Removing water chestnut

Spent a few hours removing water chestnut from Van Cortlandt Lake. It's invasive, crowding out other vegetation and eventually killing off fish. Above, what parts of the lake look like. Below, a cleared area right in front of us.

Hiking High Mountain Park Preserve

This week's Ramblers hike was at a preserve in New Jersey that I had never visited before. Although it is relatively small, we hiked 12 miles and didn't cover all the trails.

The park is named for High Mountain, which at 800-ish feet isn't that high, although it has a nice view near the top. Franklin Clove was another interesting area, where the trail is between two rocky hills.

We had some wildlife sightings, including the toad below.



The inclines in this park are modest, but that was perfect for a hot summer day.

Biking the Netherlands

Nope, that's not a typo - biking, not hiking! My sister and I did an eight-day cycling trip of the Netherlands.



At night, we slept on a barge, and during the day we cycled, stopping frequently at sites.



This was by far the most cycling I've done at one go. Thankfully, the Netherlands are flat, and they have a strong cycling culture, where pedestrians, bikers, and cars all respect each other.