Hike On; Week 3 and Still Going

Hike Challenge Intro-

Week 3 of Hike Challenge was an interesting one. I was at some of my highest moods and lowest this week. We went on some awesome adventures. However, the rainy weather was putting a serious damper (no pun intended) on our hikes making us not reach weekly goals. However, at the end of the week with husband by our side, we had our best week yet at almost 14 miles covered. We have also almost crossed off all the hiking locations on the Get Fit Challenge in Dutchess County! I also got two ingrown toenails this week and fell off my basement stairs. But, we hike on.

If you are totally clueless to what I’m discussing, let me catch you up a bit. Abby Girl and I are setting out to hike one hundred miles in six weeks by picking locations on the Get Fit Challenge and beyond. I’m reminded about an old blog post, “It isn’t about the goal, it’s about the experience.” So no matter what, we will have taken something from this experience whether we make it or we don’t. However, my daughter and I are competitive and would love to meet our goals! Here is week one and week two to get you up to speed. Also, there is a new YouTube video every week (week 1 & 2). At the end, we hope to have a full length documentary. So let’s talk about our week three locations!

Monday-

Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, NY

Monday was high kicks and rain showers at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY. Abby girl had a major urge to practice her high kicks numerous times and wanted mom to join in the fun. It has been years since I did a high kick. I have to say, not too bad for my old dancer-mom body. Nothing even clicked or popped.

Abby girl tossed a lot of rocks into the Hudson River and we saw geese. We carefully walked around them as the male goose was sizing us up a bit. I didn’t want to get goosed.

The rain showers weren’t too heavy and the bugs weren’t too horrible. So overall, enjoyable hike. The air got a tad cool for my ears. So I put my scarf up and looked like I was fleeing my homeland. But, it’s a great hack. Always carry a bandanna or scarf. They have so many uses. Do I hear future blog post?

But, if you want directions, start by parking the car and walking through the gift shop. Follow the road and go past the pet cemetery. Then follow the signs for the trail. Open the big gate and go in. Then you can choose your trails. We followed down to the Hudson River. Then followed a bunch of trails left kind of following the Hudson. Then we walked up the trail and eventually hung a left and that brought us back to the gate. At which point, we retraced our steps and thank God, no animals from the grave yard were there to greet us. My child awhile ago, pulled a trail map from here and was talking about the big rocks (grave stones) and how there were werewolves.

Wednesday-

Franklin Roosevelt Estate, Hyde Park/Hike #1-

Noodles the dog, our favorite chubby senior puppy and first born daughter joined us today. She can’t go for super long hikes anymore and water features are always a must when she hikes. Abby held Noodles leash for most of the hike. Nothing too exciting happened. We saw a strange man swaying with trees in the forest. If you are reading this, hi. We went the other way even though we do hug trees now and again. We just don’t become them. Feels like a bad exercise from an old acting class I took long ago.

We did the loop around. That is, parking in the lot and following the path to the left of the parking lot to the trail. It’s a steep hill on the right hand side. Follow it down until it forks. We went straight and when that ended, we took a left and followed the loop around. We did wander off the trail to the Hudson River once or twice.

Stopped at the Hudson River and Noodles got all kinds of weeds stuck to her nose. She looked like swamp puppy. Then we went back to the car where I said hi to some park rangers and had a great conversation with another person who worked there. He had a dog that went toe to toe with a bear or should I say, paw to paw? He wished us luck on our journey and we were off.

Peach Hill Park, Poughkeepsie, NY/Hike #2-

Abby and I had a nice sunset hike meandering through the different trails at the park. I just needed to get back to car before sunset. I didn’t want my car locked into the park. I honestly can’t give directions. We just go in and wander. We pick various trails every time. Use the map or GPS if you feel turned around.

Abby met a couple dogs and made friends with them. She also stopped at the summit and had a lively conversation with some bugs on a bench. Yes, my child was talking to bench bugs. No judgement here.

We made it back to the car with plenty of time and really enjoyed our lovely hike.

Thursday-

Mills Norrie State Park Staatsburg, NY/Hike #1–

Thursday we went to Mills Norrie State Park. All I can say is this hike got weird.

We didn’t make the goal I wanted and my child had to poop within a half mile of leaving the car. Yes, I left no trace. I always curb my child. That wasn’t the reason for the short hike though. It was the damn water.

We followed GPS up to a parking lot and it wasn’t a white trail. I honestly don’t remember the color. However, we did eventually find the white blaze and took that for a bit before heading back the way we came.

We got to a couple points on the Hudson River after exploring some old ruins and she had to stop and toss sticks into the water. Then a dog showed up. So she played the dog. I took some pictures for the dog owner and sent them to him later. He said he no money to pay me. Seriously, you run across a photographer in the woods and the photographer will ask for money?

Then the second beach location and Abby got hungry. She also decided she wanted to drive a speed boat or go on one or something. Go ahead, I get so sea sick. Not an adventure I really want to take. She then decided she needed “uppies.” I ended up putting her on my back and trekking back toward the car. Abby turned me into an airplane and a horse. I honestly, feel more like a pack mule.

Back at the car, we were greeted by a truck with lots of senior men in full camouflage that appeared to be legit. They told me to wait in place and gave me the all clear. The side of the truck said marine militia. My husband asked why I didn’t ask them what they were doing. I’m sorry, in case stuff was going down, I really just wanted to get my child out of there. They appeared to be looking in trees and the bathroom. Perhaps Yogi lost his picnic basket or Smokey the Bear got disgruntle. No clue. Perhaps the men escaped from the local nursing home. We will never know.

