So Close, Yet So Far

Had an hour of daylight left over this afternoon, too late to paint.

Just enough time for a rip around Ashley Resevoir in Holyoke, though.


This is an extrordinary resevoir. Mainly because you'd never guess the busy city of Holyoke, with all it's highways, cars, commotion, the Ingelside mall, all of it; is just over the hill and beyond the trees.

You'd think you were miles and miles away from all of that. It's big, clean, peaceful and beautiful.



One of the coolest things about the place is the way the paths run through the water, rather than around it. Here's a video, (bumpy ride, video may cause motion sickness) :




The watery paths criss cross here.


The leaves are finally coming around, punctuated by the evergreens behind them...



This goose had a broken right wing. It looks like his comrades had to leave him behind.

There are always lots of geese here. In the spring and summer they're all around here with their young. Very defensive, they will confront you if you get too close.

Farther up the trail there is this section of neatly planted Pine trees. Checkerboard or Grid? You decide.




This pump house(?) signifies the far end of the resevoir, and the midway mark around the 3.6 mile trail.

From there you will pass a couple of spill-ways, then a more forested, though wider, section of trail that will take you past another, more modern pumphouse and the storage tanks of McLean Resevoir. That resevoir is just above Ashley Resevoir on a hill. I believe it is closed to the public though.

Also beyond the McLean resevoir, and really all around Ashley Resevoir, are lots and lots of hiking and biking trails through the woods. There is Bearhole watershed close by, and several trails that will take you to the crest of East Mountain. From that summit you can see Barnes airport below and all of Westfield beyond. Later Blogs.

The sun came back out for a quick wink goodbye...