FLT/NCT: Tarr-Young Natural Area

A myriad of commitments has kept me from my solo weekday hikes, and when a free day finally arrived, I was far past ready for it.  I have been impatient to continue my explorations on the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT), which carries the North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) westward.  After my long absence, I hadn't exactly forgotten the challenges of winter hiking on the FLT, but let's just say I was in denial.  The problem is access, since many of the trailheads are on narrow country roads, often seasonal dirt roads, with limited shoulder parking.  Even where such roads are plowed, the narrow shoulders are often filled with snow, leaving no space to safely park.  I experienced this difficulty today, and wasted a lot of time driving around after the first two spots I tried were completely inaccessible.  Then I remembered the small parking lot that served as my turnaround point on my last FLT hike in Robinson Hollow State Forest.  It has a southern exposure and was available.  Phew!  Finally I could get out of the car and start hiking.

Baltimore Woods: Valley and Overlook Trails

Baltimore Woods is a nature center and natural area managed by the Central New York Land Trust.  Despite Frankie attending summer camp here for the last few years, and it being in semi-regular (though infrequent) rotation, I have somehow never dedicated a full post to our hikes here.  Today we met Erin and Alden, and made our default circuit.  This loop follows the Valley Trail down the steep hill, then crosses the stream and turns right, following the Boundary Trail east until the small gravel bed on the left.  With the labyrinth buried under the snow, we moved on, climbing up the hill on the Overlook Trail.  Of course we stopped for a snack at the eponymous overlook, then continued along, dropping back into the valley and following the Boundary Trail until the turnoff to the other side of the Valley Trail, which we climbed back up to the parking area at the top.

Snowshoeing Lake Bonita

I have to work tomorrow, so today had to be our travel day to get us back home.  I had been planning to stop and hike another small mountain on the way home, the way Frankie and I did with Belfry and Mount Arab.  Unfortunately it was snowing pretty hard and Erwin decided he wanted to take the Northway and the Thruway home; he'd driven through some rough conditions on Route 8 on the way up Friday night, and thought the highway would be in better shape.  I had a Plan B for just that circumstance: Severance Hill in the Schroon Lake area -- it's right off the Northway, so I thought it would have easy access.  Wrong!  The parking lot hadn't been plowed, and not just from today's snow.  It didn't look like it had been plowed all winter.  Erwin stopped at Stewart's in Schroon Lake, and we tried to come up with a Plan C, but couldn't think of another option that wouldn't involve back roads.  I was devastated.  Even a milkshake failed to raise me from the depths of despair.  We got back on the highway and kept driving south.  The highway was a mess.

Big Crow Mountain

Big Crow Mountain is another one we hiked back in 2011, with Frankie riding up in the Kelty backpack carrier.  It was super hot and muggy that day, with haze smothering the High Peaks, but it was evident that the views from the summit would be spectacular on a clear day.  I've been wanting to come back ever since, and was hoping we'd have a clear day this weekend to try to get those views.  Big Crow fit our criteria perfectly to continue our first foray into Adirondack winter hiking: it represents a known entity, and is a short hike with views.  The bluebird skies that so thrilled us in the morning didn't end up lasting all day, but the views were still orders of magnitude clearer than our first hike up.  And Frankie got to hike another new peak.

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!!