bear. They are around in North Stamford.
These two pictures are some of the beautiful sights that I see when I walk.
The moss on the rock outcropping was staring right at me when I was walking on Mianus Road. Moss is everywhere in Stamford. But this moss just stood out. The green was just vivid, and the texture gives it a great 3-D effect. I was so tempted to take some of the moss. It is great to put moss on house plants to give them a more natural look. I did not. Removing moss from the rock would have taken away the beauty of rock.
The sunset was a pleasant surprise. At this time of year, I don’t usually walk in the late afternoons. The temperature is dropping, and I don’t like to be out when it starts to get dark.
That day I made an exception and I was walking back on Vine road when I saw the sunset. Seeing the orange-red sky against the silhouette of the trees is stunning. Seeing sunsets like this is a winter opportunity only. The rest of the year the sun sets later, and the leaves block out the sunsets.
I shall keep on walking and sharing the natural beauty that is all around us.
Last week was a challenge for many people in the United States. Snow, cold weather, disruptions for travel and last-minute Christmas shopping.
Even I had challenges. I had some last-minute shopping to do, and the temperature was 5 degrees Fahrenheit. My challenge was to walk or not to walk in the frigid weather
People always ask me do I walk in cold weather and my answer is always I am good to walk with five degrees and the sun. Well, that day it was five degrees, and the sun was shining. Walking it was.
I layered up and I had a covid face mask on when I started the walk. The face mask makes the difference. The only issue is you have to change the mask every ten minutes as it gets soaked.
Two miles to the store walking. I did the shopping and headed back home. The temperature had risen to nine degrees, and it was noticeable. The only issue I had with the walk was my feet got cold. The cold pavement just sucked the heat from my feet. Last post for the year. Have a great new year and keep on walking
People always ask me if I walk during the cold winter. My answer is I am good to walk in the cold down to five degrees in the sun.
This weekend was my first winter challenge. The temperature was just over freezing. The winds were sustained and gusting. There was even ice on the local pond
So, I went all out. The above picture is my extreme winter outfit. The wool coat alone weighs ten pounds. The coat keeps me very warm. The only thing missing is my face mask. I found out during Covid that face masks do a nice job of keeping your face warm. The only issue is you must change them every ten minutes as they get soaked.
I am ready to walk this winter no matter what the temperature. I am not sure if I will walk in a Blizzard. Stay tuned
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.
Old Saybrook is a town in Connecticut that sits at the mouth of the Connecticut River. I have driven past the town many times on I-95
Last summer I was able to walk thru the town twice on my Stamford to Stonington walk. Unfortunately, I was not able to explore the town in-depth. The sign saying this way to beach was tantalizing though.
I decided to remedy that oversight. This summer I traveled by train and started the Walking journey at the train station.
The walk to Long Island Sound is great. There is a sidewalk the entire way to the sound. The village is just delightful. There is a beautiful theater named the Kate after Katherine Hepburn who was a long-time resident of the city
There are historical plaques along the way. Yale University was founded in Old Saybrook according to the plaques
The view at Long Island Sound is nice. The walk to the Sound and back is around five miles. If you are hungry there is a wide selection of eating establishments to choose lunch from.
I took Amtrak to Old Saybrook. The train left Stamford at 7:45 and I arrived at the destination at 9:15. The cost was $20.00. I took Shoreline East back. As a senior the cost was $7.50. Time wise you are looking at over two hours on Shoreline East
One nice thing about the train is the view. Leaving New Haven you will see marshlands, wildlife and the sound. I counted dozens of egrets along the train ride.
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.
Stamford By Foot 