Woodchuck Lodge:  The watercolor below was donated to a John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge fund-raising online auction.  John Burroughs was an American naturalist and author of many fascinating essays about the mountains he wandered, a Catskill hero of ours.

One of Burroughs' favorite trout streams was the Rondout Creek.  In his essay, "A Bed of Boughs" the author wrote, "If I were a trout, I should ascend every stream till I found the Rondout."  He went on to write, "The finishing touch is given by the moss with which the rock is everywhere carpeted."  

The landscape below features a cane flyrod, built using a classic Catskill taper--- the Leonard 39-5, laying midstream on a moss covered rock.  It appeared in the May 2021 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

The Rock (DtC):

Canoes:  A small lightweight watercraft, usually propelled by muscle power and paddle alone.  Once the mode of water transportation for Native Americans; now-a-days perhaps the carrier of a traveler, angler, or even a romantic wanderer.  Often found bouncing along an Adirondack dock or leaning on a sandy beach as waves lap against it's hull.

The canoe:

Olana State Historic Site:  The former estate of Frederick Church, a Hudson River School landscape artist, is one of our favorite places to hike, and wander about.  Below is a Hudson River view, as seen from the rear of the Olana historic mansion.

Olana Hudson:

Rondout Creek watercolors:  Below are two Rondout Creek watercolors featuring different, yet consecutive seasons along John Burroughs' trout stream and New York State Forest Preserve lands,  

The first is autumn at DEC's Middle Field.  

Middle Field:

The next features a winter scene upstream of Morrell Field.

Morrell Winter: