Whatnot

Had a good weekend, mostly solitary. I needed the break from people anyway. So I did a little of the shopping - and have acquired Roadside Geology of New York, and 50 Hikes in the Lower Hudson Valley. Also have some trail maps for my area on order. A little research has indicated that I'm once again surrounded by state parks. In this case, Hudson Highlands and Fahnestock State Parks. There are hundreds of miles of trails for me to explore - including two hikes that are going to kick my ass - Anthony's Nose, and Breakneck Ridge. Both of these are steep and treacherous, and give commanding views of the Hudson Highlands - supposedly better than those from Hook Mountain (behind my old place in Valley Cottage). So if I can tear myself away from the plants - there's a lot to see and take in around here.

The rest of my Saturday involved a geology field trip in the area around Poughkeepsie. It's not that I'm missing my old career (hell, it's not like I was doing much geology as a geologist) but we've run out of slate to topdress alpines with here at Stonecrop. Usually Mr. Cabot brings it back from Alberta, or someplace similarly far away. Geo-Gimp to the rescue! In any event, I found a great outcrop of "Hudson River Shale" aka, the Austin Glen member of the Normanskill Formation. These are Ordovician roacks, 440-510 million years old. I collected some shale for Stonecrop, and also found a nice looking fossil. Or possibly a very pretty pseudofossil. Okay, it's probably a pseudofossil. I can dream, can't I?

Eurypterid or Coincidental Fractures?

The real heartbreaker is that I picked up another fossil that was definitely a fossil. A trilobite. First one I've ever found. There was not doubt in my mind it was a fossil. I set it down while I looked at another rock. Then I couldn't find it again. And I still didn't find it after half an hour of poking through rock fragements. Sigh. At least I brought home some shale and saw a really neat metamorphic series, too.

Sunday involved hiking around the Stonecrop grounds - and I mean the grounds, not the gardens. I had been meaning to do this since I got here. There are a lot of big trees, and a nice bare rock hill top, covered with outcrops, glacial erratics, and some scraggly trees. That is to say it was beautiful. I particularly liked seeing a windswept Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). It had a great bonsai sort of feel to it.

Then it was home to brew a batch of Pale Ale, and then off to bed. What a productive little lad am I.