I saw this critter while out walking on Ridge Road at #StewartForest. I couldn’t tell if it was sick or simply trying to stay very still so I wouldn’t see it. #HudsonValley #Opossum

Frozen wetlands at #StewartForest in the #HudsonValley. These wetlands are mucky green in August. A police ranger was phoning in snowmobile trailer registrations in the parking lot. Cops gonna cop. I was hiking with microspikes on trails “groomed” by snowmobiles.

A beautiful day to be out x-country skiing at #StewartForest in the #HudsonValley. I only ran into two hunters out for squirrel and rabbit, and a couple snowmobilers. The snowmobilers are my friends because they help groom the trail.

Farmer cutting back the tall dead grass in a fallow field at #StewartForest. NYS allows some farming activities in fields in the forest. Stewart is closed to the general public and open to only hunters for the next three weeks starting tomorrow.

Fallow field at #StewartForest. This field usually gets mowed but not this year.

The purple loosestrife is looking so…purple. #WildFlowers #wetlands #StewartForest

Wild bergamot aka beebalm at #StewartForest. The video in this thread is not of hummingbirds but of hummingbird moths.

I found this guy on my car in the parking lot at #StewartForest. The highly invasive spotted lanternfly.

Button bush and swamp milkweed in the wetlands of #StewartForest.

Frog in a puddle on Giles in #StewartForest. This guy is bigger than how it looks in the photo. Under the forest canopy, my hike this morning was shaded yet soupy. I cut the hike short because the wet bulb was driving me crazy. #HudsonValley has been hot and humid this summer. Water is cool.

A swamp and a field on a five-mile walk in the rain. #StewartForest #LowPressure

Bloodroot starting to bloom on a 45F day with 34F windchills. #springhiking #StewartForest

A large spread of Glory of the Snow blossoms across the forest floor, and the first of Trout Lily blooms. #springhiking #StewartForest

Periwinkle, out of focus honey suckle, and garlic mustard popping out. Early signs of spring. #StewartForest #HudsonValley

This is as blue as these waters get. As the season progresses, it will slowly turn more pale green and light mud. #wetlands #StewartForest

First day the crocuses have been out. #springhiking #StewartForest

The other-planet beauty of the wetlands at #StewartForest. In two or three weeks the green will start popping. In two months this will be lush green.

A wild bee hive and a hornets nest at #StewartForest. Maybe some #DOGE guys can poke their digitalized fingers in there and see if they find any “waste and fraud.”

The sun is getting brighter and the woods look like March. #winterhiking #StewartForest

Still some snow out there at #StewartForest. I have returned and can confirm that there is nothing to buy out there. #BoycottFeb28.

Perfect. A trail with no tracks. #StewartForest #winterhiking The trail is called White Cloud.

Just enough snow for gators and microspikes. #StewartForest #winterhiking

‘Shrooms on a tree trunk with a view of frozen wetlands. #StewartForest #winterhiking #fungi

On a gloomy damp day, nature is still beautiful. #StewartForest