exercise – Page 2 – trailchaser2020

Appalachian Trail Dreaming

Since my vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park I’ve tried to wind down my obsession with the Appalachian Trail a little. Honest! I want to concentrate on solo hikes in my neck of the woods and few group hikes. Hopefully I will be able to get a handful of over-nighters during the summer months, too.

But, I can’t seem to get my head out of the Appalachian Trail or out of the Smoky Mountains! When I fall asleep I see those amazing mountains of blue, grey and purple. If you’ve seen them, you know what I mean.

IMG_20160425_150214365 — See what I mean?

You would think my dreams would be calm and sweet. But NO! My dreams are filled with walking the trail and sometimes the trail is a DEAD END! Or there’s a scary BEAR! Or I keep walking the same trail over and over and over. I wake up in a sweat and can’t fall back to sleep.

Bear Affair 2010 — Please don’t let this EVER happen to me!

Well, I think I need therapy. How about I take a walk! No, seriously, I need help! I’ve decided to step back from the Appalachian Trail a little, no a lot. I’m going to concentrate more on my immediate surroundings, my house, my family and friends and even other hobbies besides hiking!

Let me clarify, I have not given up on my goal of thru hiking the AT!!

Recently, I’ve hiked with my MOM! My mom grew up loving the outdoors and wandering around the woods between the border of NY and PA not far from the Allegheny National Forest. I think I get my love for the woods from her! We went to a trail that I’ve discovered before and that I knew would be “kind” to her. It’s a mile and a quarter long trail with gentle slopes and meanders along a little creek with little waterfalls. I know we will be back.

IMG_20160523_185001076 — My mom making a swan dive into the waterfall. I stopped her.

IMG_20160523_184940012 — She only accused me of trying to kill her once. She though the hill was too steep.

Linda and I have also been out in the last few weeks exploring (and geocaching). I’m lucky to have friends and family that enjoy being outside.

IMG_20160517_181815608 — Linda and I made an Inukshuk.

IMG_20160517_183222434_HDR — Little waterfall.

I was out on National Trail Day, June 4. I visited the Eternal Flame in Chestnut Ridge Park. My favorite place to go.

IMG_20160530_081717280 — These natural gas flames are in a grotto behind a waterfall. So beautiful!

Unfortunately, I said good-bye to my good friend and hiking partner, Shelly! Livingonthedirt.com She left for her grand adventure on Memorial Day. She’s traveling out West to visit many of the National Parks! I’m going to miss this woman soooo much! She took me on my very first overnight backpacking trip and taught me so many things. Please follow her blog! She’s so excited to start this new path in life. I’m so excited FOR HER!

IMG_20160512_175524118 — Shelly is a secret Disney Princess – birds just land in her hands!

One day of Amazing Adventure in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park

A 12 hour drive from my home is the most visited National Park in the country – The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This park is visited more than the Grand Canyon! I can see why, it is spectacular!

The Appalachian Trail runs right through the Smokies so of course I decided I must walk a little bit of the trail while I visited. The weather has been perfect for outdoor play.

The 360 degree view from Clingman’s Dome Tower is amazing. The hike up to the tower is at a 13 degree grade. It is steep! Clingman’s Dome is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, so it was important for me to visit this place first. It was worth every staggering step and drop of sweat.

We encountered a few thru hikers at the tower, but I was too shy to approach them. I just stared and looked like a creeper. When we climbed up the tower an honest to goodness thru hiker took our picture for us. He was a military man, but again, I was too shy to ask many questions.

I had planned out a very short hike on the Appalachian Trail after hiking Clingman’s Dome. It was just 1.7 miles from Road Prong trail head to Newfound Gap. Easy. Dave dropped me off at the trail head and I posed for the obligatory first steps/first white blaze ever on the AT photos.

My boot hit the narrow trail and my heart skipped a beat. My adrenaline flooded into my body and all the sudden I became very nervous, anxious, excited, happy, overwhelmed, you name it, I felt it. I walked a few feet into the trail and saw my second white blaze. Realizing I should not be out of breath so soon, and why were my knees shaking? I stopped to check myself and my surroundings. My brain was still wrapping itself around the fact that I was on the AT. I took a deep breath of the mountain air, did a little spin in the middle of trail, looked up, looked down, to the left and to the right. Finally, I propelled myself forward on the trail easily, knowing Dave was waiting for me at the trail head at Newfound Gap. I told him to give me one hour.

