Sundance's been around for at least 30 years, and it's the biggest outdoors LGBT group in the US. Yesterday's day-trip was my first trip with the group, which has been introduced to me by a friend who's untimely demise I described in one of my blogs before (the article is re-written for my Helium page here). He told me about the group where he joined several outdoor trips, that he even bought a tent to use in many occasions in these trips. I actually thought I saw his face in one of those pictures featured in the site.
The outing was described on Sundance's website below as:
The Walkway over the Hudson Historic State Park is an 1888 railroad bridge, the longest in the world when it opened.
Now it has been re-purposed as a pedestrian park. 1.25 miles long and looming 212 feet above the Hudson River, the bridge provides unsurpassed views of the river and surrounding countryside. Since its opening in fall 2009 the Walkway has been a huge success, with attendance far outstripping projections.
Crossing from east to west, we’ll also explore Franny Reese State Park, one of the state’s newest, which provides beautifully wooded trails punctuated by scenic vistas of the Hudson. We’ll return by way of the Mid-Hudson Bridge back to the Poughkeepsie train station.
Location: Poughkeepsie and Highland, NY
Level: Easy
Group Limit: None
Length: 6 miles
This also marks the beginning of my hiking adventures again here in the US, an activity that I used to actively join and lead many years ago back in the Philippines.
The sun wasn't completely out; it was raining when we started the hike (and I thought the hike would be canceled if it rains, but this didn't happen). I remarked to someone while on the hike that "the whole place would actually look better if the sun's up that would then make it brighter." But he said, "it would actually make the trip more difficult, as it would be hotter." Yes, he's right. I was happy it was a cloudy day, and there were no thunderstorms that would have definitely canceled the hike. There were other positive signs I saw along the way, including having us see tiny orange salamanders on the trail. I could not take pictures, given the limits of my celfone camera. And towards the end, on our way to the train that would take us back to New York City, I happened to pick up a book (Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love") that I saw lying in an unlikely space in a small opening in a post next to the rails. Someone must have left it there, or something. I took it with me, and got reminded about my friend. His happy soul must have been hovering around the group that day; I remember now how he enjoyed his time reading this book.
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