Hello Hikers!
Wednesday Jan 27
YMCA and EcoVillage property on West Hill
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This was a new walk for most of our hikers — through some delightful scenery a little west of town off Route 79. We hiked through extensive deciduous woods on a large tract belonging to the YMCA, and in sweeping brushy fields connected to EcoVillage.
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Notice anything odd about this photo? It’s in black and white. I was fiddling with the camera controls while wearing gloves as we stood around waiting to start — I couldn’t really feel what I was doing through the glove, and I changed the camera settings without realizing it. When I got home, I discovered a lot of the photos were too dark to use — until Tiger suggested I convert them into B&W. This sidestepped the problem I’d created — pretty ingenious of her.
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Luckily, when we were out in the open areas, the wrong setting I’d put on the camera didn’t exert so strong an effect, and I was able to use the original color shots — colors came out a bit lurid but I like the look
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Didn’t seem like there was really any snow at all on the ground when we were driving to the trail head — but as soon as we set off I wished I’d worn my YakTrax — there was a nasty layer of hard ice under the light snow — to avoid it, you had to walk off to the side of the trail, right next to the brambles
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This is definitely a good hike — Tiger and I have done pieces of it in the past but not often enough to remember the way — thankfully we had Virginia to lead us around — she lives nearby and walks here all the time
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Official head count: 21 hikers, five dogs
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I was a little upset I messed up the camera settings, but it ended up producing some very dramatic effects I could never have gotten deliberately — looks a little fake, maybe, but fun.
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Saturday Jan 30
Roy H Park Preserve and Hammond Hill SF, Dryden
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We failed to wait my preferred minimum time (three months) to do this hike again, so I was concerned it might seem a little stale — but it’s such a beautiful walk, and it was such a lovely day, everything turned out great
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Basically no snow on the ground on the way to the trail head, but by the time we got up into the higher areas of Hammond Hill SF, there was complete coverage and it looked very wintery. Not deep enough for skiing, according to our own Mr Nordic Ski Jack V, but he steered us away from the ski trails anyway for fear we’d damage the base by punching through.
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My one and only real complaint about this walk is that the Roy H Park boardwalk is too short and the wonderful swampy area is over so fast. We tried in the past to extend the walk into the swamp but we got turned back by high water almost immediately.
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Some hikers have a little prejudice against walking on rural roads as opposed to sticking to woodland trails, but I like them both equally myself — as long as the scenery along the road is decent. In favor of the roads, the footing can be better, and it’s usually easier to walk side by side and talk
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One of the downsides of being older and exerting yourself on a chilly day — nose just runs and runs — this isn’t a posed picture
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Official head count: 20 hikers, four dogs
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Sunday Jan 31
Cook-out at Chestnut Lean-to, Danby SF
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So was I a genius for scheduling our midwinter cook-out for a day 25 degrees above normal, or what?
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The huge amount of wood we cut and hid off to the side 10 days ahead of time was all there untouched, and we had a fire so magnificent it could have warmed the dead
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Eckhart was in complete charge ot making and managing the fire — at first, there was a lot of skepticism that he was using too much green wood, and piling on too many logs before the fire really caught — but as the fire progressed, people began to say it was the best fire they’d ever seen — in the end, it was universally judged a masterpiece
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There was supposed to be a regular two-hour hike before we started to eat, and most of the people set off on this (Tiger and I and some others stayed behind at the lean-to) — but for reasons that weren’t entirely clear to me, the hikers returned very early, and everyone seemed content just to stand around and work their way through the cook-out menu
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Special citation to Roger: Best improvised use of a non-commercial hot dog skewer
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Official head count: 32 hikers, three young granddaughters who played hike-and-seek in the woods, and seven dogs
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