The trail itself was in great shape. There were stairs built out of logs and you could see where some trees had fallen and they were recently cleared away from the path. Trail maintainers are heroes in my book! I gracefully tripped over a root or two, grateful for my hiking poles keeping me upright. There were magnificent little white flowers in bloom so it looked like it had snowed. I thought it looked like a fairy land!

There was an enclosure that I had to hike over. It was a fenced area protecting the beech tree from the invasive wild boar. I was really, really hoping I didn’t encounter a crazy wild pig! However, this post would have been more interesting if I had!

When the end of the hike was approaching I saw Dave hiking out towards me. He’s a worrier. It took me about 45 minutes because of all the stopping to photograph and look around. It was nice to complete a small, very manageable, portion of the trail. I would love to do more, but that will have to wait.

See Dave, I didn’t get lost!

18 Mile Creek and a Tent!

Located about 40 minutes from my house is a hidden treasure. 18 Mile Creek Park in Hamburg, NY is spectacular! The trail is about 5 miles to the end and back. Easy, peasy. The hiker walks above the creek on the main trail along the rim of a ravine. This affords the hiker with magnificent views of the creek and ravine. There are two side trails that will take you down to the creek if you want to fish or wade in the water on a hot day. I can’t wait to go back during the summer.

IMG_20160319_142445894 — View from the rim.

IMG_20160319_142430789 — It’s a long way down!

IMG_20160319_143735204 — My camera and the sun did something wonky and I got a heavenly inspired photo!

IMG_20160319_143756259 — This is what I was trying to photograph. The water cascaded down the rock and froze. It was sparkly and beautiful.

IMG_20160319_144317883 — Of course, there was a geocache!

IMG_20160319_150427621 — Just in case you didn’t see the well worn trail come to an abrupt end, here’s a sign!

Okay, friends. Coming up this Friday I will be backpacking in the Allegheny National Forest. Shelly aka livingonthedirt.com and I will be hiking about 6 miles Friday, spend the night in the woods and hike 6 miles back out on Saturday. We can’t miss Easter Sunday dinner!

I’ve not had the chance to use ANY of my long hike gear yet. I set up my tent ONCE in my LIVING ROOM! My backpack still has the tags on it!! So, I spent Sunday doing some preparing. I gathered my guts and my tent and headed to my backyard with my dogs for moral support.

IMG_20160320_154442294 (1) — The tent I bought for about $50. This is not the tent I will use for the AT.

I scanned the ground for “land mines” aka dog doo. I found a spot next to our fire pit. Don’t worry, I would never set up my tent this close to a fire pit in real life. The first thing I looked for in the bag was the directions! I love the saying – When in doubt, RTFM. “Read the F’n Manual” Truer words have never been spoken!

I learned that you should read the directions once all the way through before you start. Good advice. So, now that I had a clue how this should end I started with step one and two. Lay out the tent and put the poles in an “X” on top.

That was easy.

Step two I had to put the poles in the grommets. Grommet? Isn’t that a British cartoon? Oh, no that is Wallace and Gromit. Gromit is the dog. These would be metal rings. Found them. Then I staked it at four corners. The ground was soft so the stakes went nice and easy! If I was sleeping here, I’d be worried they would pop out, but I’m not, so I didn’t care.

I attached the “dog-bone connector” – that’s what it said it was called in the directions, honest – at the center top and then the hook things (technical term) on the poles.

Hey, this looks like a tent! What’s this? I have to put a fly on?

Maggie was curious. Or she just wanted to drink my tea. So, how does it look? Wait, what’s this in the directions? Side ventilation? Guyouts???

I had to connect paracord to the sides and stake them out. Then the directions said something about guyouts? Huh? Oh, so if you don’t want your tent to blow away while you’re in it, you should attach “guy out lines”. Um. I may need help with that. I have no idea how to tie a knot.

Okay. Moving on. Let’s get in!!!

Not you, Maggie!!

Please remove your shoes before entering my home away from home!

I could actually kneel without ducking my head inside. Lots of headroom for me!

Roomy for a solo tent. Roomy for a 5’2″ woman.

I don’t look comfortable. And the grass was making all kinds of noise. It sounded like it was raining. I think I need to buy a small footprint tarp? Is that what it’s called? Something to go under my tent and above the grass. I’ll see about that before Friday. And I think I need a pillow. I know I NEED a pillow.

