Mohonk Preserve:  The Testimonial Gateway was built to commemorate the 50^th wedding anniversary of Albert and Eliza Smiley; dedicated in 1908 it served as the eastern entrance to the Mohonk Mountain House, from New Paltz until 1945.  Now it serves as a trailhead entrance to a tree-lined Pin Oak Allee and the Mohonk Preserve.  If an onlooker gazes carefully, once through the stone structure arch, on a clear day in view are Lenape Lane, the Shawangunks, and Sky Top.  Below is an autumn watercolor of this historic gateway.

The Gatehouse:

 Adirondacks:  Whiteface Mountain, in New York’s Adirondacks, is the fifth highest peak in the state at an elevation of 4865 feet.  Recently my husband Ed and I spent several days in Wilmington with family.  On one gorgeous fall morning Ed, our son, and granddaughter set off on the Flume Trail to fish the West Branch of the Ausable River.  Being the only non-angler of the group, I traipsed along with paint bag and chair in tow, finding a beautiful pond with a mirror reflection and Whiteface backdrop.  There I setup and enjoyed peaceful hours trying to capture the warmth of this October day.  Upon leaving I took a few photos and finished the watercolor at the kitchen table that afternoon.  This watercolor appeared in the November 2020 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

October Whiteface:

Watercolors and Catskill rivers:

There’s a place known as Shangri-La to some, found close to the very center of the Charmed Circle.  Wild brook trout still abound and the forest setting probably hasn't changed much during the last century.

East Branch Neversink, Frost Valley:

This Catskill river also drains the region’s tallest peak--- Slide Mountain--- winding its way down to New York City’s Ashokan Reservoir.  There at the mouth of the thirsty reservoir stands a section of river, so bold and challenging to wade, some call it “no place for old men.”

No place for old men, Esopus Creek:

Heaven’s light:  Heaven’s light can come to us in so many different ways, if only we seek it out.  Often a human eye might detect it through a vaporous hole in the clouds above.

Heaven’s light:

Shadows of Slide:  Within the shadows of the Catskills' tallest mountain are a few distinctive places where environs are special, scenery still unparalleled, and history flourishes.  Below are two watercolors of settings near the shadows of Slide Mountain.

Winnisook Lake is located at the source of the Esopus Creek, and home to a private club founded in 1886.  It was named after Chief Winnisook, a local Catskill folklore Native American.

Winnisook (sold):

The New York State Forest Preserve abounds the base of Slide, but as noted above various clubs, estates, and organizations also own large parcels of land.  However, there is one small unique sliver of state land that borders the upper reaches of the Neversink, hikers often utilize as home base, and wild brook trout still can be found.

State Land, East Branch Neversink:

39-5 parents' memorial:  When our parents passed away years ago, we established a small garden area in our front lawn, with a few flowering trees and bushes.  Eventually I built a stone bench that sits under a flowering dogwood.

For sometime we talked about Lois painting the image of a cane fly rod on that bench.  The rod chosen was not any rod, but an Art Weiler 39-5 Leonard model.  I first flexed this bamboo more than a decade ago at The Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ, but resisted the temptation to purchase it then.  However, when my father died I acted as the executor of his will and my sister arranged for us to utilize a Pennsylvania attorney she knew, who resided along the Delaware River.

Well, the trip to the attorney’s office to sign/notarize paperwork took us almost past Art Weiler’s place.  Thus I called Art inquiring if he still had a 39-5 Leonard model, and he replied in the affirmative.  So I purchased the rod in my Dad's memory.  Memorial Day weekend 2020 Lois painted an image of that bamboo fly rod, and a Hardy reel, on the stone bench, in an area set aside in memory of our parents.

Shandaken:  This northwest corner of Ulster County was originally part of Woodstock before it was established in 1804.  To Native Americans the name meant “rapid waters” and incidentally the mountainous town is the fountainhead of Esopus Creek.  The 32 by 48 inch acrylic Esopus landscape, and its rapid waters, below was painted for Christ’s Lutheran Church in Woodstock, to inspire by-passers in the Glory of God during these difficult times.

