Hiking in April definitely has an aspect of rolling the dice. I've been told that I'm lucky to live in upstate New York where we have so many options within a short drive. I agree wholeheartedly because it means you can often choose a day to hike and decide on the hike you want to do the day before or even the day of. Will there be a blizzard in the Adirondacks? Hike the Catskills. Is a lake effect slamming New York from the West? Hike the Green Mountains in Vermont or even the Taconics. I thought I wanted to do more Catskills but the weather and reports have been rather good from the smaller...
Quinn had a Monday off coming up and we all know what that means: required family time! I really wanted to get Red Hill Fire Tower checked off my list, but driving 2 or more hours for a hike that short seemed like a waste of gas. I'd been toying with including it with another hike, but I realized making it a Quinn hike would be the perfect compromise. I also decided to hike up the back side of the mountain (which is more rugged than the font side) to make the drive and the hike more worth it.
It's early Spring and that means we're hiking a lot of Lake George and Catskills trails. There are several reasons for this. Top among them are that the conditions in the North are dicey and getting a good day for hiking is problematic. Another reason is that the more Southern regions do have rattlesnake habitats and it's safest for dogs to hike them this time of year. Jay had mentioned possibly hiking the Big Indian region of the Catskills a few weeks ago and we both had a free Sunday coming up and the weather report was looking extremely favorable, so our plans coalesced to make this a...
This week's hiking day dawned cool and cloudy but without precipitation. I'd seen reports that Dacy Clearing Road was open so I excitedly made my way to hike Sleeping Beauty Mountain.
I like to feature local hikes on this blog, especially if it's the first time we've experienced it. Yesterday we checked out a trail we've passed many times on Rt.146 but never visited. The location is called "Garnsey Park" and it's situated just a few miles West of the main body of the Clifton Park retail district. From the website: Garnsey Park offers over 150 acres of rolling meadows, wooded ridgeline and a mile-plus of nature trails in Western Clifton Park, helping retain the rural, open character within this area of town. It is also the site of the Rexford Veterans Memorial, which was...