Well, I tried it out and now lets see if I can get it all to go back in the same small bag!

I DID IT!!!

My knees were a little muddy from crawling around on the floor, but the next task was packing my backpack.

Most of my gear. I don’t have a lot. Just the necessities.

Do I get points that my sleeping bag color matches my pack color and my NAIL color!!??? LOL!

I have no idea how to use this, but the directions seem pretty clear. Even if I have enough water, I may want to use this just to see how it works.

I researched google and was schooled by Shelly how to pack my pack. Sleeping bag on the bottom, heavy stuff centered. It felt pretty good. Now I have to unpack it all because I want to put a trash compactor bag in there to keep things dry if my pack gets wet.

I’m going to add a couple more things to this bag, like more clothes. It’s supposed to be pretty cold at night. My food will be added and of course, a bladder filled with 2 liters of water. That should bring me up to about 18 pounds in my pack. Doable.

I hope.

Thanks for reading. And please, if you have any advice, I’ll take it!!!

Mud, Bones and What am I doing????

I personally love the feeling of walking in mud. It’s squishy and soft and makes the grossest sound as you pull your foot out of a deep mud puddle. I love it! After a heavy downpour the trails are made of slippery, chocolate brown mud! Mud doesn’t stop me!

While hiking, one periodically comes across unusual things. Recently, after an uneventful 2 miles or so I noticed the decomposing leg of a deer had been draped on a tree branch. GROSS! Of course I took a picture because I’m morbid. I won’t put it here, but if you want to see it (you sick, sick person) I won’t judge you, just send me a message!

It was a bonus unusual day. Off the trail about 50 feet was a little white cross. Someone must have buried their pet in the woods. Or was it the remains of the deer and someone put a cross over it. I decided to admire the cross from trail just in case whatever was there wasn’t completely buried!

IMG_20160309_174121045 — Shelly and I didn’t waste anytime getting away from the decomposing bones!

Hiking with different people I don’t know, I generally ask them, “How do you spend your time outside of hiking?” Almost always, the answer I get is, “Work.” Well, besides that!? Next the answers are about their children or grandchildren, pets, education and travel.

When I am asked that question the first thing I want to tell people is about my family. Dave (my husband) and Carl (my son) are my most favorite people! My two golden retrievers are great hiking buddies, too!

Another hobby I enjoy is hand crafting homemade greeting cards. I have a room in my house dedicated to my stamps and crafts! I also love Halloween, cooking and reading everything I can about the AT.

Truth be told, I really just want to talk about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I want to talk about my gear, maps, books, planning – YOU NAME IT! My hike may be 3.7 years from now (or maybe sooner if I can manage it) but I eat, sleep, and breathe the AT.

I’m planning a trip to Gatlinburg, TN in late April and plan to visit many trails there. I had made a promise to myself to not hike any of the AT until I started my thru hike. I wanted everything to be new on the trail. Now I have a chance to go to Clingman’s Dome! I should do it, right? Or, should I not? I should. Maybe not. Ugh!

In reality I should be focusing on planning and preparing for a backpacking trip I am taking to the Allegheny National Forest in ONE WEEK! Shelly and I are spending one night on a trail out there. I’m very nervous about putting up my tent. I will be practicing it over and over in my yard this week! I’ll be documenting my success or lack thereof!

As you can tell, it is Spring and I’m excited for backpacking season to begin. I’m looking forward to wearing my heavier pack on some trails to get more accustomed to it.

Happy Trails and thanks for following my adventures in training for my thru hike of the AT!

Ice and Eskers

Woot! Another double hike weekend! I need a t-shirt that says “Hiking is my religion.” Being outdoors improves everything! I took advantage of some mild weather this past weekend to visit a long time favorite park, Stiglmeier Park and a new park near Honeoye Falls called Mendon Ponds Park.

IMG_20160227_104024288 (1) — *Boardwalk in the meadow where we saw the Red-Tailed Hawk.*

Saturday morning was pretty cold. I’m trying to thicken my skin so I didn’t back out of the hike in Stiglmeier Park. There was a new group to meet, Creation Exploration. The group met in the parking lot of the park and I asked about needing micro-spikes on the trails. The leaders both said, “No, I doubt it.” Well, the entire trail was complete ice. Note to self and others, when leading a hike always hike a little of the trail before everyone gets there so you can be aware of the trail conditions to inform your group how to prepare. Ugh. As we were sliding on the ice, one of the leaders smiled and said to me, “Should have worn your spikes, huh?” Okay, strike one.

