Hello Hikers!
Wednesday Jan 13
Yellow Barn SF followed by a birthday party at Steve and Diane’s in Ellis Hollow
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It was so horribly cold and windy at the trail head I briefly thought we might have to abandon the hike, something we’ve only ever done once or twice before. But then we reached the shelter of the trees in a minute or two and the wind was blocked. Still unpleasantly cold for a while until we got warmed up.
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The snow cover wasn’t very deep and it was nice and powdery, but we hit a surprising amount of slick ice underneath, and the terrain was generally bumpy and choppy, which made walking a little tough, especially for those with knee or ankle problems. Tiger’s knee swelled up when she got back home and it was hurting in bed; she had to take Aleve several times.
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This walk is a very pleasing mixture of woods and fields — we hit some windy areas out in the open but by then we were steamed up and it didn’t feel so miserable. Extremely beautiful sky with big puffy clouds and a lovely sun.
There’s a large pond along the way that was covered with snow. I asked if anyone wanted to test out the thickness of the ice:
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That’s Eckhart, our #1 daredevil. If you look closely, you’ll see he was up on his toes jumping up and down, and grinning. So we learned the ice could support one person.
But how many more?
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How many of you think this was a fun challenge? How many a foolish and risky one?
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Official head count: 18 hikers, two dogs. Everyone came out a bit small in order to get them all into one long lineup. I have another version of this shot online broken in two so everyone appears larger and you can see their faces better.
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Six more people came to the party afterwards — we had NY-style cheesecake baked by Diane, shrimp and pizza, and lots of beer and wine — plenty of that left over for our hot dog cook-out coming up Jan 31 in Danby.
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Saturday Jan 16
Lindsay Parsons Preserve, W Danby
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Sometimes a hike comes across as more than just a string of different scenes. Several of us were talking about music, and it occurred to me this walk unfolded like a beautiful tone poem — fantastic saturated subtle shades of brown and grey — pale mist hanging on the hillsides — dim light than got lighter and darker — wet tree trunks and logs gleaming
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The start was a little disconcerting — parts of the parking lot were a sheet of treacherous ice — but it was fine once we headed down the hill into the preserve.
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Supposedly the rain that passed through a few hours before we set out was finished, but then we got a 10-minute burst on the trail — one of the hikers who was wearing a down coat got soaked and had to turn back early. For those of us wearing water-resistant gear, it was fun.
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There’s a big pond here — not clear from looking whether the ice was weak or not — that’s daredevil Bud checking it out — evidently still solid but he didn’t venture any further out from the shore into the flooded areas
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Later, Bud found a garter snake in the middle of the trail, something we haven’t seen before in cold weather — you can see him lifting the snake in the bottom of the photo — the dogs ignored it
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On the hike I was trying to think of an arty women’s designer who created a very successful clothing line in the mid-80s using a palate of muted woodland colors — couldn’t think of her name but Tiger knew it — not that our ladies do much hiking in stylish sportswear. Tiger thought the scenery looked like a rich and subtle tweed.
Official head count: 20 hikers, four dogs
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Sunday Jan 17
Willseyville Creek, Caroline
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Delightful grey morning along a very low-key and easygoing trail well off the beaten track.
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This walk resembles the Jim Schug Trail in Dryden in that it’s an old railroad right-of-way running through a swampy floodplain — it differs because there are some lovely woods and rolling fields to see along the way — and because you get the strong feeling hardly anyone walks here
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In winter, the right-of-way becomes an official snowmobile trail — it would definitely be fun to roar along here on a frigid morning — as long as the big puddles were frozen over
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The walk takes us across Ridgeway Road up to the edge of a very large pond Willseyville Creek has formed — couldn’t manage to get a shot showing some of the extent, but the views to the east into the hills are beautiful too
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The creek passes under Ridgeway Road at the low point in the background of this shot — quick walk back to the cars —
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…… very little traffic to dodge ….
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Official head count: 28 hikers, four dogs
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