Wandering Around Ward Pound Ridge

Wandering Around Ward Pound Ridge

https://link.shutterfly.com/ilp8tywGBXb links you to a map and 25 photos I took during a 3-hour, 4.4.-mile hike on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, a Westchester County park almost an hour north of New Rochelle in the towns of Pound Ridge and Lewisboro.  I ate my lunch in the parking area before starting out and made a couple of short rest stops along my way.

It was a gorgeous autumn day, and a lot of people were outdoors to enjoy it.  By taking trails in the northern reaches of the park, apparently I was in less traveled territory; but I did cross paths with more than a dozen other hikers, mostly couples, some with dogs.  All the people and the pooches were having a grand time.  I’d been to WPR a half-dozen times but had never taken these northern trails.  Nothing especially strenuous there, but they provided a good workout. 

My starting point was in a large parking area off Michigan Road; that’s south of the area shown on the park map I include.  The posted map, at left (with hunter and bear advisories), is probably too small for you to make out much.  I followed 3 main trails (Fox Hill, Brown, and White) with little connecting segments of Deer Hollow and Orange, moving clockwise.  The foliage hasn’t peaked yet, but it was still lovely to behold and induced me to take most of the photos.  Stone walls seduced me to take more; they’re almost everywhere in the park, “souvenirs” of the area’s agricultural past.  The bridges are neat, and the stream flowing east to west was pretty.

No photo of the poor old chap in the parking lot when I got back to the car, who had a fallen-over motorcycle that he couldn’t get back upright.  I lent him a hand for that and then used my map to show him where to find the shelter (lean-to) he was looking for (poor park signage).  “Do a good turn daily,” the Scouts say.