We were walking the Seneca Trail and we were looking for wildlife! This was a slow paced walk through very flat (but, icy) trails. Some of the animals and birds that made an appearance were: White-Tail Deer (a nice sized buck!), Mallard Ducks, Red Tail Hawk, Cardinals, Black-Capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Juncos, Downy Woodpecker and some cool tracks of little critters. There were probably others, I just don’t remember.

IMG_20160227_105833077 (1) — *A mouse probably made these tracks.*

We had a super view of the Red-Tailed Hawk swooping over a meadow and again hovering and diving down to catch some lunch and then again it was flying through another meadow. Birds are amazing, especially birds of prey. They fascinate me.

The group was small and some of us were new to the group. Everyone was nice enough, but since we didn’t know each other it was a little stiff. When I saw the Red-Bellied Woodpecker and pointed it out there was a man that didn’t believe me because it had a red head not a red belly. Well. Okay. But then another man in the group confirmed my call and the guy believed him just fine! Strike Two. Moving on then! They don’t get a strike three. I don’t need that. I kept my mouth shut the rest of walk. It was still a nice walk in a beautiful park. This was not challenging at all, except for the people part.

The weather on Sunday was AMAZING! It was forecast to reach 60 degrees and I think it was a bit higher than that. It is so nice to be able to hike in the snow while wearing just a fleece on February 28! We were hiking Mendon Ponds Park with my familiar Day Hikes group. The trail we took was the East Esker Trail. There were only 6 of us on this hike and I do enjoy small group hikes. I can really get to know every person and we are like a little family on the trail.

My friend Shelly (check out her blog at: http://livingonthedirt.com) hiked along with me. I was so glad she was there. Hiking up a hill, she commented that I was really keeping up and what a long way I’ve come so far. It made me feel terrific. Even I noticed that the hills weren’t so tiring as they were on past hikes. Like they say, the more you do, the better you get!

IMG_20160228_102521216 (1) — *Take a photo of the map with your phone. Very helpful if you don’t have a printed version.*

You are probably wondering what “Eskers” are in my title. I learned a little bit about glaciers on my hike to Mendon Ponds. Eskers are a winding ridge of sand and gravel that are very long and remind me of walking on an old abandoned railway embankment. They are created when streams flowed under and within glaciers. It is a little more technical than that so I’ve supplied the wiki address if you interested in learning more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker

IMG_20160228_113724734 (1) — *Learning about the Esker we are hiking on from our group leader.*

Shelly brought along her new camera. She will have to leave a comment below as I don’t remember what kind of camera it is. The pictures of my rear end came out lovely as usual.

facebook_1456942771031 — *X marks the butt.*

facebook_1456942749781 — *About to get my butt over this tree in the trail. Same day, removed my fleece because it was so warm!*

You can see how the trail conditions changed during our hike. Lots of snow and ice then it changed to mud then back to ice.

This hike was moderately challenging for me, it would have been more challenging if Shelly and I were alone because she marches me up the hills! Since we were with a group we stopped frequently and took pictures.

I made the final decision to not sign up for the Finger Lakes Trail Cross County hike this year. Too many of the dates conflicted with vacation and other events. Instead, I hope to backpack by myself or with my son in Alleghany National Forest or other places this Spring and Summer. This coming weekend my husband I are visiting Downtown Buffalo for a little City getaway. I hope to visit Tifft Nature Preserve to get my outdoor time in.

Thanks for tuning in to learn about my adventures in training for my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. Until next time – Hike on!!

!*^% Snowshoes and Sunshine

What a beautiful weekend in Western New York! The weather was warm and the sun was shining on all creation! I was lucky enough to have both Saturday and Sunday planned for hiking!

Saturday morning I met my best friend, Linda and we drove to Bear Creek State Forest.

IMG_20160220_120825043 — *Finger Lakes/North Country Trail*

It is in or near Machias, New York. We were meeting our Buffalo Day Hike Group and the Foothills Trail Club for a joint club snowshoe hike. I’ve been on snowshoes maybe three times before and always had a good experience so I was excited.

