Holiday to the Boredoms (part 2)

Onteora Lake

I had lucked upon a really nice book laying out reasonable trails and hikes throughout the Catskills, and from the list of 60 suggestions, we selected Onteora Lake to explore first. With a tiny road off Route 28 providing access, we slowly made our way down a gravel path to the start of what appeared to be a quiet, beautiful location.

Nicole spotted a frog, and I found a number of (what I believe are) red efts running around.

Unfortunately, given all the rain the area had received recently, there was a lot of standing water which resulted in a lot of vicious mosquitoes. We were about a half mile into the walk when I realized I had not packed any Bug Off; we retreated, but by time I made it back to the car, my face was red and very, very swollen. It was actually frightening to feel my skin puffing up as I sat in the car and I wondered if it was possible to have an allergic reaction so bad to mosquito bites that I could start having trouble breathing.

But then I realized that, if I were to blow my chance to explore the Catskills just for fear of suffocation, I'd be really mad at myself. So, off we drove to what we hoped would be a less bug-angry place.

Ashokan Reservoir

Marked with only a sign that read "dead end," we entered a road that lead to a beautiful ~2.5 round trip walk on a flat, paved path overlooking a wonderful body of water surrounded by massive mountains. The clouds that had, only a day earlier, threatened so much rain that it could have washed out our trip made for beautiful scenery. The cool breeze soothed my irritated face, and we had an enjoyable stroll where I shuttered off a bunch of pictures.