Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge - Wood Duck Trail

ABOUT THE PARK:
Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge - US Fish and Wildlife Service
Wallkill River Nature Trails - US Fish and Wildlife Service
No dogs allowed on this trail.

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.19392, -74.58550

TRAIL MAP:
Refuge Map (shows all trails) - US Fish and Wildlife Service
Wood Duck Nature Trail - US Fish and Wildlife Service

HIKE DISTANCE:  
Wood Duck Nature Trail - 3.7 miles
hiked together with a 1.5 mile drive to:
Dagmar Dale Nature Trail - 2.6 miles

THE HIKE:

The trail starts right off of the small parking lot.

Indeed.

It's a gorgeous tunnel of greenery.

Swamps along either side early on.

The gray catbird that I swear has been following me around on every hike here lately.

If you think it was bird overload on the Dagmar Dale hike, get ready for turtle overload on this one.

I saw people coming towards me on the trail so I zoomed in but at the time could not see who it was (or like I would have know who it was) from that distance until they got closer and just as I thought "NO WAY!" I heard him say "NO WAY!"

Yes Way!  Dan and Laura Balogh!  It is the second time we ran into one another this year.  What fun!

Continuing on...

Two male red0winged blackbirds landed...

... then flew into a tree directly above me and were joined by a female.  Standing there taking pictures directly above me of 3 birds might have gotten a little messy so I moved on along.

The trail eventually becomes grassy...

... and ends at the Walkill River although there is not much of it to see in the summer.

To the right is a gate with a mowed path so I followed that to see where it would lead.

Turkey Vulture

The mowed path continues along a meadow and comes out...

... at a parking area on Route 23.  The sign says permit parking only for the wildlife refuge.

Heading back.

Back through the gate ...

... to another look at the river.

A different kind of bird.

Heading back on the Wood Duck Trail.

And many more turtles on the way back.

Back at the parking lot.

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