IMG_20160220_111601818 — *The snow is about a foot deep here.*

As we were putting on our snowshoes, Linda noticed that one of her shoes was completely broken. She wouldn’t be able to wear them. We checked with the leaders, Chuck and Marty and they agreed that if she wore micro spikes and walked behind the group, she could participate. Phew! It was a long drive to the trail head to not be able to hike!

Of course the hike started up a hill. Hills are a challenge for me! I have no stamina and I get out of breath quickly. Now, add in that I am wearing snowshoes! Yikes. Well, we went slowly and stopped often as the rest of the group quickly hiked out of sight. Determined to continue I pushed myself further than I thought I would. The leader of Foothills Club, Marty, hiked back to check on us. Linda made a point of telling Marty that I was training to hike the Appalachian Trail. Marty looked at me cross eyed. I can only imagine what he was thinking of my goal. While he hiked with us for a little while, I told Marty I was thinking of joining the Cross County hike this summer. He was very nice and told me to join the half-hike group. It breaks the 96 miles into shorter hikes. I agreed that it would be a good place for me to start. Our slow pace was now a crawl and we convinced Marty to go on ahead.

IMG_20160220_113207526 — *I do not look happy.*

Linda and I pushed up the hill (it felt like a mountain) and I tried to maintain a positive attitude. About a half hour later, Marty joined us again he said it was only another half mile before the turn around point. Right then and there I said we would turn around now. Marty went ahead again and Linda and I were on our own going back down the hill. We had walked up hill a mile and a quarter, now we had to go back down! Our moods were elevated knowing that we were headed back to the car! I just couldn’t wait to get my snowshoes off! We were in the homestretch when Linda took a huge fall and twisted her ankle. When she fell I was in front, I turned around and saw her looking like a human sled.

IMG_20160220_115033517 — *Ooph! Poor Linda! I told her not to move until I got this picture!*

Linda was a trooper and slowly started downhill again. Suddenly she shouted that she heard voices coming. I’d be damned if the group caught up to us!! We high-tailed it the rest of the way and finally made it to the car. On our way home, we, of course, stopped to find a geocache. It was super cute!

IMG_20160220_140153814_HDR — *There’s a geocache hidden in this little outhouse!*

Linda had x-rays on her ankle and it’s a bad sprain, but nothing is broken!

Sunday was another beautiful day for a hike. It took everything I had to get out of bed. My legs were sore from using muscles snowshoeing that I don’t normally use hiking. The only thing that motivated me was knowing it would be a flat hike and there would be very little snow at Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island.

IMG_20160221_114741210 — *Short loop trail that had a great viewing area for bird watching.*

Chuck was again my leader for this hike and he razzed me a little about dropping out of yesterday’s hike. I told him I wouldn’t abandon him this time!

We walked around Beaver Island State Park for 4.5 miles and some of the trail was icy and/or flooded. My Keen boots kept my feet dry and warm!

IMG_20160221_105648108 — *So much happier on this hike!*

This hike didn’t have any falls, steep hills or snowshoes. Woohoo!

I know I have to continue to challenge myself on my hikes and my endurance needs to grow to successfully hike the Appalachian Trail. I’ll get there.

Next step, register for the Finger Lakes Trail Cross County Half-hikes.

Weather – Whether it be nice weather or bad weather, it’s nice to be out in the weather.

Oh man, I kind of got carried away with the title of this post. The weather in Western New York is so strange! First it’s several feet of snow, then it melts and causes flooding, then it freezes and more snow falls! It is wonderful to live in an area of the world that you can feel and experience all four seasons, sometimes all in the same week.

My adventures in training for my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail continues. Recently my friend Shelly (livingonthedirt.com) and I hiked in Hunter’s Creek Park. It’s a favorite park of mine and I have written about it a few times now. There is a Northern section of the park that I have never visited and on this occasion, Shelly and I decided to discover it!

facebook_1455473831054 — *Shelly aka livingonthedirt.com and some out of shape hiker trying to catch up!*

facebook_1455473850240 — *Started out wearing my puffy coat. After about a quarter mile I stowed it away.*

facebook_1455473863516 — *Ice and snow on the boardwalk trail made for slippery conditions.*

It was a warmer day and there was a lot of snowmelt which made for some sloppy trails. I wore my trusty micro spikes as the some of the trail was also snow or ice covered. When the trail wasn’t icy it was muddy and the mud accumulated in my spikes and made my feet weigh 5 pounds each. We hiked some orange trail and a blue loop then back to the orange. Since we didn’t have a map, Shelly had the foresight and experience to know to take a picture of the map at the trail head. We consulted the picture a couple times, more to just ease my mind that we were going in the right direction. I’m still practicing my sense of direction.

