Saturday, October 26, 2013

Return to Ryerson

 The hauntingly beautiful country of Greene County was calling to me again.  The autumn season is fading fast, and so I chose to travel down to Ryerson again, but this time on the back roads.  The once and future Duke Lake is supposed to be the centerpiece of this view.
 Sometimes two roads really do diverge in a yellow wood, and you always wonder if you took the right one.
 It was a sunny, blustery day.  Chilly and bright.  The perfect day for a fall trek, though I seemed to have the whole beautiful park to myself, aside from two romantic picnickers.
 It was a rare joy to have the trails all to myself on a Saturday.  No entitled suburbanites letting their dogs run off the leash...
 For the first time ever, I hiked the Sawdust Trail, a linear path that ends at a rural road outside the park.  The trail also offers some nice overlooks that will be even nicer after the dam is rebuilt to restore Duke Lake...a project that is reportedly in the works.  
 In the very center of this photo, there's a mysterious clapboard farmhouse that I noticed from the border of the park, where the Sawdust Trail ends.  There's nothing exceptional about the place, but I'm intrigued by all the many large farmhouses on the back lanes in Greene and Washington counties.  Many are beautifully maintained, and others--like this place--seem abandoned until you get up close.
 The village of Graysville is just short of quaint, though the Presbyterian church and many of the houses have their charms.  
Somehow, the place is just a little too real for quaintness.  The general store had bare wooden floors with the finish long since worn off and taxidermied animals staring down from the walls.

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