Shandaken 32"x 48" acrylic (DtC):

A watercolor version of the same scene above:

Autumn landscapes:  Below are a few autumn landscape watercolors of places one might, or might not have experienced themselves. 

The Ashokan Rail Trail runs from West Hurley to Boiceville on the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad corridor.  The trail is located along the northern edge of New York’s City Ashokan Reservoir, which is the second largest NYC Catskill water supply and was completed in 1915.  ART offers users eleven-and-a-half miles to enjoy nature’s grandeur, plus a number of interpretive panels providing regional history of a time long since passed.

Autumn ART:

The Shandaken Hall Town is located on NY 28, less than a mile north of New York City’s Shandaken Tunnel Outlet, locally known as the Portal.  The small pool behind this busy location is secluded once an attentive flyfisher steps into the little Esopus.  It’s a favorite late season spot to angle for wild trout once autumn begins.

Shandaken Town Hall Pool:

One of our favorite times of year to visit the Adirondacks is early October.  There’s a lot to see and do, not far from Lake Placid.  Besides hiking and leaf peeping, it’s hard not to wet a line, cast a fly, in the historic West Branch of the Ausable River.  One of the favorite stops is Monument Falls Pool, along NY 87, within eyesight of Whiteface Mountain, New York’s fifth tallest peak at 4865 feet in elevation.  One early October evening, brown trout rose here to tiny #24 Blue Winged Olives cast their way.

Monument Falls Pool autumn:

Farm pool, East Branch Neversink:  There’s an old bridge pool, across from the Frost Valley YMCA farm on Denning Road.  Summer campers swim in it now, and one of the stone abutments was washed away by Hurricane Irene.  This pool has always caused me contemplation, making me wonder where the long-ago missing bridge, and the wooded road reclaimed by the forest, once took folks who ventured across it.  Native brook trout still make this pool their home waters.  The watercolor below was slightly enhanced with pastels.

Farm pool (NFS):

Ashokan-Pepacton Watershed Chapter donations:

The two watercolors below will be framed and donated to the APW TU’s 32^nd Annual Conservation Fund Raiser to be held in April 2020.  Note, due to Covid, the TU Fund Raiser was never conducted, thus these donations were never made.

This parker pony tress bridge--- locally known as the Green Bridge--- was reportedly built in 1934 and connected Mount Pleasant Road to Riseley Road to NY 212.  It’s been closed to traffic for many years and was dismantled in the summer of 2020.  It had long been an historic landmark and favorite place for the young-of-heart to jump into Esopus Creek below, not to forget the pool downstream of the bridge was a favorite of Preston Jennings.  This watercolor also appeared in the September 2020 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Mount Pleasant, Esopus Creek:

As noted above, this historic bridge was removed during 2020.  During the fall panels near both ends of the former bridge abutments were installed, noting the history of the now gone landmark.

  

This East Branch Neversink brook trout succumb to a #16 Yellow Stimulator and was shortly released back into its gin clear environ after a few quick photos were captured.

East Branch Neversink brook trout:

Waterways and watercolors:

How many times has an angler come upon the perfect pool, with expectations of hoodwinking a big trout, only to have those hopes dashed?  Such a place like this exists on the upper West Branch of the Neversink.  It’s known as Heartbreak Hole, where more than one large, wily brown trout has kept the fisher’s fly, parting his tippet never to be encountered again.  Can you sense a trophy brown hanging under those tangled tree toots, a piscatorial heartbreak in the making.

Heartbreak Hole:

Have you ever been diagnosed with A.B.S., therapeutically referred to as “around the bend syndrome?”  No matter how far one travels, it seems it’s always the footbridge beyond that beckons the journey continue.  Below is a watercolor that has been enhanced with pastels.

Footbridge beyond:

There’s a river in western Maine, near the historic Rangeley Region, where large native brook trout reside.  The Magalloway downstream of US 16/Wilsons Mills Road, and the Aziscohos Dam, is a cold, thunderest, wild tailwater, home to big brookies and landlocked salmon.  The upper portion of this river is a technical class V flow with vertical drops up to eighteen feet, offering the most physically fit flyfisher a challenging wade.

Magalloway: