Baxter Mountain

December and January were excruciating for me with insane work deadlines and crazy overtime.  I finally hit my targets and things eased a bit, but I badly needed help de-stressing, a distraction.  What could be better than the mountains?  We have never spent much time in the Adirondacks in the winter.  We spend time outside year-round at home, but truthfully, I have always been a little intimidated by my perception of the heightened dangers of winter in the back country.  However, we've talked about it sort of idly for years, and finally decided to give it a go with a long weekend so Frankie wouldn't miss any school.  Turns out President's Day weekend is a crazy time up there, and everything in Lake Placid was booked, but we were able to secure a cozy little room at the Keene Valley Lodge.  We have stayed here before, and it's a perfect base for adventuring. 

Northern Exposure Trail, Beaver Lake

Frankie got his first pair of snowshoes as a Christmas gift when he was three years old.  Obviously he has grown a lot in five years, so it seemed like a new pair was in order.  I wanted to get him cross-country skis, too, but my December (and this January too) involved way too many extra work hours to have time for figuring out skis.  I did manage to get him the new snowshoes to put under the tree though.  Then we just had to wait for some good snow.  We wanted to meet up with Erin, so we could pass Frankie's old snowshoes onto Alden, who is 3 years old now and ready to start his own snowshoeing adventures.  I suggested Beaver Lake, because there are two seasonal trails designated for snowshoeing there.  It is fun to go out on trails that only exist in snow cover, secret passages that are all but invisible other times of year.

Great Bear in December

Erin had mentioned a while ago that on their last visit to Great Bear, she and Alden had ventured along the river beyond our normal turnaround point, coming back a different way, via the Root Hill Trail instead of Great Bear Road.  This is not significantly longer but adds great interest, and avoids a big climb at the end of the hike, which is advantageous when hiking with young kids.  Frankie and I were immediately intrigued, and excited to join in another time.  Today proved a perfect opportunity!  We hadn't made advance plans and had a lazy morning, but it looked so nice outside, I started to get itchy.  Alden has stopped napping, which makes it easier to wing it with haphazard adventures, so Erin and I texted back and forth a bit and decided to go for it.  Neither of us had packable lunch supplies, so we met at Friendly's for a bit of lunch first.  The boys were thrilled, of course.  Then... off to the woods!!

FLT/NCT: Robinson Hollow State Forest

For this hike, I started at what had been my turnaround point on my last Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) hike: the Harford-Slaterville Road crossing.  The narrow roadside spot I had scouted was available and I took it.  Unfortunately someone else was parked on the opposite side of the road with two tires in the road, which concerned me somewhat because it made a narrow pinch point between our cars.  However, since my car had all four tires off the pavement with several feet to spare, I decided not to worry; it is unlikely that traffic is ever very heavy there anyway.  It was very chilly when I set out, but gloriously bright and sunny.  I grew up in central New York, and I like cloudy, overcast weather.  Too many sunny days in a row tends to make me a bit anxious.  The sun... it burns us.  Nevertheless, there is something amazingly cheerful about a bright sunny day after weeks of rain. 

Lake St. Clair Metropark

Since Frankie was born, my mother Mary has visited us in Syracuse every year around this time, sometimes carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating with us at Halloween.  Unfortunately, she had to have knee replacement surgery six weeks ago.  The surgery went well, and she is recovering nicely, already experiencing less pain than she did before the surgery, but it is a slow process.  Since she is still actively undergoing physical therapy and cannot drive yet, her annual fall visit was off the table this year.  However, Frankie's school was closed Thursday and Friday, so I bought tickets for the two of us to fly out to Detroit for a long weekend.  This way we wouldn't have to miss out on seeing Mary, and would get to see Keith, too.  Plus, we haven't visited Detroit in a few years and there is a whole lot to do here.  Thursday, we stopped at the Edsel Ford House on the way back from the airport, and hiked the short loop on Bird Island, and yesterday we went to the Detroit Zoo, where many animals were absent due to the cold, but we had notable encounters with an otter and a polar bear. 

FLT/NCT: Hammond Hill State Forest

For this hike, I continued my exploration westward on the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT), skipping a short roadwalk between here and my last hike that I plan to pick up during hunting season.  The North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) follows the FLT through Hammond Hill State Forest and beyond; the two trails diverge considerably east of here.  I left the car along Star Stanton Road, at what may be a snowplow turnaround, or perhaps just an old log landing; I doubt plows go that far up the dirt road.  Regardless, it quickly becomes undriveable immediately thereafter, so it was a good place to stop.  The white blazes continue to follow the rocky dirt track west up the hill for about 0.4 miles before a footpath splits off to the south.

Kane Mountain Redux

I love traveling and I love days trips.  Hiking Bald Mountain a few weeks ago just ramped up my always latent desire to be in the mountains, to be adventuring.  I immediately began scheming about how we could get back up to the Adirondacks.  We have not tested Alden's range yet, and don't want to overdo it and burn him out on hiking mountains.  However, Frankie and I hiked Kane Mountain together back in 2015, and knew from experience that it is comparable to Bald Mountain in both distance and elevation gain.  If anything, it might be a little easier, because there is less scrambling and exposure.  Based on how easily Alden scampered up Bald, we knew he could handle Kane.  Now we just had to wait for good weather.  Ha!