Two lighthouse stamps

On a trip to Rehoboth Beach, we stopped to visit two lighthouse sites in Lewes (pronounced Lewis, not Lose). 

The Lightship Overfalls is permanently docked and available for tours. The tour was quite interesting - I had not even known that lightships existed, let alone anything about them.

Next door to it is the Lewes Life Saving Station, another thing I did not know existed. While we didn't get a formal tour, we did get some questions answered by a volunteer. 

Both have a stamp, but only the lightship counts for the Chesapeake 4-+3 Challenge.

Lighthouse adventure

T and I spent our Saturday exploring the Calvert Marine Museum and Solomons. The museum manages two lighthouses, one of which is on the museum property.

Drum Point lighthouse was moved to the museum in the 1970s, and is available to tour. It is a screwpile lighthouse, where the keeper and family lived on several floors.

Cove Point lighthouse is actively in use, and the former keeper's house is now available to rent through Airbnb. It is located along a beach, with a nice view of Calvert Cliffs and a not-so-nice view of an LNG platform.

Neither one requires hiking or boating to reach, although one could certainly make a side visit to Calvert Cliffs.

Rockefeller State Park

As I am finally all vaxxed up, I went on what was only my third hike with my club, and the first out of the city, in 14 months. A hike from Tarrytown to Rockefeller State Park Preserve sounded perfect as a way to ease back in - long mileage, but gentle hills only.

From the train station, we walked along the water, past the Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse, finally turning inland towards Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. From there, we entered Rockefeller State Park and took a circuitous route through it, returning eventually to the western side. We followed the Old Croton Aqueduct back to Tarrytown.

Much of the park is open fields, and nearly all the trails are wide carriage roads, so it has a very different feel than the areas I typically hike in. I suspect that at the peak of summer, the open areas may be uncomfortably hot and sunny, but it was perfect for a nice spring day. The carriage roads had the benefit of more easily allowing club members to chat as they walked.

Taking newbies to the lighthouse

I've been to the Little Red Lighthouse many times, but K had never been. So we took a walk up there last weekend.

Visiting the Little Red Lighthouse

One of these days I will get to go inside the Little Red Lighthouse - although during a pandemic is not that time. But I did get to visit it today; it's about four miles one-way.

The weather was perfect, reaching the low 70s, which is actually a problem. It brings everyone outside, many of whom pay no attention to mask regulations, and some of whom ignore social distancing. The walk back was a bit more crowded than I would like. The lighthouse itself, however, was uncrowded.

Circumnavigating Roosevelt Island

I had never been to Roosevelt Island - in fact, I hadn't been to any of the smaller islands that compromise New York City. Roosevelt Island is the only little island around Manhattan that is actually inhabited*.

You can get there by subway or by tram, and there aren't many cars on the island. Of course I was excited to take the tram, my philosophy on trams being similar to my philosophy on fire towers.** The island is two miles long but probably only a quarter-mile wide. The tram lets you off near the southern end, so I decided to walk around it counterclockwise.

That meant I started by going through the Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park (at left). It is still being built but is not fully accessible, which is a problem because (a) the Roosevelt in question is FDR, the prez with a wheelchair, (b) Roosevelt Island has a significant disabled population and (c) construction began well after the ADA. The park so far is vaguely visually interesting, but as of yet there was no evidence of the four freedoms, just a giant FDR head.

As I started up the east side of the island, I was blocked by construction and had to retrace my steps, so I figured I might as well go clockwise.

Aside from a few historic buildings such a lighthouse and smallpox hospital, almost every building on the island dates from the late 70s or later. The look and feel is very 70s/80s. It's not necessarily aesthetically beautiful, but it took me some time to identify what I was feeling as a weird mix of nostalgia and admiration of the architectural consistency. Smartly, they kept the entire waterfront open, so it's possible to walk around the entire island.*** At the northern end is an old lighthouse; alas, it is closed.

Going down the eastern side of the island isn't quite as attractive. That's partially because the hospital and some public services have their backs to that side, so there are a lot of parking lots, that kind of thing. Also, the view of Brooklyn doesn't necessarily show Brooklyn's best side - the Costco looks as ugly as every other Costco. On the other hand, the power generating plant looks pretty good.

