Hiking

[rebeccaC]

Beautiful images BD…..

While visiting friends in Michigan for Thanksgiving we opted out by going to Flint and donating the money I raised from my work colleagues and especially from my ceo Ellie ($35,000 for the FlintKids’ Child Health & Development Fund}. Alex and I spent most of the day delivering water, water filters and replacement cartridges to residents. We also helped in an arts class for autistic children doing water coloring. Even thought it wasn’t hiking it was a wonderful day of sharing instead of shopping.

[Pax]

BD - wonderful pics! Here we are, happy, and OUTSIDE!






Rebecca, awesome way to spend the holiday!

[Crankin]

No pictures, but we hiked about 5 miles in Estabrook Woods today. I probably should have stuck to my plan of riding, but DH did not feel that great. We got a little lost, as we now have to park at the other end of the main trail, because of a controversy about people parking on the street where the Concord trailhead is. I missed the turn off trail to do the loop, so we went down another way and then missed another turn off, which I should have known, as I used to mountain bike here. After a bit of yelling and screaming and me strongly saying I did not want to bushwhack, we got back on the trail, and finished the loop, with a nice stream crossing. Mostly, though, the ponds are so low low because of the drought.
Probably the most people I've seen in here, as a lot of families were out, due to the holiday. Mostly at the end, though.
My foot is now hurting in places that I did not injure, so I am icing it and hoping it will be back to where it was this morning.
I've hiked 11 miles this week, so it's good.

[BikeDutchess]

Rebecca - what a wonderful cause! Pax - loved seeing your pics as well - you look very happy to be outside! Crankin - I can totally relate to the "after a bit of yelling and screaming" - glad you got to finish out your hike and hope your foot will be OK.

[Crankin]

Today we hiked in Great Brook Farm, where we usually go x country skiing. Except, DH had downloaded a route that was mostly not on the ski trails. They were hiking or mountain biking/snow shoe trails. We didn't start until close to 2 PM, so we brought our headlamps, although we didn't want to have to use them! The first part entailed a very narrow, windy trail, in the middle of the ski trails on what is usually our normal starting point. Then, we crossed the road and thought we'd just be going up some of the bigger climbs on the ski trails. After a certain point, we were at a junction of a hiking trail and a spot close to the bigger climb on the ski route. DH's phone battery was being used up quickly, as he was using a new hiking app to follow a route and the cold, too. We decided we didn't want to venture into an area that while we knew headed around and back, without the trail map and possibly darkness. We saw that we were now on the conservation land trails in the next town, so we turned and went with a route that took us up a climb we know well, and back, no map needed. Even the ski trail signs are down at this time of year. We could see that what we did paralleled what was on the intended route in a shorter way, so next time we will start at noon. As it was we did 4.2 miles and got back about 35 minutes before sunset.
It's going to snow tonight, but not enough to ski, so maybe we can go back and it before we are on our skis. It might be hard to do this on snowshoes, walking on the edge of the ski trails we did do. But, it was cool to be in a place I've been to many, many times and see new stuff. Very few hikers, all with dogs. And only saw one mountain biker, back in the parking lot.

[Crankin]

OK, today we did the hike we were supposed to do in the above post. We were with our friends, and it was very fun. Of course, today the trails were iced over in about 90% of the terrain, and there is no way you could acutally hike without ice spikes. We saw a few people trying to walk along the sides of the trails, as well as one guy who was sliding down a hill on his butt, being pulled by a couple of dogs.
The part of the hike that we didn't do last time is awesome. We were on trails that are part of the conservation land in the next town, that went along water, which was beautiful. Saw a large beaver dam. Then, we turned onto a trail that parallels, to some degree, the big climb of the ski trails. It is called Stone Root, for a good reason. It's a dedicated hiking trail in the ski area and quite up and down, narrow, and on a ridge for a good part.
The hike was about 5 miles. Near the end, we saw a dad and his maybe 7 year old son on fat bikes, on one of the flatter ski trails. The kid was climbing at a ferocious speed on a little Trek fat bike! We got back, ate a snack, and then went and had lunch at Ferns, where all cyclists meet to eat. We actually saw two riders stop in. It was a nice enough day for a ride, but our friends don't ride in the these temperatures, and i was happy to hike.
Ready to fall asleep now!

[Catrin]

So glad you've been able to hike! I've not been able to hit the trails since my concussion at Thanksgiving. I do hope to hit either trails or MUP once or twice over the next couple of days. I'm off work until Jan 3rd which is very nice. It got to 66 today - but rained much of the day so I only managed a 1.5 mile walk on the streets.