Crampon, Crampoff

My wife thinks we should go outdoors for some exercise on any day that she's home from work.

It's a good thing.  At times, we'll walk down the road by our house, about a mile round trip.

Other times it's the rail trail (which is really cross country skiing in the winter and walking in non-snowy weather, mostly flat, level surfaces), or a more serious hike at the Mohonk Preserve or Minnewaska State Park.

The Preserve and Park have all sorts of walking/hiking/climbing venues.  You can check out their offerings below, both have multiple recreational offerings:

http://www.mohonkpreserve.org/

http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/127/details.aspx

The most strenuous of activities at the parks, I think, is Rock Climbing.  Permits are required for that adventure.  But, you won't find me dangling from a cliff, unless my wife has something to do with it.  I am always surprised when I see climbers scaling up ice covered precipices; don't they know that the ice is just hanging there, too?

Anyway, there is a fee for hiking, but my wife has an Empire State Park pass and a Mohonk Preserve pass, both of which she purchases annually, so we can go ad infinitum...any time she gets the urge to move, we both move.

This time of year, ice is an additional factor to consider, on top of walking up and down hills, and we were prepared for the fact that various trails may be off limits to hikers.  Some trails are saved for cross country skiers and others are closed, just plain dangerous.  A small slip could result in a trip down the mountain in a matter of seconds, and one that you won't make again.

For our recent expedition, my wife suggested that we go to Minnewaska and just take a short, straight, level walk that would be an easy outing.  She also suggested that we put on our crampons, to ensure that we'd not slip on any ice or snow we encountered, even though we were going to be on an "easy" trail.

Crampons are devices that one attaches to hiking footwear to increase the possibility of not slipping.  Some are simple devices with metal coils that surround the boot; some have multiple long daggers that dig into ice a half inch or more.   Ours are of the less defensive type, so off we went.

We arrived at the parking lot in short order, put on our crampons, and set off for what was to be a "let's take it easy, level walk."

Within seconds I noted something that I remembered, putting together thoughts from geography and physics classes.

We were walking downhill.

As I pondered this action, I seemed to remember that in order to get back to the parking lot an "uphill" would be involved.

On the other hand, I have seen those drawings where you can keep walking down and end up up!

I thought maybe my wife had found one of those natural phenomenon and wasn't about to start complaining.

It was a bit icy, so I concentrated on not falling down.  I concentrated on not falling for quite a while.  In fact, I don't remember seeing anything but snow.  Not taking my eye off my step for seemingly miles, I'm wondering how many bear, snow rabbits or bald eagles I missed running nearby or flying over me!

We continued to go down and down the slope.

The crampons were doing their job and, along with sinking a foot or two into snowbanks as I was trying to avoid icy patches, I made it to what turned out to be a gorge at the bottom of this "easy level walk."

It was pretty to look at, once I stopped and didn't have to focus on my feet.

The path followed a creek, as did we, and soon we realized that we weren't where we thought we were.

We did have a map, we always take a map, but the color coded patches of paint on the trees for the red trail weren't there so we decided to go back the way we came so as not to get entirely lost.

You may remember that I mentioned, just a few paragraphs ago, that we started the "level" hike by heading downhill.

Turns out that stairway illusion of always going down and ending up doesn't work in our little world of physics.  No, gravity and geography took over and we started up...and went up...and up...not realizing how far down we had gone.

The picture below most likely represents the area where one of my crampons came off.

I didn't realize it at the time, but one of them gave up!  I was trudging, as best I could, to keep up with my mountain-goat-like wife (and I mean that in a good way, she can hike with the best), but one foot or the other was punching through the snow and sinking feet down as we traversed a trail that many had not taken.

Had others gone before us, it would have been worn a bit better for us, but being the explorers that we are we took the straight path, directly up the hill, to get back to the car before the sun set!

As we huffed and puffed to the car, coats and scarves hanging from our bodies half pulled off due to heat exhaustion, I reached down to remove the crampons and then saw that my left one was gone.  Fleetingly, and we're talking nanoseconds here, I actually thought of going back a bit to look for it.  Thankfully, lack of oxygen and the sudden realization that the universe had handed me "the excuse" for not hiking on winter trails prevented me from going more than two feet from the car.

I looked at my wife as she said, "Just throw those crampons in the back of the car," and said, "One is gone!  The snow ate it!"  I expressed my sorrow that due to the fact that my crampon was gone, I was mostly likely sidelined for the winter.  Next time we wanted to take such a hike, I'd have to tell her, "Sorry, no can do, crampoff."

Sidewalk-less Walks

We don't live near sidewalks, yet my wife likes to go for long walks.  So, we walk on the sides of our rural roads or we end up driving out to the hinterlands and we trek the sides of mountains.

It doesn't matter the season, when she gets the urge to "go for a walk," she'll most times want some scenery (other than houses on the side of our road) so we try to dress appropriately, pack up some snacks, jump in the car and head to a nearby park or preserve.

A favorite place is the Mohonk Preserve.  We're only fifteen minutes from several of their entry ways and there are plenty hiking trails.  Some are very easy, others necessitate legs and lungs of steel.  You can check them out here:

http://www.mohonkpreserve.org/

Another spot we frequent is Minnewaska State Park.  Formerly a private resort area, it became a State Park a number of years ago and my wife is the very proud owner of an Empire State Park Pass.  Paying an annual fee for that pass, she gets entry into state parks, and we've been to a few.  Here's some information about Minnewaksa:

http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/127/details.aspx

There are other parks we've visited, and hiked, and the important thing to remember is that you have to get out of the car and walk once you get there.  And, you're pretty much walking into the park so that you can walk out of the park.  There aren't any shops or cafes in the plan.

Today, we arrived at Minnewaska and decided we would visit the falls.

To get there, one parks in the lower lot.  Then, you walk back to the entry way, across the road, to get to the trail head.

I thought, as it was cold and it's a hike in and of itself from the parking lot to the trail head, that we should ask if there were valet service.
 
My wife enjoyed asking the question for me, as much as the gatehouse attendant enjoyed hearing it.  They both had a good laugh and then made me walk from and to the parking lot anyway, on top of the hike!

Here's another issue.  There are no sidewalks, just paths.  To boot, what's left of the path after winter starts is worn and packed areas...snow if you're lucky, ice if it's cold without snow.

I expressed the idea that the addition of heat tapes to the paths would be a great thing.

It would keep the paths from narrowing during the winter and reduce the issue of walking on icy spots.

Now, I don't want you to think that it's just me.  I think the wildlife would benefit from this, as well.  I didn't see a single animal on the trails today and I'm sure it's because they are aware of the conditions and don't want to fall.  A porcupine with its quills might be able to catch onto something to slow their slide, but furry and feathery fauna are in for a ride.

We did about an hour and a half out there and headed back to the car in pretty good shape.

I did have one other thought, when we were out there in the woods today,that I didn't share with my wife.  Right out there, by the water falls, in the middle of nature, how about a hot chocolate shop?  If we lived in a town with sidewalks, and went for a walk, we'd most likely end up at a cafe and be able to sit for a few and savor a hot cocoa with marshmallows. I think it's a natural. 

And, until we find our sidewalk paradise, I think I could be persuaded to go for more sidewalk-less walks, and put in the trek to and from the parking lot without complaint, and hazard the trails, if I knew that I could take a break at the hot chocolate cafe in the woods.