Buckhorn Lake Snowshoe Hike

I signed Randy and myself up for a snowshoe hike to Buckhorn Lake for this morning. We went with a NYS Registered Guide, Mary Ellen Blakey. She organized a group, counting herself, of 6 for the hike. She brought along another guide, Chuck, who is part of thePiseco Guide Service. Also on the trip was Bob an older man, very experienced in the woods and a nice older lady, Gloria?, who runs the Family Tree Gift Shop and Cafe in Speculator. The temp was 8 degrees when we started with some wind. It probably made it up to 15 degrees by noon but the wind had picked up so the hike was a little cold but not too bad as long as you could keep the wind off. We had 7 - 8 inches of snow yesterday so we had some dry powder to hike through, easy tho as someone had snowshoed the trail yesterday. We went south on the Northville - Lake Placid trail to Buckhorn Lake. Very pretty and we spotted 4 osprey nests and some blue heron nests. the guides brought hot tea for our rest stop, which I thought quite nice. Randy did very well considering how easily he gets cold and that today was his 1st winter hike. We got back to the trailhead without incident about 1:15pm or so. Then went to the Family Tree for a lunch. Very nice food and the family running the place was very friendly.

Lapland Lake Snowshoe Hike

I attended the HealthLink sponsored snowshoe hike and cross country skiing day this morning. Only $8 as a member of the HealthLink group. Since I have my own snowshoes, that was the total cost. I got there at 9am and signed in. Went to the head of the snowshoe trail, being careful not to mess up the groomed X-C ski trail, and was on my way. I did the longest trail, and the most difficult. It wasn't all that hard and it took me about 2 hours. The day got warm fast and at the halfway point the snow was wet and packing into my cleats. Had to keep knocking the snow balls out of my snow shoes to walk. Over all, a great way to exercise. If you want to know more about Lapland Lake, see www.laplandlake.com or email vacation@laplandlake.com. It's a nice family run place.

Hiking up Sand Creek Edinburg

I went on a hike this morning to nearby Edinburg NY. I went with a group that signs up thru the local hospital HealthLink. The hike was led by Sue, a certified NYS Guide. Essentially an old logging road running along Sand Creek, it was still very nice hike, about 3 miles round trip. It was about 20 degrees and very little wind and lots of sunshine. On top of my 3 days per week at the gym, I'm feeling pretty darn good. If I could just get my calorie intake under control, I'd be dropping pounds like crazy. Oh well.

I've signed up for a mid-week hike in 2 weeks at the local olympic style cross country ski place called Lapland Lake. Signing up through HealthLink gives me a big discount for the day. I'll tell you all about it after I go.