hiking: storm king

Last weekend, Matt & I took a mini-mini break and stayed up in the Hudson Valley for one night. Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to do a hike up Storm King! We haven't done any hiking lately - even though there's a ton of it near us! We even have a book called "60 Hikes within 60 Miles of NYC" or something like that. So we decided we should take advantage. Well...this is the first one we've done. It's also the first time we've ever been to the Hudson Valley, other than taking the train through it. And I definitely want to do both again!





The trail started off fairly vertically, with a bunch of "rock scrambles", and all of a sudden we were far above where we parked the car! It reminded us of hiking in the Columbia Gorge, because almost every hike started with a steep climb at the beginning. This hike was mostly a bunch of climbing for the first half hour and then it leveled off a bit.



The views, though! I felt a little stupid, but I honestly didn't realize that there were actual mountains in New York State. And these mountains aren't anything compared to the Adirondacks!









The trail was nice and shady, so even though it was extremely hot (when has it not been?) it wasn't too bad. It helped that we started so early, though!









The view from the top was amazing! We only (briefly) had to share it with one other group. And there was a shady spot to sit and have a snack! The way down was almost harder than the way up, but it wasn't quite as steep on the second leg of the loop. It was a really nice hike, even if it did make me wish I had hiking boots with ankle support! I would love to come back when the leaves are changing and the weather is a bit cooler. We're already thinking of when we can go up again, even if it's a different hike (we have a whole list of them!). After we finished our hike, we ate lunch at a nearby diner and headed over to the other Storm King (the art center). More about that in another post!

Kayaking on the Cuyahoga

On Labor Day a carload of us drove out to Hiram, a tiny town east of Cleveland on the Cuyahoga River. We stopped at Camp Hi to begin a kayaking adventure!

My mom is a kayaking pro, but everyone else wasn't quite as experienced - it was only Matt's third time ever kayaking and my dad & Ruth's second. We set out super early, which turned out to be smart because the high was around 90 that day! The river was really nice because a lot of it was shaded, so we weren't in direct sun the whole time. There was hardly any current at all, and the water level was super low - the lady at the rental shack told us it was the lowest she'd ever seen it! So we ran aground a few times on sandbars/rocks, but it wasn't a big deal.

































(Thanks to my mom for the last four photos!)

It was so pretty and peaceful! Of course, since there was hardly any current helping us along - and since we paddled 7 miles! - our arms and shoulders were a tiny bit sore the next day...but it was worth it. It was lots of fun, even if some of us ended up less dry than others at the end :D A fitting end to the summer!

A Stroll and a BBQ

Some more pics from Ohio - a walk over to Horseshoe Lake, and later - a bbq and bocce in the backyard! (And a cute, tiny slug!)

Another Maine Visit - Part Four

On our last full day in Maine, Matt and I explored while his parents were at work. We found a nice forest walk (I hesitate to call it a "hike") just a few minutes from their house!








Even if it wasn't the most strenuous or longest of trails, it was nice to be out in the woods! Everything smelled wonderful and it was pretty quiet - not a single other person was on the trail (and we know, because we did the loop two times!). Eventually, we had to head back because the mosquitoes got a little overwhelming. One thing I definitely associate with summer in Maine - mosquitoes! We don't really have them in Brooklyn, but I definitely had the battle scars when we got back.

All in all, it was a great trip! Hopefully we can get back up there soon.

Another Maine Visit - Part Three

After we went kayaking, we decided we hadn't had enough physical activity, so we did a hike! This was up near Freeport, Maine (the home of L.L. Bean!). We'd done a hike there back when we visited in December and everything was cold and slightly snowy. It was slightly different this time around!








We started off with a pretty walk through the forest, with lots of ferns and mushrooms. There weren't very many other people out, even though it was a beautiful day! Matt & I are gradually learning that the Pacific northwest isn't the only place in the world with ferns or tall trees (even though there might have been more ferns or taller trees!).



After walking through the forest for a while, we got to a rocky beach with a view of the bay and of a nearby island where there's an osprey nest (very tiny osprey seen above!). We even saw one of the osprey dive into the bay and catch a fish!