Hello Hikers!
Wednesday Jan 11
Road walk — Mount Pleasant Road and Mineah Road, Freeville
This is the wide open spaces road walk we were supposed to do last Sunday that I cancelled because of cold and high winds. I’m really glad we waited — the volatile weather worked out just right — mid 40s and dazzling sun and a picturesque coating from the ice storm overnight
We learned about a way we can extend this walk for a long distance through these high fields — without any cars — stay tuned
If you look closely at the horizon you’ll see two tiny stick figures — one with arms outstretched dramatically, almost like he was posing ….
We had a get-together at Steve and Diane’s house nearby in Ellis Hollow afterwards — it was a hiker’s birthday — fantastic spread and we had a great time
Official head count, walk and party combined: 23H, four D
You can see Annie’s photos here
Saturday Jan 14
The Wedge, Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area — with Dave B
Dave drove out here Friday morning to check the snow and ice status in several spots — it looked good to him — but he didn’t walk the entire trail, and as we got to the higher elevations, up around 2000 feet, we did find considerable snow cover and hard slippery ice
The trail became a bit tricky — I for one really enjoyed trying to avoid falling — a number of hikers did fall but nothing serious
We came back downhill on the road rather than attempt to navigate on a trail that might be icy
Dave B is definitely a master of pacing and timing our hikes to more or less exactly two hours — he was thrown off a little by the last-second change to the road — but we still finished up just three minutes early
Official head count: 20H, four D
More photos:
Sunday Jan 15
Stevens Suspension Bridge to the Cornell horse fields and the Monkey Run bluffs, Forest Home
The snow was almost entirely gone but we still encountered patches of treacherous hard ice on the trail, often obscured by grass or leaves — I fell down backwards myself — landed on my arm and my ass — no damage — slipping and toppling backwards is generally not as dangerous as catching your foot in a snag and falling forward — you can really get hurt doing that
Official head count: 34H, nine D
More photos: