Sunday December 26th, 2022 - Cumming Nature Center - Near Naples NY - 2.5 miles, minimal elevation gain

Our goal on this morning was to go to oft-revisited Wesley Hill hike but their parking lot is down a sharp drop-off from the road and was completely untouched since receiving about 4" of snow.  Even with AWD and highly regarded Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires, I wasn't confident enough to risk getting stuck.  

So we went down the road farther to Cumming Nature Center which is very groomed and orderly and organized but less natural feeling and less wild for sure.  Still, the nature center (at least the visitor's center and ski rental stuff) wasn't open this day so there was nobody else there.  Many of the trails at Cumming Nature center are only for skiers and some are only for hikers and some for bikes etc etc.  but even some that didn't seem to be specially designated on the map had signs telling walkers to not walk on ski tracks etc.  Really there wasn't quite enough snow for there to have been much skiing going on but for the first half mile I felt vaguely naughty being there at all.  Thankfully the feeling faded since there were no ski tracks to step on.

Though nothing topographically exciting happens at Cumming nature center, there was a pond to hike around, an observation tower and some rolling hills.  Add in peaceful winter conditions and it really wasn't lacking for anything.  I don't remember if the hike was 2.5 or 3.5 miles.  Whatever it was I do remember it seemed long enough because it was snowy and pretty cold.









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