IMG_20160131_105408759 — *The Conservation Trail. We can go to Canada or Pennsylvania on this trail!*

The orange trail is also called the Conservation Trail. The Conservation Trail is a footpath which begins at the Pennsylvania border in Allegany State Park and extends northward about 177 miles to meet the Bruce Trail in Canada. I totally just ripped that last sentence off from the website. Check it out at: http://www.foothillstrailclub.org/trail.html.

Another nearby trail I visit frequently is the Joe Panza Trail in the Alden Town Park. On my most recent visit I was joined by my bff, Linda, my son – Carl and his girlfriend, Amanda. It was a beautiful, warm winter’s day and we all decided to take a walk before dusk on the trail. The warm weather caused the recent snowfall to melt and the creek along the trail was completed flooded. Places we walked in the summer were impassable. What a neat sight to see.

IMG_20160203_173253032 — *Excellent hiking companions!*

IMG_20160203_172811695 — *This used to be a little creek!*

IMG_20160203_173141320 — *We did some geocaching!*

IMG_20160203_173023652 — *And we did some bushwhacking aka peeing in the woods.*

I visited Canton, Ohio in early February. It was Super Bowl weekend and it’s an annual tradition to meet at our friend’s house and party all weekend! There’s a bunch of us that attend and this year was a blast. The weather was unseasonably warm, so, of course I had to go outside! I found a pretty park in nearby Hartville, Ohio called Quail Hollow State Park. There were very nice nature trails here. The trail I chose on Saturday morning was only about 1 mile or so. My friends came with me, so it was a nice leisurely pace.

*The teenager was lured to hike with the promise of Starbucks!*

IMG_20160206_100505885 — *I love the light at the end of the tunnel!*

I ventured out again to the same park on Saturday afternoon with my husband. His back had been hurting him, so we didn’t walk long. Dave and I did go to another walking path Sunday morning. This path was paved and meandered through the woods along a subdivision. Not my ideal nature walk, but it was nice. My feet did not like walking on the paved trail and began to hurt. I also think the fact that I did A LOT of drinking the night before made me dehydrated and my feet were swollen! If you want to play, you have to pay! It was still great to be outdoors.

IMG_20160206_102243594_HDR — *I love this sign!*

IMG_20160206_100806416 — *Oooo, my legs look so long and skinny! I was trying to take a picture of the ice on the trail.*

This weekend I have two hikes planned, one in a new park and the other is in a park I used to go to all the time to bird watch. I also have to make a big decision on whether or not to participate in a 100 mile hike on the Finger Lakes Trail. It’s broken up into 8 long hikes or 16 short hikes. I’d like to do the longer hikes, but I am so nervous about hiking 10 or MORE miles in one day! Hard to imagine when you sit on your butt all day at work! We shall see! Stay tuned!

Testing, testing, testing.

It was 24 degrees when I left the house early Saturday morning and it was 21 degrees when I arrived at Sgt. Mark A. Rademacher Memorial Park aka Hunter’s Creek Park. Hunter’s Creek Park was a favorite place of Mark Rademacher. Sgt. Rademacher, a Wales, NY resident, died in the Grenada Invasion in 1983 at the age of 20. I didn’t know the man, but I’m glad he was recognized in this way. There is a trail blazed with a Chevron that is named after him, too.

I had hiked this park five months ago with my nephew, Matthew. It was summer then. A sunny, warm day. Today was sunny, but the temperature was anything but warm. I hadn’t worn my boots in the snow for an extended period of time and I hadn’t had a chance yet to try out my new spikes. I bought a new puffy coat, too. I wasn’t convinced this lightweight, thin puffy would keep me warm on such a cold day. Today was the day of testing! Testing my boots, testing my spikes, testing my new puffy and testing my stamina on a long hike in the cold.

My best friend, Linda hiked with me again today. She’s been a big supporter of my crazy idea to hike the Appalachian Trail and always encourages me to get outside and practice.

