Friday, April 30, 2010

Snow Hole

I took the afternoon off and did some hiking with Howie. Started at the Petersburg Pass trailhead on Route 2. Headed north on the Taconic Crest Trail. Passed a couple of viewpoints and then stopped at the snow hole - a crevice in the ground which holds snow until end of spring. It was a cool spot (literally) to stop and eat my turkey sandwich ... out of the sun and away from the few bugs that were out.

Returned to the car and still had some energy. So, we headed south up Mount Raimer via one of the old ski slopes. Got to the top and then returned.

On the drive back, I stopped at Grafton Lakes State Park. Parked at the fishing access lot on Shaver Pond road. Did a short loop hike to the pond and back (using the Fish Access, Nature and Wild Wood trails). Mosquitoes were out, but were not too bad if you kept moving.

Altogether, covered about 8 miles of trails. On the way home, I stopped at Stewarts. The guy in line in front of me was buying 15 (!) half-gallon containers of ice cream.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Go the extra (Five) mile

I took the day off and did some hiking with Howie in the Adirondacks (near Lake George). We climbed Five Mile mountain from the Clay Meadows trailhead on Route 9N. Had a nice sunny, breezy day for our journey. Continued past the summit to the lean-to and then returned to the car. Didn't see another person all day.

Summit Elevation: Five Mile Mountain 2256 ft
Round-trip Distance: 9.0 mi
Elevation Change: 2000 ft
Five Mile Mountain

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Huyck Preserve


Left work a little early and drove with Howie to Rensselaerville. We did a short hike at the Huyck Preserve. Checked out the falls and then followed the trail around the Lake Myosotis and also the short loop around Lincoln Pond. About 3.5 miles of walking altogether on this fine afternoon.



Sunday, April 18, 2010

Lisha Kill

Kind of an iffy day, with lots of clouds and spotty sprinkles here and there. I did a short walk with Howie late this afternoon at the Lisha Kill Preserve in Niskayuna. Parked at the trailhead on Rosendale Road. Followed all the marked trails: yellow (Frank's trail), red (Grattan Family trail) and blue (Paul's trail). Walked about 2 miles altogether.

Lisha Kill Preserve

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

This post is not Spam

I took the afternoon off and headed up to Lake George with Howie. We did a loop hike over Pilot Knob following the "marked" path (with red and yellow paint) to the grassy sub-peak. Stopped at the top for some photos and and then followed the drainage back down to the main trail. On the way, I found an old rusty vinyl lawn chair and a can of spam among other trash. A real nice day to be out with the beagle.

Round-trip Distance: 5.5 mi
Elevation Change: 1460 ft

Pilot Knob

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Alander

I climbed Alander mountain today with Howie. Started at the NY parking lot on Route 344 and followed the Southern Taconic Trail (white markers). It was a cool and breezy day, but the bright sunshine compensated for the lack of warmth. Took a quick break at the first lookout on Bash Bish mountain, and continued on. Got to the summit and had some lunch (well Howie got about half my turkey sandwich). After returning to the car, I followed the trail/road over to Bash Bish falls for a quick peek. Turned out to be a real nice day considering how gloomy it looked in the morning.

Summit Elevation: Alander 2250 ft
Round-trip Distance: 7.0 mi
Elevation Change: 1500 ft

Alander

Saturday, April 03, 2010

In our own backyard

I did some walks on Saturday with my Dad near Skaneateles. The first was on the Charlie Major trail. We started at the trailhead in Mottville which was also a small park. The cinder dust trail we followed was once a rail line over a century ago. There were many ruins of old mills, buildings and a dam along the way. Distance covered was about 1.6 miles round-trip.
Charlie Major Trail

The second walk was at the Skaneateles Conservation Area. Parked on Gully road and followed the short (1/4 mile) trail to overlook on Guppy falls. There was a bit of climb at the start to get to the top of the ravine - some of it involving stairs. The falls did not have a lot of water, but were still nice to check out on this unusually warm Spring day.
Guppy Falls