Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center(Grafton/ Berlin, Rensselaer County, NY)

Decided to get out and enjoy a beautiful-dare I say-perfect summer afternoon after work at the Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center up on the Rensselaer Plateau.  I was a bit tired from work, but had to take advantage of the nice weather so decided to do a little easy hiking on the quiet, wooded trails here.  Much to my delight, there was only one other car in the lot(Elevation 1650 feet) when arrived, so I first headed east a short distance down to the Shoreline Trail along Dyken Pond's west edge.

I followed the shoreline north, enjoying a few decent views across the open water.  There was a couple out in a kayak, presumably the other car in the parking lot.

After leaving the water's edge, I took various trails through the expansive woodlands north of Dyken Pond Road, passing through countless fern glades.

One of the newer additions to this land is the area around Newcomb Pond, which was added about five years ago and offers some nice views of this large wetland from an orange blazed trail.

After checking out most of the trails north of the road, I did a little exploring south of the road as well near Dustin Swamp.

One of the most well known features of the Dyken Pond Education Center is the long, winding footbridge across Dustin Swamp.  It's perfect in its imperfection.

Hiked nearly 4 miles total for the day on many of the trails at the Center, enjoying the low humidity and pleasant breeze.  Was a little surprised to not see anybody else out on the trails on such a gorgeous day.  The heat and humidity will be with us in no time, so was glad to get out and enjoy the weather while it's here.