suns along the Mohawk

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– views east and west from Riverside Park Esplanade just past sunrise, Jan. 26 –

Despite having posted at length yesterday about our ice floes and flooding, I’ve taken a number of photos along the Mohawk at Riverside Park since Sunday (January 24) that I’m unwilling to leave in my proverbial shoebox.  So, I’m posting some of my favorites here tonight. [As always, click on a photo for a larger version and scroll over it for a description.]

. . . In addition, at the end of this post, you’ll find a few great foggy-river shots taken by “a Stockade neighbor” who prefers to remain nameless.   They make my own fog photos (e.g., here) pale in comparison.

. . . pull up a chair and wait for the flood . .

There was a beautiful orange sky at sunrise on Sunday (Jan. 24).  Looking eastward from the end of Washington Avenue, I enjoyed this view of the CSX trestle bridge:

The next evening, Monday January 25, a gray sunset produced a lovely scene at the Gateway Landing, near the Binnekill, viewed from the end of Washington Avenue:

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As seen in our posting yesterday, I inspected the riverbank along Riverside Park twice in the morning of January 26, keeping a flood watch.  That allowed me to take the sunrise photos at the top of this post, and to snap shots of a school bus turning around near the Pumphouse at the end of N. Ferry St., and of a City of Schenectady Emergency Rescue truck ready for action as flood waters approach the end of Governor’s Lane:

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Near sunrise yesterday, I also photographed the confluence of both channels of the Mohawk, as they merged near the eastern tip of the Isle of the Cayugas, on their way to the ice-jam-prone CSX trestle bridge.  Here are two of those shots:

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Finally, on my way back home after photographing the ice jam around noon yesterday, I saw this scene in the backyard of 2 Washington Ave.   It sums up well the intrusive nature of those damn ice floes:

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Bonus: Guest photos by a Stockade neighbor, who prefers to remain anonymous, taken Monday afternoon, Jan. 25, 2010, along a foggy Mohawk River at Riverside Park:

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. . . I checked out Riverside Park late this afternoon at sunset.  With the temperature “real feel” at 1° F., I was the only person (silly enough to be) in the Park, but I stayed only long enough to snap a half dozen photos, between Washington Ave. and the esplanade.  Because there was nothing interesting happening in the western sky, I focused on the view along the snow-icy Mohawk River to the East/NE.  For example, the scene through the tree trunks clustered at the old Burr Bridge abutment:

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. . And, here are a couple of shots from the Park’s esplanade, taken while my fingers and shutter button were still able to function (as always, click on a photo to get a larger version and scroll over it for a description):

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With my first sunset photo shoot of the New Year behind me, I’m waiting for something a little more dramatic before I next head out into a frigid evening.   Until then, I’m choosing cozy over crazy.

update (Jan. 15, 2010): Ever the optimist, and never quite learning my lessons, I tried again on Tuesday to weather another sunset along the Mohawk River.   The wind was brutal in Riverside Park, and sunset again rather subdued, as I snapped a few photos and hustled back home:

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