My photo, Autumn Cliffs, taken on a recent hike is in the 

                      2019 Mohonk Preserve Calendar.

Spotlight Exhibition: Mohonk Preserve Volunteer Photographers

"Baxter" by Cornelia DeDona

Mohonk Preserve-A Love Song

Mohonk Preserve is my church,
a photographer's dream.

I return

to craft moments

capture memories

blaze trails

its pastoral beauty quiets my mind

lets my spirit soar

high above the sweaty rocks

glistening in the mid-day sun.

I return

to scramble

Giant’s Path

Rock Rift

Bonticue Crag.

I celebrate in the snakes

gliding through Duck Pond

while I sit and snack on wild blueberries.

I rejoice in Raptors posing on ledges

taking flight

watching us, watch them.

I witness the devotion

of my fellow hikers reflected in pools

beneath waterfalls

the cool mist as it soothes tired spirits

the wild beauty that surrounds us all.

I return to the land

to witness Spring’s

trillium erectum

wild ginger, bloodroot

all stalwart parishioners.

I return to the land

to cross Summer’s Rhododendron Bridge

disappear into a cloud of pink and white mountain laurel.

 I return to the land

to gaze at Autumn’s

red oak

mountain ash

sugar maple

leaves ablaze

red, orange and yellow,

to marvel at the revelation

without and within.

I return to the land

in Winter

to realize the glacial majesty

net the mirror images

and the light

always the light

in slow water and ice

in the footprints left behind

to find the divine in a frosty pine.

I return devout

week in and week out.

I return to plug in,

exult and give thanks.

I return.

I return.

I return.

©Cornelia DeDona 10-17-16

"Seasons of the Mid-Hudson Valley"

Dancing Bears

"Seasons of the Mid-Hudson Valley"

An exhibit of photographs by 
Mohonk Preserve Volunteer Photographers

November 13, 2015, to Monday, January 4th, 2016

La Bella Pizza Bistro 

194 Main St, New Paltz, NY 12561

Opening Reception
 Sunday, November 15 from 5-7pm.

Giant's Workshop

Rock Rift Scramble and Mohonk Mountain House, Lake and Gardens