Eventually, I ran up against a gate at the edge of construction and returned to the tram.

All told it was a little over four miles, completely flat. Only parts of it were shaded, so bring plenty of water in summer, along with a warm jacket for windy days.

* There is a small population on Wards/Randall's Islands, but you can't just move there. There are various shelters and services on Wards Island, so I suspect the population consists of either users or employees of those services.

** "Never pass up an opportunity to climb a fire tower."

*** Excluding, obviously, the temporary blockage of construction.

Hiking Hartshorne Woods and Sandy Hook

On Sunday I helped scout a hike for the NY Ramblers. We took the bus out to Highlands, New Jersey, and hiked through Hartshorne Park and then out to Sandy Hook.*

Hartshorne Park is a county parks with extensive trails. In addition to holly-filled woods and views of the Atlantic, it is also home to Lewis Battery, a WWII installation. This made for a variety of sights - and the holly (plus some laurel) made it greener than your typical local winter hike.

From there we walked to Twin Lights, a lighthouse with a small museum. Only one of the two towers is open, except during the annual Lighthouse Challenge in October. One of the two Fresnel lens is on display in the nearby powerhouse.

The last leg of our hike took us on a State Route 36 bridge to Seabright/Sandy Hook. We only walked a short way down the beach, in part because there was a brisk wind, and in part because we thought it was later than it was. I have to admit I wasn't sorry to turn back - if you ever want to turn me mad, just trap me on a ceaselessly windy beach.

We took it a little easy, hiking about 10 miles. The final hike will likely be longer, as it's simple to add more miles either in Hartshorne Woods or along Sandy Hook. I'm uncertain of the elevation gain, since the battery on my watch was going, but my guess is about 300 feet; there were some hills in the park, but nothing killer.

*If this sounds familiar, note that this is not the Sandy Hook of recent shooting notoriety, but a National Recreation Area.

Farol da Barra da Lagoa

I didn't expect much of Barra da Lagoa, as I hadn't heard much hype. I figured it would be worth a trip since it was close to Mestre Calunga's and there was a hiking trail of interest.

Barra da Lagoa is a neighborhood bounded by the lake to the west, the canal to the south, and the ocean to the east, although a small part of the 'hood is south of the canal. One of the main attractions is the beach; I was more interested in the trail to the lighthouse, which I couldn't find much good information on. So I arrived at the beach with a vague notion that the trail was south of the canal and easy.

Right off the bus you can see two structures that are lighthouses on a miniature scale. If this was all the "farols" were, I was going to be disappointed. I crossed over the footbridge to the south side of the canal and found myself in Azorean "streets" - hilly, twisty, concrete footpaths. One direction led to an obvious path along the shore. The end of the trail was an enormous boulder with a nice view of the ocean, Barra da Lagoa, and the hill. It wasn't until I turned around to look at the hill that I was certain the lighthouse was real.

Then, the trick was to find the trail. I had several false starts, one of which resulted in muddy feet (pro tip: Don't hike in Havaianas). It turns out the trail to the lighthouse is only about 30 feet or so after the trail sign. Ironically, I hadn't noticed it on my way in, and I ran into some women on my way out who found it while actually trying to get to the big rock. The trail is not well maintained and is quite steep, and I wasn't sure I was even on the right path until I finally peeped the tall structure close to the top.

At the foot of the lighthouse there was a nice 360 view, but, even better, the lighthouse door was open. Unlike some lighthouses that have accommodations, this one is just a tube with a ladder. Obviously, I climbed it. The top was windy but had an even better view.

Aside from the nice hike (which was not easy, given the rapid elevation gain), I was surprised to like Barra da Lagoa as well as I did. The beach was nice, although at this point I'm succumbing to Beach Fatigue. The neighborhood has a strong Azorean influence, rather like Costa da Lagoa, and a substantial tourist infrastructure.

This was my last big Floripan adventure: Tomorrow I head for home.

Hudson River Greenway