A surprise hike at the Mountain Top Arboretum

As many times as I've been to Tannersville, I never knew it had an arboretum until J saw a small sign for it while cruising through downtown. The Mountain Top Arboretum (free admission) has a variety of gardens, including a woodland walk, labyrinth, spruce woods, flowers beds, and more.

We strolled through most of the park except the East Meadow, and we only took the Black Spruce Glen trail to the boardwalk - since the boardwalk was closed for repairs. I'm not sure what the distance was, but the trail sign's estimate of 90 minutes to walk Black Spruce Glen was wildly inflated; we went slowly and took half that time. I would guess it was about 2 miles total, not entirely flat.

Despite it being a rainy autumnal day, the arboretum was quite a pleasant surprise. There were still flowers in bloom, and of course the large number of evergreens are interesting year-round.

This isn't the perfect hike if you're looking for a fast workout, but it makes a great perambulating, stop-and-look kind of stroll. We saw quite a few parents with kids doing just that, although none of them on the Black Spruce Glen trail.

Supposedly, the arboretum is good for birding, but ironically the most interesting birding sighting of the weekend occurred near the park, not in it - northern flickers hanging out by the side of the road.