IMG_20160123_124721470 (1) — *Linda, putting her head in places only a Geocacher would.*

Of course, since I was hiking with Linda, there was some geocaching to be done! We found a total of four caches in the park that was filled with approximately 50! We had to give up on a few we were looking for due to the snow covering EVERYTHING! The few that we found were fun.

IMG_20160123_121107375 — *She left a “Travel Bug” in this one.*

Hunter’s Creek land formerly belonged to the Kellogg family. There are ruins of their cabin that I had not seen on earlier hikes. I was excited to finally see what was left. A stone chimney and the foundation. Not much!

IMG_20160123_113712277 — *Kellogg Cabin site.*

On the previous hike through here with Matthew there was neat little bridge we bounced across. This bridge was now covered in ice and snow. Linda walked across it very slowly and I waited until she was completely off the bridge before starting over. The little bridge creaked and it lacked the fun bounce it had in the summer. My boots hit the bridge and my micro spikes gave me great traction. I never worried once about slipping. The difference in wearing the spikes was incredible. I won’t be caught on a winter hike without them from now on!

IMG_20160123_104032874 — *Winter bridge.*

IMG_20150801_122023400 — *Summer bridge, opposite direction.*

IMG_20160123_105557537 (1) — *Trusty micro spikes fit my boots perfectly like REI said they would! What a great invention!*

Hunter’s Creek offers a number of trails to hike. They often intersect and sometimes, merge for a distance. If you don’t know what you are doing, you could get very confused and become turned around. This would never happen to us. HA! I said that as long as we see a blaze, we know we are in the park and we are not lost. HA! HA! HA! We followed a red trail, a pink trail, a double pink trail, a blue trail, a chevron trail, a green trail with one dot, and a green trail with three dots. There may have been others. Apparently the number of dots and whether the color is a circle or a rectangle mean different things. APPARENTLY, I need to brush up on my map reading skills!

IMG_20160123_121141887 — *Yes! There is a yellow blaze!*

IMG_20160123_113733737 — *Uh, where’s the blaze??*

We came to an intersection of trails and decided to follow the pink trail heading towards where we came in the park off the parking lot. I almost had to (gulp) get out my compass. Alas, Linda used her phone and pulled up the geocache we had found earlier that was just off the parking lot and we followed the directions back to it. See, geocaching while hiking is helpful!

So, my day of testing went well! I tested my boots – Keen Durand Mid WP. My feet were warm, dry and felt great all day. We probably hiked well over 5 miles. Next time I will remember to set my phone app to measure my distance. My micro spikes worked amazingly well. Easy to slip on over snow covered boots, stayed in place while hiking, and easy to peel off at the end of the day. My new puffy coat passed the test. I bought the puffy for $49.00 at Macy’s, that’s right, $49.00! It has a down fill of 650, kept me toasty warm and I loved that I wasn’t wearing a bulky coat. I was able to maneuver and my pack fit great over it. The workmanship quality of this coat lacks a little. The pockets don’t zipper and the hood had no string or cord to keep it in place. I might want a higher down fill and better quality for the AT. But, what a bargain! As for my stamina on the hike; we hiked for about 4 hours. I felt great the next day with no soreness; only a thirst for more!

And, I didn’t know it, but I was testing my sense of direction. It sucks, I failed. I will have to practice that and try to find a class on map and compass reading.

Patient Wild Woman

Patience, patience, patience.

My weekends since the holiday began have been busy with baking, family time and all those wonderful INDOOR things. Now, the next few weekends are full of visiting with family and friends. Don’t get me wrong, I will still hike out on the weekend mornings. Someplace close by, easy and quick (aka – been there, done that).

I once heard that the secret to being patient is doing something else in the meantime, so I took my family out for a one mile jaunt the other day. My hubby had a sore back or I would have pushed for more mileage. Here is our family photo. I need a selfie stick and dogs that know how to pose for photos .

My long hike on the AT is a few years away, so I am concentrating on getting outside for shorter hikes. I’m finding it harder to go. Why? I know why. It’s winter, it’s cold, I’m bored. The short hikes are nice, but I want longer ones! I want to set up my tent! I want to cook over my pocket rocket. I wanna go backpacking in the woods! Wahhhh! Okay, that’s out of my system.

