Saturday, September 25, 2021

Buttercup Farm Audubon Sanctuary, NY

ABOUT THE PARK: 
Audubon properties generally do not allow dogs but I could find nothing online.  Since this was on my way home, I stopped by to check at the kiosk and found that leashed dogs are allowed.  Unfortunately, at the end of this hike, the only other people I ran into were abusing this privilege with their dog running amok off leash.  So if you go with a dog check first because it is only a  matter of time before people like that ruin it for everyone else.

DIRECTIONS: 
GPS Coordinates 41.91542, -73.67036
Route 82 trailhead parking - this sits in the middle of the property making it easy to access trails on both sides of Route 82.

TRAIL MAP: 
Buttercup Farm Audubon Sanctuary Trail Map - Dutchess Tourism Trail Maps


HIKE DISTANCE: 3.7 miles
Hiked together with:
Overland Mountain Conservation Area (25 minutes away) - 9.9 miles
Drowned lands Swamp Conservation Area (20 minutes away) - 1.8 miles

THE HIKE: 
Walking out of the parking lot to cross Route 82 to hike trails on the other side first.
The mowed trails are very easy and smooth.
One of only two muddy spots we encountered.
This is a straight trail that has water on either side.
Continuing straight would lead to the other parking lot so we turned left.
Although there were lots of birds around, the mosquitoes were hideous so I could never stop for more than a nanosecond to take pictures.
Stopping at this bench under an apple tree to reapply Deep Woods OFF.
Brodie LOVES apples so while I was busy reapplying bug spray, he snarfed down a whole apple, ants and all.  
Coming back out on Route 82 where we parked.  It was 5:00 PM and there was still a good hour of daylight left so we went through the lot to the right to hike the 2-mile loop on that side.
Mosquitoes were not bad on this side but the light was too poor to get good bird shots.  That would be a northern flicker.
At the top of a gentle climb, two benches at ...
... an overlook of the countryside.
Cedar Waxwing
Back at the car.

4 comments:

  1. Buttercup used to be one of my very frequent go-to places when I lived in the Hudson Valley, especially in September as that apple orchard in the back is prime. I'm surprised you didn't include a picture of the stone tower folly. The straight trails on the south side are remnants of an old rail line that used to serve a much bigger farm back in the day.

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    1. I was surprised that all the apples were down and rotting already. I think Brodie and those ants (RIP) found the only apple that still looked fairly good. I didn't see a stone tower. Maybe I missed that part.

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  2. The tower is in the 'top' section west of the main road and behind a farm. It's pretty cool, esp when it's open.

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