Pinery Provincial Park: the Riverside & Wilderness Trails

 
Frankie and I spent Memorial Day weekend at the Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario.  We met Mary and Keith for a long weekend of camping, hiking, and playing in the sand along the shores of Lake Huron.  Mary and Keith have been coming here for many years, often staying a week or more.  This is the third year in a row Frankie and I have joined the fun and it's starting to feel like a tradition, which is just a terrific feeling.  Yay for outdoor adventure traditions!

NCT/FLT: Telephone Road to Cheningo Day Use Area

When researching this hike months ago, I read that there is no bridge over Cheningo Creek, and that the crossing can be difficult/dangerous during high water.  I went down and scouted the crossing when I was in the area on a solo hike back in January, and decided that I should save this section for a day when Erwin could join me.  It turns out that was an abundance of caution, because despite high water conditions today, the crossing was really easy.  However, it was a spectacular hike for Erwin to tag along on!  Really nice woods, stunning displays of wildflowers, and not too much hill climbing.  Having two cars allowed us to drop one vehicle at the Cheningo Day Use Area, then drive around to start our traverse at the Telephone Road crossing.

Group Hike: Green Lakes

There was another group hike with families from Frankie's school scheduled for today.  The original invite indicated that the hike would be re-scheduled for Saturday (yesterday) if rain was forecast today.  With a previous commitment for yesterday, and rain predicted all weekend coupled with with unseasonably cold temperatures, I wasn't sure if we'd be able to go, or even if the hike would be cancelled altogether.  We are new to this group, and I just didn't know what to expect.  I was delighted to find that the organizers stuck with the plans for hiking today despite the cold rain.  They changed the venue to somewhere less remote, and moved the meeting time from late morning to early early afternoon.  Meeting after lunch was definitely sensible, as picnicking in steady rain with temperatures below 40 degrees is not ideal.

Clark Reservation for the Win

My Mom, Mary, has been visiting from Michigan the last few days, staying first at Erin's house, then here.  On Friday morning, after dropping Frankie off at school, I drove out to Beaver Lake and caught up with Mary, Erin, and Alden on the Deep Woods Trail.  Yesterday, we had a picnic in the cold wind at Onondaga Lake Park, then the boys played on the playground eternally and we visited the memorial bench for my late grandparents.  Erin and Alden aren't available Sunday mornings, so we made plans to meet up this afternoon to hang out after Alden's nap and have dinner together.  Then Mary, Frankie, and I packed lunches and headed out for a short hike at Clark Reservation.

A Sunny Spring Day at Great Bear

Erin and I had been waiting for a nice day to get the boys to Great Bear Recreation Area.  Alden is big enough now to have acquired the ubiquitous kid joy in throwing things in the water.  Splash!  By taking Great Bear Road, then Alec's Trail, we reached the Oswego River in about 1 mile.  For little legs, this is the perfect distance to get some time in the woods, then have a lengthy rest-and-snack-and-play session before returning via Great Bear Road.  Because of this, we almost always take the same route, and likely will for some time to come.  Alden hiked almost the entire distance himself, only requesting portage during the climb back up Great Bear Road toward the end.  This is a very impressive hike for someone who is only very newly 2 years old, so it wouldn't be reasonable to ask the little guy to go further for a while yet. 

Easter Hike at Woodchuck Hill

We had to spend some lazy hours at home this morning, due to the Easter holiday and the excitable youth.  This was somewhat challenging for me, since it was so gorgeous outside.  The woods were calling!  I would love to build a tradition of taking an Easter hike, and we have incorporated Easter candy on several occasions (Frankie brings a plastic goldfish stuffed with Easter candy and nibbles along the way).  However, storms were predicted for the afternoon and I could see them barreling towards us on the radar.  We needed a short hike somewhere close by.  I remembered my promise to take Frankie back to Woodchuck Hill, and that seemed perfect given our constraints.  I threw some snacks in my pack so we could have a picnic in the treehouse, and off we went, Easter fish in tow.

NCT/FLT: Cheningo-Solon Pond Road to Wiltsey Glen

For this hike, I left my car at the intersection of Cheningo-Solon Pond and Freeman Roads, in the spot I scouted during my last hike on the North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT).  This section of NCT follows the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) through Cuyler Hill State Forest.  My plan had been to hike north to Wiltsey Glen, which had been my turnaround point while heading south on a hike last fall.  I knew it would be a long hike to fit into my school day hike window, and last night when I was squinting at the topo and adding up the elevation gain, I started to get nervous.  Maybe I was biting off too much?  In the end, I decided I would attempt the hike as planned, and simply turn around before reaching Wiltsey Glen, as necessary.  And I'm so glad I did!