This Christmas I received a set of Frogg Toggs rain gear. Pink jacket, black pants. Love it. Will I take it with me in 2020 on The Trail? I dunno. Maybe? I also received a titanium spork. Will I take it with me? Probably. Dunno. My brother gave me a cute hiker girl ornament for my tree. I don’t think she’ll make the gear list.

It’s not easy for me to be patient. Especially when I see others readying their packs for the 2016 thru-hike. (Shout out to my friend, travelshell!) I know it’s not my time yet. I have a plan. There are so many places I want to hike first. So much more experience I need before undertaking such a feat.

So, here I am, cheering all you 2016 thru-hikers on to Maine or Georgia (whichever way to want to go.) I’ll bring out my notebook, studiously taking down all the how-to’s and do-not-do’s. I’ll put all your knowledge to work on my thru-hike in 2020.

Chasing Waterfalls

I hadn’t worn my boots in over a week. It’s funny how I began to miss them! My name was sitting on a “waitlist” for a hike to chase waterfalls in a nearby State Park. I checked my phone for alerts every half hour hoping my name would be put on the “confirmed” list. I woke up at 7:00 a.m. the day of the hike and saw that I was finally confirmed. Enough people had backed out, clearing a spot for me! Jumping out of bed and scaring the dogs, I hurried to shower and pack my backpack.

The December day was forecast to be in the 60’s and nice. I was looking forward to being outside and among friends on the trail. Stepping outside it was foggy, damp and dreary – it did not look promising. Driving to the park it began to sprinkle. It still felt more like an April day than a December day, so I carried on.

The group was beginning to assemble at the meeting point and it started to rain harder. People were changing their RSVPs to No every couple minutes and before we knew it, we had only 14 people instead of 25. The rain was putting sour faces on most of us, but no one backed out. We all hoped it would stop soon and lucky for us it did.

Fog was still settled below.

We were chasing down a number of waterfalls in the park and since there hadn’t been much rain, except for the little that fell early in the morning, the waterfalls were only trickling.

Our leader, Chuck took us past interesting old ruins of park infrastructure. The park was built in the 30’s and many of the old stone incinerators and mysterious buildings remain. A few took us a minute to figure out what they might have been used for. I still don’t know what this large dog house building would be. It had no floor – only mud, trash and a large pipe running through it.

We eventually chased down a few waterfalls. Not very exciting this time of year with no water rushing over them, but beautiful, just the same.

Just a trickle. I swear there is a waterfall here.

Chuck said this one wasn’t on his list, but it was flowing better than any of the other waterfalls!

There’s a teeny tiny waterfall in the middle of this picture. It didn’t make Chuck’s list either.

This hike felt different to me than any other so far. I was talking to everyone, breathing easily and having so much fun. My feet were even smiling in my boots! There were a couple of challenging, steep inclines and I was glad I brought my hiking poles. They sure do come in handy. Chuck had us walking in the creek bed in order to view another waterfall. The creek bed was SLIPPERY! Those poles saved me from getting wet! So did Ali – my happy Drill Sargent was there lending a supportive hand and motivational words whenever I needed it!

At the edge of the park there was a marker engraved with the name, Cliford Robert Pettis, State Forester. Of course, I had to “Google” his name! Turns out he was named the “Father of Reforestation” and was the New York State Forest Superintendent from 1910-1927. Seems this man was responsible for the planting of 20,000,000 trees in New York State. Here is a website if you want to learn more: https://localwiki.org/hsl/Clifford_R._Pettis.

Nearing the end of the hike we were climbing and climbing. My heart was beating out of my chest! My face was RED! I reminded myself that this is why I am in training for my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. As long as I am still breathing I will get through it! I concentrated on my slow even breathing and setting small little goals. For example on one steep section of trail I concentrated on different shape rocks ahead of me and told myself to get to that one rock, then the next rock, then the next weird looking root, then the next bright leaf in trail. Sometimes these goals were only 2 feet apart, but it worked!

Luckily the last steep climb landed us right at the parking lot near our cars. I quickly caught my breath and we said our farewells. My muddy boots and poles needed a little TLC.

	Janine B. on Déjà vu All Over Again
	Karen Godshall on Déjà vu All Over Again
	Melissa Sorci Taft on Déjà vu All Over Again
	Mariely on Déjà vu All Over Again
	Jeff on Déjà vu All Over Again

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