Papscanee Island Nature Preserve(Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County)

Took both of my boys out for the first time today, opting to keep it local and take it nice and easy at the Papscanee Island Nature Preserve along the east banks of the Hudson River.  Weather conditions were optimal for mid August, with relatively tolerable humidity and temps in the low 80's.  Unfortunately the bugs were a whole separate issue.  They were absolutely swarming us!  Luckily, the trails are all pretty much level and easy walking.

Looking downstream on the Hudson River.  

Looking upstream on the river.  This was not only both of my boys favorite part of the hike, but the only area where the bugs weren't attacking us!

Once on the trails in the woods, we were inundated with biting mosquitoes so we practically ran much of the way.  I stopped briefly to take this photo on the red trail, and had to swat away several bugs off of my youngest's head...so we didn't linger.

We had every intention of hiking more of the trails here, but the bugs were relentless, so we turned back around along the white trail, rushing back to the car.  We covered about 1.3 miles RT.  Even with the annoyance, both of my boys really seemed to enjoy being out there exploring with me.