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Saturday January 11 2025 - John Young Trail, Inman Gulf - Rodman NY (near Watertown) - 2.3 miles, 140 feet elevation gain

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Another short but adventurous winter hike.  This trail , named after an area resident who did a lot of volunteer work, was covered in many inches of nearly unbroken snow.  In places it wasn't clear which way the trail went but between the Alltrails app and a lot of scanning for trail blazes we managed to make our way back to the gorge.  The road (Williams road, pictured below) that led to the trailhead looked passable with our snow tires but it was surprisingly soft and slippery. We ended up parking at the junction of Williams road and walking in.  The Inman Gulf is a dramatic canyon of gulf with a creek running through it.  It was partially the same trail we did last year but it felt very different and I think covered different parts of the trail network. Brian was just recovering from being sick and I was just a few days more recovered than he was so we ultimately didn't cover a lot of distance.  What we did cover was spectacular and very deep with snow....
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Sunday January 5, 2025 - Glen Park Falls, Williamstown NY - 1.5 miles, little elevation gain

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As so often happens, 2024 and our goal of 52 hikes went out with a whimper.  Brian and I both got sick, the weather went to pot and we ended up at 47 or 48 qualifying hikes together for 2024. We're both not totally over the creeping crud that we've been fighting for weeks but it was definitely the first weekend in 3 or more when we both felt almost normal.  We headed out to Buffalo to visit the Science Museum early in the morning.  To be honest, the history museum was pretty disappointing.  I'm glad it was a 'museums on us' weekend from Bank of America because if we each paid 19 dollars to get into that glorified McDonald's PlayLand, I'd have been really bitter.  There were just so many kids, many toddler age or younger and very little for an adult to really dig into.  Buffalo HAS a Children's museum, why does the science museum have to be basically a children's museum too? After the museum I semi randomly drove around looking for a place that might...
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Sunday December 15, 2024 - Keuka Outlet Trail, near Penn Yann NY - 4.1 miles, very little elevation gain

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We last visited this trail January 10th, 2021 .  Hard to believe it's been almost 4 years, it seemed pretty familiar.  One thing that was different this time is that the creek had a LOT of water in it.  The falls were really roaring and impressive.  Today was slightly warmer (or rather, less cold) than the past week but the trail was still firm and frozen.
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Sunday December 8, 2024 - Devils bathtub and Hopkins Point loop, Mendon Ponds park, Mendon NY - 3.4 miles, about 260 feet elevation gain

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This was more enjoyable than I expected it would be.  We walked up one long ridge and then made a little loop at the end of it before walking back along the bottom of the same hill.  It felt natural and forested even though it's really quite suburban.
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Sunday December 1, 2024 - Sterling Nature Center trails, Sterling NY - 4.9 miles, about 360 feet elevation gain

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This hike is actually very close to the one we did last weekend.  The Fair Haven State Park and Sterling Nature Center park are just a few miles apart by road.  We've gone to this park about 5 different times but this is the first time we went since the new visitors center opened.  It's a perfectly lovely building and I bought a T-shirt in support but there isn't really much in the building to see or do.  I was pretty surprised this is a Cayuga county park .  I assumed, based on the appearance and the general low-key nature of the park, that it was a private foundation or land trust that owned it. Now that the visitors center is open I was able to get their official little trail map .  While we have tried to explore some of the trails to the left side of the parking lot (if one is facing Lake Ontario), the majority of the trail network, especially the interconnected part, is to the right of the parking lot.  Normally we walk the Dogwood extended trail ...
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Sunday November 24, 2024 - Fair Haven Beach trails, Fair Haven NY - 3.8 miles, about 270 feet elevation gain

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Our motivation for hiking wasn't great on this day.  But I wanted to find a trail we hadn't done before and that wasn't crazy far away.  This state park on Lake Ontario worked out well. The winds were bracing but there was nobody around and the trails were fun to link together and explore on our own. My surly expression was actually me munching on trail mix!
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Sunday November 17, 2024 - Griffiss Sculpture Garden Trails, Rome NY - 3.2 miles, almost no elevation gain

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We didn't have a ton of energy for hiking on this overcast day.  I also had an irritated patch of skin on my inner thigh so a vigorous hike wasn't at all appealing.  I ended up choosing to revisit this sculpture garden which I went to by myself several years ago.  Brian had never been. Not really much to report. There weren't a ton of people there.  Somebody who had ample time and visibility absolutely refused to yield to us in a well marked crosswalk crossing a wide 4 lane road with very little traffic.  I was very angry and threw my plastic cup at her SUV as she whipped by us very illegally.  I'm running into more dangerous and aggressive driving in the last few months.  I imagine people are very tense with elections etc but I find any confrontations while driving very upsetting and they tend to stick in my mind for days.  I'm very thankful I don't have to go into the office very often right now.
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