Stefan Bolz

Hi, my name is Sophie. I always read my dad's blog about Real Estate and Restaurants and why people should come to Ulster County. And that's all great and good but then I thought, wait a minute! What about US? I live here too - and very comfortably. So, I see it as my duty to inform all my fellow kanines about what YOU can do around here. I'm pretty busy so let's get started: First of all, let me tell you something, I've been to Central Park once, a few years ago and I kinda liked it but that's nothing against what you can have up here. I chased several deer off my property the other day - what fun is THAT! Of course, the squirrells are great too. However, they always seem to disappear suddenly behind a tree and vanish into thin air. Not sure what that's all about. Alien obduction maybe... Anyway, there are some great areas to go to if you want to have fun. Obviously, if your mom and dad own a home with some property and maybe a stream, that would be awesome. However, I can tell you about a few places where its almost as good as your own. There are plenty of creeks and streams where you can just cool off and even swim. There are several nice swimming holes in and around Accord and the Kerhonkson area. There is, for example, a very nice stream off Dymond Road in Kerhonkson where you can hike in State Land along the water for hours. Then there is, of course, Duck Pond. You have probably read about it in one of the previous blogs so I'm not going to bore you with the details. Lots of fun, is all I'm saying. The pond is pretty spectacular, especially in the summer. Great to jump off the edge after a ball or a stick. Nice nature smells all around. Sometimes you've got ducks (ergo Duck Pond :-) but they are too far out. Don't even try to go after them.
Ok, so, one more amazing destination is Kaaterskill Falls in Tannersville. It's a 45 minute drive from Stone Ridge but it's well worth it. There is a long hike along the Kaaterskill Creek with plenty of swimmeable holes. After about 30 minutes, you'll go up the hill pretty steeply (definitely great to have 4 feet on the ground on this one) until you reach the falls. You can actually go BEHIND the water fall. Pretty amazing stuff. If you want to go further up, there is another steep incline until you come to the top of the falls. Great views, great swimming. You can relax on the warm stones and bake in the sun, once in a while cooling off in the stream. It's a hard life up here but, hey, somebody's gotta do it, right?
I usually get my food at Lucas Avenue Pet Supply in Kingston. It's a bit out of the way but he's got all the good food, like Wellness, Eagle Pack, and others. I usually go to Kingston Animal Hospital for anything related to my health. They have always been nice to me. There is another Vet in Stone Ridge that I heard good things about but I don't know them personally. Let me know if you hear anything.
What else? There are plenty of dog training facilities. I went to one when I was a puppy. I can't remember... Anyway, I think that's it for now. I'll try to write again some time. Right now, I have to go out and roll in the snow. Oh, toys are us has a great baby pool. Only about 6 dollars. It's blue and plastic and about 4 feet in diameter. Perfect for those hot summer days...
Hope to see you up here some time.
Yours truly,

Sophelina Principessa of Goodness
(you can call me Sophie ;-)

There are 2200 scenic, secluded and unspoiled acres of land at the Mohonk Preserve. There are 85 miles of hiking trails. That's roughly the distance from the George Washington Bridge to New Paltz. At 2.5 miles per hour and a six hour hiking day, it would take about a week to hike all of it.

I sometimes take my dog to Duck Pond, located on the east side of the Mohonk Preserve. A short drive from Stone Ridge and a nice 30 minute walk from the car to the pond. My dog loves to swim there and I love to sit and take in the scenery: the stillness of the crystal clear lake nestled into the hills and behind it, far up, the Mohonk Bell tower. The other day, a friend of mine and I decided to explore the area a little more. The outcome was a great 2 1/2 hour hike. After parking the car, we walked through the woods to Duck Pond, at one time crossing the Aqueduct.

We are so used to the Aqueduct around here that we rarely think about it anymore. But the fact is, there is a massive underground fresh water pipe, about 30 feet in diameter, coming from the Ashokan Reservoir and leading straight down to New York City. Gravity fed!! For anybody who is interested, there is a documentary called 'Deep Water', available at some of the local stores around here, showing the construction of the Reservoir and the Aqueduct. It was an amazing undertaking including the relocation of 14 small towns and built by thousands of workers from around the globe for over a decade in the early 1900s. I always see the aqueduct as the life blood line, connecting people from New York City to their second homes up here in Ulster County.

There are two ways to go around Duck Pond. We went to the right, leaving the almost completely frozen Pond to our left. After a few minutes, a small trail ("Duck Pond Trail") splits off to the left. This path leads along the creek and up the hill (pretty steep at times) to 'Oakwood Drive', a wide, well maintained hiking trail. Taking a left turn and hiking for about half an hour, we eventually arrived at a large meadow from which you can see all the way down to Bear Mountain and across into the Berkshires. A beautiful sight. From there, it was another 45 minutes slightly down hill and back to Duck Pond.

In those hours, away from it all, when all I think about is the beauty of this amazing region, the magnificent vistas and all the wonderful outdoor activities, I can't but feel lucky to be here all the time and to have found a place where I can work hard but also be able to create a much needed balance for all the business. I hope you have the opportunity to come and visit and explore some time. I guarantee you'll love it!!