Tymor Park, Unionvale, NY/Hike #2-

I had extra time before Pony School so I decided to put Abby in the carrier and do the k loop at Tymor. K loop is the loop that is apart from the main park.

I thought, she would take a nap since in between hikes, she went to the playground for two hours. However, I was wrong. After a half mile, she decided to get down. We ended up trail running the last half mile and did it in fifteen minutes. I don’t run. However, I guess I’m going to start. Nothing else too exciting about this hike. It’s a nice, wooded, loop trail. We went around one flooded section on the trail. So I don’t have anything else to write.

Friday

Nuclear Lake, Pawling NY/Hike #1-

First this week it was militia and now gun fire. Yes, gun fire. Oh and rain. We took the access road up to the yellow trail. To get there, don’t park in the Appalachian trail parking lot. Go to the first road down from there. From Poughkeepsie, it’s a left onto old rt 55. Park in the lot on the left. Walk in.

Once on the yellow trail, Abby did a nice rock scramble. There was also lots of flooding and that meant mud. We took advantage of the mud and smeared it under our eyes and down our arms for extra bug protection.

However, the further we got on the trail, gun shots became louder and louder. At first, I was taking videos because with the mud on our faces and the gunshots, I felt like I was in a Rambo movie. Then it got really close. So I hid behind a tree with Abby and called Brian. I held up my phone and he said that’s really close, get out of there. A local gun club was practicing and even though it was just bird shot, I didn’t want us hit. Abby also thought it was thunder because it was raining fairly hard by this point. So we took off at a very fast pace as Abby yelled “I don’t like thunder, I don’t like rain.”

She ended up getting stuck in the mud. Her Keen came off her foot and began to disappear into the mud. However, we never leave a fallen Keen behind and rescued it. She wore it wet to get over the scrambles. We made it to the access road and I put her on my back for the last stretch. We never played at Nuclear Lake. No becoming radioactive hulk monsters this week. Just kidding.

The Return to Peach Hill Park, Poughkeepsie, NY/Hike #2–

Mudfest! The absolute highlight of this trip to Peach Park as Abby calls it was all the mud. Lot’s and lot’s of mud. We ended up stopping by mud and a stream coming from the pond. I tossed a mud pie at Abby and I’m a horrible mom, it hit her in the side of the head. This started the great mud fight. Poor Noodles wasn’t even safe from the flying mud and splashing water. It was a very productive hike. This was definitely, day of the mud. We played for awhile and then got back to the car covered. I did my best to save my car from the mud. The best is, you can just meander through the trails in the park. We are yet to get completely lost. Turned around, yes … But, not lost.

Saturday-

Freedom Park, Pleasant Valley, NY/Hike #1-

Saturday was not dull either. We did the interactive trail called Little Woods. It’s just past the playground going into the woods or you could backwards like we did this time by walking up the road and behind the maintenance shed and a house. Stay to the trail to your left.

There are plenty of stops to learn about different nature topics. However, the highlights were Abby putting me on a time out in a tepee, played musical instruments in the woods, looked for fairies in a fairy village, reading a story by the stream and we stole a pirate ship. They were coming after us and we were trying to get to Mcdonald’s for chicken nuggets and fries after taking the pirate’s ship. Her best friend was supposedly in the forest too (not really). Perhaps, she was with the tree pirates. Yes, the pirates were in the trees.

So it was a lot of fun. We also trail ran again. We stopped at the playground. My child touched dog poop and asked what it was. Another mom was fast with alcohol wipe, hand wipe and lotion. We ran back into the forest to ride a turtle (fake one) and then went to the playground for a little longer before heading home.

Red Wing Recreation Area, Lagrangeville, NY/Hike #2–

I was never very sure about this hike location because there is a big closed gate and a long, desolate road beyond that gate. So, I brought the husband along. The husband who doesn’t like to hike and has no good hiking shoes and was wearing heavy canvas workpants in the blazing, humid heat.

We crawled through the gate. The husband, went around it. So it wasn’t like we were breaking in or anything. We hiked down the road and went into the woods right after the bridge. I had directions, however, I just asked a lady walking her dog. It was just easier. Just keep going right. Follow that trail right and then it loops up and does some switchbacks. We walked with a road to the side of us for awhile before the trail hung a left and then more right. Just follow that winding trail.

It was a lot of uphill. In fact, to the view point, it was almost all uphill. I’m not used to Abby being on my back for anything steep anymore. So I was dying and trying to not look as if I was dying because I’m the hiker person. There were also hilarious signs on the trees. Someone has a sense of humor.

We took a break and thank you God, Abby decided to walk the rest of the trip. She ran a lot of it. Abby made sure everyone in the family had walking sticks. We looked like some weird family of the deep woods. The Hermit Higgs … The Higgs Hermits …

We eventually made it the top and the view was really nice. I could see the shopping plaza on rt 55. It was like a tiny little blop. We had a snack before meandering around a giant tower and heading down the access road. We had to remind Abby several times to not run too far ahead. I honestly think it was like those cartoons when a creature gets running and just can’t stop. We also saw a skull. Most likely raccoon not human and stopped for a quick look. Impromptu home school science lesson.

We made it the playing fields. Sadly, we left our ball at home. So no random soccer game today and headed back to the road we started on. It’s a right went you get to the road.

Conclusion and Video Link-

This was the conclusion of our week number three. Really, glad we could end it as a full family minus Noodles the dog. Hopefully, soon the Husband can get a pair of Keens too. Then he can hike on too.

Stay tuned for week number four. We will try to keep you entertained. Here is the highlight video for week #3

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