Westchester Hikes With Charlie and Wolf

Teatown Reservation, Ossining: Too Much Pretty in One Place

Swimming in the lake at Teatown Reservation.

Boardwalk over a lily-pad colony

Benches at the start of the Bergman Boardwalk....

...and a bench at the opposite end of the lake.

Charlie on the lip of the dam.

Sometimes it gets too dark in the forests and ravines.  We went to Teatown Reservation to walk around the lake, and get some sun to cheer our old, heartworm-eaten hearts.

And sometimes you feel like you've seen everywhere there is to hike in Westchester, and then suddenly -- something new, and special.  Such is Teatown.

Go for a run around the lake -- it's a little over a mile -- and you will find frogs and turtles and fish, a bunch of boardwalks over lily-pad gardens and skunk-cabbagey forest bogs.  But the best part is the sun that shines on you almost all the way around.  

There are longer (much longer) trails that run out from the lake; you'll need to get a map from the nature center on Spring Hill road.

Halle Ravine, Pound Ridge: We Are All Alone

Okay: we're not all alone, but it feels like it when you can take a post-hike nap on the highway.  The entrance to Halle Ravine is behind the little white fence on the left.  It's easy to miss.  

Small footbridge over the stream in Halle Ravine,  Pound Ridge.  Halle is unbelievably beautiful and serene.

Wolf was 'shrooming again, like back in the college day.  This is a little yellow one you probably shouldn't eat.

We rest in the middle of a little meadow at the top of the highest point on the hike.  Wolf (right) is still 'shroomin from earlier.

Symbol for Pound Ridge Land Conservancy nailed brutally to a tree.

Halle Ravine is a small but unbelievably beautiful preserve in Pound Ridge, part of the Pound Ridge Land Conservancy collection of hiking places.  Even a panorama camera like the Sony Cybershot can't capture the deep undulations of its steep gorge, and the height of its first-growth hemlock forest.  The trails are well-marked and maintained.  We love it.

On a Sunday morning, we met two other parties; both had fellow dogs.  Both had dogs who roamed with impunity.  It likes.

You can pick up a map from the kiosk at the head of the trail.

You can do this hike easily in an hour or so; it leaves the road and ducks into the woods, past one still, green pond and another clearer pond before a dam.  The trail then follows the edge of a stream, as little foot bridges criss-cross the water at its low points.  Near the far end of the trail, you'll climb steeply to a little cul-de-sac on a hill before coming back down and retracing your steps to the beginning.  There are benches along the way.

The Halle Ravine entrance is on Trinity Pass just south of Donbrook Road at a white gate set in a bordering stone wall.

Saxon Woods, Mamaroneck: Who's That Tripping Under My Bridge?

The lonely cinder path under the Hutchinson River Parkway runs alongside the river.  The path is also a bridle trail.

Unreal boulders on the yellow trail at Saxon Woods.

Saxon Woods is an urban forest that shows lots of wear and packed earth.

Look out for the green pond!  Go in here and you'll really stink it up.

The yellow trail runs past a lively game of lawn bowls on a Friday morning.

The path runs through a stormwater drain -- a little muddy underfoot, and that's the way we like it.

The view from under the double-bridges of the Hutch.

A path, well worn by hooves and paws, through Saxon Woods.

Most days, there's no limit to how far from home we'll go for a hike -- we just adjust our wake-up times.  But some days you have to get out and then back by morning, and those are the days for our close-to-home, go-to parks.  Saxon Woods, in Mamaroneck, is one.

Big enough to tire you out, with plenty of trails and reliably crawling with dogs and the people who love them, Saxon Woods is an urban forest that shows plenty of wear.  It's not the quietest place, either; the yellow trail is never really out of earshot of the Hutchinson River Parkway, or Mamaroneck Ave. 

But it has its charms: rivers, little wooden bridges, the occasional horseback rider encounter, and the lawn bowlers -- not to mention the opportunity for plenty of dog meet-ups along the way -- make this a great place to get the morning's exercise.

