Saturday, December 28, 2019

Farringtons Hike

The weather was pretty nice but it's been wet for a few days so I was reluctant to bike on muddy trails -- I opted to hike instead. Having never explored the upper trails at Farringtons, I eagerly set out to check them out!

First was the long and arduous climb to the top of Sanford Mountain. Sure its only 781 ft. tall but its still a haul! Sadly the view isn't that great - there are trees blocking the view over the pond. At least, the makeshift picnic table made from old planks and rocks caught my eye :-)
From the "mountain top", the trails heading back north are really wonderful and I am anxious to return with my mountain bike at some point. The never-ending uphill climb is replaced by challenging but doable rolling hills of up and down.

I discovered an old fireplace nestled in truly lovely spot next to a small pond...

...and the descent to Farringtons Pond takes you by a beautiful mountain stream...
Remnants of a curved dam were found on the shoreline of Farringtons Pond.
short video

At this point my Camelback nozzle broke, dripping my supply of water on the ground so I decided to head back on the old carriage road rather that continue to explore the west side trails. Even the carriage road was picturesque!
By moving at a "hikers pace" allowed me to discover additional ruins off to the side

Finally I checked out the fireplace on Sanfords Pond - it was in bad shape compared to a few years back :-( (See photo 2014)
Sanfords Pond

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Colonie Town Park - By The River

Whenever I go upstate to visit family and friends, I try to mountain bike. Quite often I go over to the Colonie Loops south of the rail trail.  The Trailforks map showed much more of the park I have missed (down by the river) so on Christmas -Day--while the rest of America was waking up and opening presents--I hiked these great trails:-)

The Black Shelter Cove trail was especially nice! I can't wait to return wit my mountain bike to ride!
Heading toward the river...
The other "Twin Bridges" :-(

 The Shelter Cove Loop  - Ooo Yeah!

My perch on this rock, enabled the next few Mohawk river photos...
 

 Its a special scenic spot for sure!
I next headed west along the river on the Pine Ridge and Cliff Trails...
 ... and ended up at the picnic area.
 Finally I headed back east along the river...
 and found a trail going back up the hill to the parking lot. This will be a fun park to ride!


Monday, December 23, 2019

Wilton Woods - Retracing the "Hidden" White Trail

I decided to head over today to Wilton and try and find the "hidden" White trail loop. It was officially deemed "unofficial" a while back and it thought it might have disappeared. Fortunately its still there and shows off Dave F's great trail and stunt handiwork.

I hiked rather than biked as I wasn't sure if it would be too icy. Also, I wanted to try out my repaired crampons - the tightly wound steel wire worked! :-)
I remembered these stone steps!
This is the famous Deception half pipe. There are 3 ways to get across it...
Today I choose to hike across #1 in the opposite direction of the trail flow. The one-handed video I took is hilarious as my arms go flailing to keep me balanced but I didn't fall off! Hah!

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Mianus - Ice snd Snow

It was kinda icy and bitter cold to bike so I took a hike in Mianus. Observations...
Iced
White and Green
Fallen Giant
Rocks
Nope - it's NOT broken glass! :-)
Rough Riding!
Ice "plants" 
... into the Mystic... 
Rugged
Future Spot :-)