North Country Trail: Art Park

My normal work schedule is four days a week, so I occasionally have part of a day to myself when Frankie is at school.  Between appointments and errands, snow days and school vacations, it doesn't happen every week -- not even close.  But every now and then, things line up perfectly for me.  I am excruciatingly prone to cabin fever this time of year, so when I realized I'd have such a day to myself this week, I was determined to get out for a hike.  It was a no brainer.   

A Warm Winter Day at Great Bear

After last weekend was miserably cold with subzero temperatures that limited our outdoor time to a few brief hours of yard play, I'd been watching the weather forecast desperately hoping for a chance to get out this weekend.  Today was forecast to be rainy with mild temperatures.  However, throughout the week, the likelihood of rain in the forecast kept decreasing, and there was also my desperation factor... I was pretty much determined to go no matter what.  I convinced Erin the rain wasn't worth worrying about, and offered to meet her somewhere out her way.  We settled on Great Bear.

Three Generation Hike at Three Rivers

When my Dad and I hiked Santanoni and Panther at the end of the summer, he brought his dog Daisy along, and it was so much fun to see her unbridled enthusiasm in the woods.  At that time, Frankie was a bit afraid of her.  She was still a puppy and jumped up on people a lot, and Frankie is of low enough stature to get feet in face.  Unfortunately, even very friendly claws can be a bit off putting when scrabbling energetically about the face.  Time has passed, and Daisy got her toenails clipped and learned to jump up less.  Along the way, Frankie conquered his fear, and the two of them are great friends now.  I thought it would be fun to get them out on a hike together so he could see the crazy dog in the woods.

Snowshoeing at Clark Reservation

In terms of snow, this winter has been kind of a dud so far.  It was warm all through December, and while January finally brought colder weather, sadly, there was still very little snow.  A lake effect storm finally came through early in the week, closing schools Tuesday, and I crossed my fingers that the snow would hold up for the weekend.  Yesterday Frankie and I were outside for a few hours, sledding in the backyard and going on a "heffalump expedition," which was really just a walk through the neighborhood, winding through the playground and the woodlot up behind the house (we trapped several heffalumps, thank you very much).  Cutting across the ball fields at the playground, we discovered that the snow was, in fact, deep enough for snowshoes.  Hurray! 

Three Meadows Trail, Beaver Lake

This was another hike that Erin planned, and I was excited by her trail selection.  As I've mentioned before, there has been a lot of repetition in our hikes at Beaver Lake ever since Frankie became communicative.  He just loves the boardwalk so much it's hard to steer him away from the Bog Trail.  But the other trails are nice, too, and with hunting season still open, the nature center is always a safe bet.  So off we went.  The Three Meadows Trail is varied in scenery, passing through pines and hardwoods, and as the name implies, several lovely meadows. 

Clark in November

On Friday night, I told Frankie I wanted him to check the weather forecast and decide which day this weekend would have better weather for a hike.  This kid has always been obsessed with the weather, checking the 10-day forecasts not just for our area, but for distant places he's traveled.  Place names bookmarked in the weather app became some of his first sight words.  He makes up different weather forecasts for his various toys and imaginary worlds (bunny world, spaceship world, train land).  And he's just recently started writing up and illustrating his own weather forecasts.  Given all that, I suspected he would enjoy this assignment enormously, and he rose to the task, taking his new responsibility quite seriously.  First thing Saturday morning, he scrolled through the hourly forecasts for both days and determined today would be best.

Deep Woods Trail, Beaver Lake

 My mother Mary came to visit for Frankie's first birthday in 2011, and has made it an annual tradition, coming every fall.  She came a week earlier last year, due to a schedule conflict, and got to participate in Halloween festivities, including pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating.  That worked out really well, so we did the same thing again this year.  Obviously any nice visit must include hiking.  Of course!  We walked a portion of the Morningside Cultural Trail one day, at Frankie's insistence - he loves the "secret stairs" behind the community gardens and the water towers, and wanted to show them off.  That turned out to be a fine adventure, since neither Mary or Erin (or Alden!) had been up there before.  We also hiked at Clark Reservation.  Today we wanted to meet up with Erin and Alden again, so decided on Beaver Lake.  It is a good place this time of year, since we don't have to worry about hunters, and closer to her house than some potential destinations.