My Backyard

Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I had to get out and do something so I took a hike in my back yard, well not really there is a forest preserve a block away from me. As usual I over did it, too much in too short of time. The preserve is about a mile square on the top of a local mountain. Now we are talking about a Connecticut mountain, the base of it is about 250 ft Above Sea Level and it rises to about 750 ft ASL. The east side of the mountain slopes up to the west and than drops of in a cliff, which has some of the best rock climbing areas in the east. The mountain has basalt ridges that run up its back toward the cliffs. At the base of these ridges and at the base of the cliff is usually a steep talus slope.




There are fire roads up the mountain that follow the ridges lines, but there is also a hiking trail that cuts across the ridges. So if you take the trail you are constantly going up and down the ridges while the fire road is relatively easy. Well anyhow I walked up the fire road and I thought I would walk back down along the trail. BIG mistake, I was worn in a very short time going up each ridge was hard but going down trying to walk on the talus slope was even harder. I eventually cut across through the woods and came back down the fire trail.
Here is a view looking south toward New Haven which is just beyond the last mountains that you came see.




This is looking north towards Hartford which is just out of the picture to the left and my house is also just out of the picture to left also just about a quarter mile from the pond.



Some of the other photos while hiking, a lichen covered tree ( Using the macro setting on the lens ) and a small brook coming down from the mountain.






One of the hardest things to do on a computer is to show photographs because everyone’s monitor is adjusted slightly different. The color balance, the color saturation, the brightness and the contrast are all set to their own individuals taste. I tried to set mine so that when I work with a photo or scanner that what I see is what I print. But it is still hard to adjust, so I hope these photos come out good.