The easiest trail is Yellow.  It heads off in both directions from the parking lot off Mamaroneck Avenue.  Although you can park in the lot near the swimming pools, it's easier and dog-friendlier to use the one further south (it also has a brown-and-yellow "Saxon Woods" sign in front of the entrance).  The trails follows the Hutchinson River in each direction; if you head north, the trail will take you under the parkway and through the dripping darkness of a stormwater drain.

Most of the dogs that come here are off-leash, and their owners (ha!) are suitably cool.  The greeting, "Are they friendly?"  will establish what level of contact you'll have with other dogs.

Note:  Almost all pictures on this site were taken with the Isweep function of the Sony Cybershot camera.  This is a great little point-and-shoot that will allow you to take an up-to-270-degree panorama, and will stitch it for you inside the camera, so you don't have to merge a number of pictures in your photo editing software -- it's already done.

How the Rest of the Day Looks

Beach Near Edith Read Sanctuary in Rye, New York

The beach is one of the few places where Wolf will show up in any kind of photography.  He is not really this wonky-eyed; it's the panorama camera what's done it to him.

Sometimes we stick close to home.  This deserted-looking beach is a little over a mile from the brown couch.

We are old and infirm.  Think Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in "Grumpy Old Men".  Sometimes we just want to take it to the beach and lie down.

To get to this stretch of beach in Rye, New York, go through the parking lot of Playland Amusement Park at the end of Playland Parkway, and head towards Edith Read Sanctuary.  Don't go into the sanctuary -- they don't want our kind -- but park in the grassy space between Long Island Sound (where the beach is) and Playland Lake.  You'll see a gravel parking lot butting up against the beach.

Sometimes there are other dogs, but mostly not.   Rye Town Park is nearby, and the dog congregations there tend to get larger and larger, drawing the attention of those who don't want dogs in the park.

But here on the beach, we lay low.  We swim and dig with impunity.  We don't want any trouble here.  We have arthritis.

Clark Preserve, Pound Ridge: Thoreau is a Vandal!

Kiosk at the head of the trail, Clark Preserve, Pound Ridge.  "IN WILDNESS IS THE PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD - THOREAU".  Who?

We really like mud and running water.  Clark Preserve was a little on the dry side, although there was plenty of mud on the riverbanks.

It looks like Wolf is about to step into the afterlife but here is where the forest gives way, briefly, to an open field.  If you like watching birds without any hope of catching them and eating them on the spot, this place is for you.

  'Shrooms and forest floor.

Charlie and bench, open field.

Carving on an old log bench: GIFT FROM GINO ROSSI.  Maybe he is a friend of Thoreau and the two of them go around carving into stuff.

Clark Preserve is a seventy-acre wilderness in Pound Ridge.  We didn't like it so much.  Compared to other places in the area, Clark is a little dull, especially for Charlie, who is ADHD.

It was a lonely stretch of trails without much variation in terrain, but we are not complaining: for a place to stretch the legs and get some exercise, it's okay.  But we're not going overboard on the big ups; it was just okay.

Water features:  What water features?  Clark has a little creek, dried up in places to the point of being conjoined puddles in muddy riverbanks.  Your dog can wade or dip a big toe but not very deeply.  The trail crosses the creek in three places.

Feel:  Overgrown wilderness backyard.  You are in the shade most of the way -- until you come to the open field, with its long grasses.  There are several benches along the way, and the trail is pretty well-marked, although if you pick up a map at the kiosk near the trailhead, you'll get confused, and the trails are mis-labeled in spots.  It's no big deal: this isn't a big place, and if you get lost, you won't be lost for long.  The trails feature swamp, woodland, and fields, with plenty of stone fences crisscrossing the preserve.  There isn't a lot of understory vegetation.

Wild Animal Sighting of the Day:  Not a durned one.  Nary a skeeter, even.  Wolf was panting too loudly to not scare everything away, anyhow.

Did We Meet Other Dogs, and Were They Leashed?:  Again: not a durned one.  It was a lonely stretch of trail, but then again, nobody was there to order us to get back on the leash.

The Biggest Surprise:  The verge where the woods abruptly became an open field.

Nearest Dunkin' Donuts:  176 North Bedford Road, Mt. Kisco

Getting There:  Clark Preserve is on Autumn Ridge Road, in Pound Ridge. 

