Next Up // Accord, NY

October 3, 2019 – October 5, 2019.

From Cape May, NJ, our next stop was Accord, NY. Just south of Albany but north of New York City, we were lucky enough to find a Thousand Trails campground in Rondout Valley. Unfortunately, we came in on a super rainy and foggy day so were unable to see the valley until the next day.

“Our site, located along a river on Chipmunk Circle in the campground, couldn’t have been more serene. We spent two nights in Accord. The first night it rained, but when we woke up the next morning, it was perfectly crisp and cool outside. We spent that day hiking Awosting Falls and Lake Minnewaska. We were somewhat close to the Catskills, but not quite close enough. That night was spent with jalapeño cheddar sausages and a fire fueled by a fan.”

Ah yes, yet another unfinished draft…

Let’s go piece by piece.

The campground was fairly empty for that time of year. We were catching most campgrounds just days before they closed, so more often than not, if we saw people around, it was usually somebody from a permanent site. Our site backed right up to a little river, and was, for the most part,  very enjoyable. The onnnnnly time it wasn’t, was the second night. Imagine this:

you lay down to go to sleep…

all cozy in bed…

no desire to move…

dozing off here and there…

and then you notice the sound of trickling water (because we sleep with the fan open for ventilation)…

you try to ignore it, but it’s all you can think about and OOP! you suddenly have to pee! GEE, I WONDER WHERE THAT CAME FROM.

We had a beautiful next morning at camp before heading out to Awosting Falls and Lake Minnewaska. Both were only 15 minutes away in Lake Minnewaska State Park Preserve, in Rochester; betcha didn’t know there were two of those in the state of New York! We weren’t at that Rochester, but ours was pretty cool too!

In that short drive, we quickly got to see the ONE REASON I wanted to come to the Northeast in October: TO THE SEE THE LEAVES CHANGE!!!!

It wasn’t always super drastic, but it made me beyond giddy to feel like

HERE WE GO, FALL!!!

My heart was very happy.

I can remember this adventure started off a little confusing… We walked in the direction of three different trails before we found the right one. The picture above the state park sign is us walking away from trail attempt #2. Trail attempt #1 was to the left edge of the picture, trail attempt  #3, and the CORRECT trail, was to the right edge of the picture.

The hike to Awosting Falls was fairly short down, but so incredibly rewarding. Parts of it were paved and could even be biked!

After eating lunch on the ledge at the base of that pretty yellow tree,  we decided to continue on the trail and turn back whenever we felt like. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out and we couldn’t get enough of the surreal feeling that this was really how our trip was starting.

I think we made it about a mile and a half or so out before we turned around. It was fairly flat, so we weren’t too tired and had enough energy to go over to Lake Minnewaska! As aforementioned, both are within Lake Minnewaska State Park Preserve so we drove over to the next parking area within 5 minutes!

We started with the trail up to the overlook to the left edge of the parking lot. There was a little bit of incline and we were back to an actual trail, versus the paved trail we were previously on, but once again, so impeccably gratifying.

I don’t think we could have been here on a better day. The blue reflection on the water left us speechless.

We sat for a little bit, taking in the view, before heading back down to a spot that walked out into the lake… Across the lake, you can see the boat ramp in that opening of trees, but the spot we walked down was more so over our right shoulder from where were sitting here.
Equally as stunning, if you ask me.

And that was a wrap for our day out! The drive home, we got to see the AMAZING valley views we had missed the day before. Be sure to zoom in to get the full effect!

As I mentioned in my unfinished draft I started with, our beautiful day out, came to a close with jalapeno cheddar sausages we cooked on the grill and a cozy fire that we struggled to keep going but ultimately saved with a plug-in fan we brought with us 🙂

What a fantastic next stop this was. Here we go again…

ACCORD, NY: WE WENT THERE

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Lots of pictures on this one, thanks for sticking through! We were so lucky to have such a great experience here. Next time we come back, we’ll definitely make the trip to the Catskills!

j&d