Westmoreland Sanctuary: Magnificence on a Summer Afternoon

While our older son did some cycling, our younger son and I went hiking today. Yes. Today. During an impossible heat wave.  I wanted to share some of the pictures we took on our hike.

We waited until 4 p.m. to head to Westmoreland Sanctuary, a 640-acre nature preserve that straddles Bedford and Mount Kisco,  New York. The preserve is a few miles from my parents' home and we are visiting with them for a few days.



The boys and I  have been making days-long visits with my parents this summer; my dad is largely homebound and my 81-year-old mother enjoys our company and our assistance. 


The pleasures of the area are two-fold for me: its familiarity and its newness. For example, even though I spent my childhood a few towns away, I do not recall ever visiting Westmoreland Sanctuary. It offers a summer camp and lots of lectures and other activities.

This afternoon, Lucas and I simply signed the log outside the Visitor's Center (Pictured above. It's a 200 year old building that once was Bedford's Presbyterian Church) and opted for the "Easy Loop Trail."

Thankfully it was easy enough for me (my athlete-son didn't break a sweat) and quite shaded.

I spied a swampy pond in the distance....

And we walked closer to it. There was a lean-to (where someone had left a birding book) and a small dock. I asked Lucas to walk on the dock because I was too scared to.

At the start of the hike, my son stopped at a tree and looked up. 

Way up. How small he seems.

After a while, I took my son's lead and looked up too. 

In such magnificence, we see a sign of the Other.