I-684 to Exit 4; turn right onto Rt. 172, South Bedford Road; at the T-intersection turn left onto Route 22 heading north into Bedford Village.  Follow Rte. 121 out of town for 1.8 miles; turn right onto Stone Ridge Road, and 1.4 miles later, turn right onto Autumn Ridge.  Follow the road for a mile or so; don't miss the turn-off for Clark.  It will be on the left.  There is a small off-road parking area.

St. Matthew's Woods and Arthur Ketchum Memorial Sanctuary: We Get Religion in the Woods

Bridge over Beaver Dam River, St. Matthew's Glebe.  Bedford, New York; Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

Entering Ketchum Sanctuary.

Woodland Chapel on the Blue Trail.

Rustic Bridge over River.  Charlie's swimming below.

Soft forest floor, hemlock and cedar gorge gives an Adirondack feel to Ketchum Sanctuary and The Glebe.

Feast your eyes on the forest at St. Matthew's Woods and Arthur Ketchum Memorial Sanctuary via some pictures, and then drive up to Bedford, New York for the real thing. You will find the start of the blue trail in the far back parking lot of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. 

You could spend an hour or two exploring these trails over 26 acres with your dog; they join the woodlands behind St. Matthew's -- called The Glebe -- to the Ketchum Santuary.   Don't miss the rustic chapel in the woods, not far from the church, on the blue trail.

Water Features:  Descend the blue trail from the parking lot, and soon you will hear the sound of a rushing river.  You'll see it snaking though the bottom of a mini-gorge as the trail approaches and runs alongside.   Your lazy owner will want to sit on one of the benches on the river's edge; if he's been good to you, let him!  Arthur Ketchum does not feel like anywhere else in Westchester, in part because of the sound of this rushing river.  Swim or wade; shake yourself off as close to your owner as possible. 

Feel:  The cedars and hemlock gorge and decidous woods -- as well as the rustic bridges over the rushing stream, and the little chapel in the woods -- give this place an Adirondack vibe.

Did We Meet Other Dogs, and Were They Leashed?:  Yes!  Yes, we did, and they were as free and wild and naked as the day they were born.  There was a silky terrier puppy and a two-year-old King Charles.  At eleven o'clock on a Wednesday morning in spring, these were the only two groups we encountered.

Wild Animal Sighting of the Day:  A fluffy orange fox we mistook for a large cat.

The Biggest Surprise:  A rustic, open air "chapel" in the woods.

Nearest Dunkin' Donuts:  176 North Bedford Road, Mt. Kisco

Getting There:  382 Cantitoe Road, in Bedford, New York.

I-684 to Exit 4; turn right onto Rt. 172, South Bedford Road; at the T-intersection turn left onto Route 22 heading north into Bedford Village; stay on 22 and continue for roughly 1.5 miles past the center of town.  St. Matthew's Episcopal Church is on your right.  Park in the far back parking lot.

Signs to Help You Out:

We Are Charlie and Wolf. We Hike. We Start Blog.

Don't call us retrievers or, worse, hounds.  We are in the working group.  We are shepherds.

We left our respective animal shelters -- North Shore Animal League and Elmsford -- when we felt the institution no longer had anything to offer us.  We took up with Bacon Lady and the Tall Smoky-Smelling Man, found their couch was a place where a dog (or two) could really get some thinking done.

For a few years we stood around Rye Town Park in lower Westchester, making small talk, walking in bored circles.  We had the nagging suspicion there was more to life.  We took this frustration out on our friends, for which we are slightly sorry.  One by one they were stitched up, and returned to the park.

As for us, we left the manicured lawns of Rye Town Park for the woods, the great outdoors of Westchester.  We have found twisting, rambling, surprising trails that have gladdened our old cardiopathic hearts; we've wondered, at the same time:  where are all the other dogs of Westchester?  Wouldn't they also enjoy these trails?   Because in our heaving, panting chest cavities  --  in the chest cavities of every domestic canine -- beat the hearts of wolves. 

So, here's to those hearts!  Get your fat ass out there, as we have ours.  Hike a little.  We'll show you where.