Sunday in the Gorge With George

Because of an unforeseen sequence of events, I did not end up at Zoar Valley today with my friend Barbara as I had thought I would, to conclude our Western New York Hiking challenge.

Instead I ended up at Artpark, walking the gorge trail along the Niagara River!

My friend Barbara ended up going with her husband to Eighteen Mile Creek, an undeveloped -- that dreaded word! -- park in Hamburg. And I went with my brother George to Artpark.

Neither of us went to Zoar. Which is probably just as well, Zoar having the dangerous reputation that it does.

Artpark is also pretty impressive, I have to say that.

Here is my brother George setting off on the trail. 

That is the beautiful Lewiston-Queenston bridge in the distance!

I asked George to go with me because I thought he knew his way around the terrain. He did not! My dad had taken him walking to see the remnants of the old Great Gorge Route where the streetcars used to go, however that had been 30 years ago or more.

So we explored it together. We could not get over that these trails were there. We have been to Artpark hundreds of times, many of them together. However we never went near these trails. As I just said to someone, all I have ever done at Artpark is listen to music and drink wine. And write concert reviews. I did a million Artpark reviews for The Buffalo News.

Remember the one where St. Christopher saved me on the way home? 

Next to that adventure, this one was a cakewalk!

As these hikes go, this one was easy to follow. You were just supposed to walk this trail. You did not have to turn right or left or look for anything, aside from the waterfall that I was supposed to get my picture taken with.

There were three waterfalls. Here I am with one of them.

 I did not need that bulky pink coat today! However this trip was very spontaneous and I did not have time to turn the house upside down and my closets inside out.

This is really a magnificent part of the world. There is a color called Niagara that is the deep green of the river, and the river today was really that Niagara color.

I like that building visible in the first and last pictures -- an old power station apparently, on the Canadian side.

I also loved looking up at the American and Canadian flags over the Lewiston-Queenston bridge. My parents loved this part of the country. They loved Canada too. My father would always tell us that the Canadians were great gardeners and he would point out that Canada was cleaner than the U.S. This old power station has such an elegant old British Commonwealth look. It makes me think of the Edwardian era.

Now I want to know about the Great Gorge Route, where its remains are to be found. Actually I want to go back in time and ride the streetcar along that route. That must have been a thrill!

We stopped for a picnic beneath the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge and enjoyed the vistas.

A beautiful hike, if a bit frightening at times! You do get close to the edge.

George and I agreed that we enjoyed the adventure tremendously. For us however it is not the thrill of hiking that we love. Hikers, I love them, however to them the point seems to be conquering adverse elements and terrain and visiting places that are not easily accessible. They also love employing tons of equipment -- snowshoes, spikes on their shoes, who knows what all.

Me, I like to travel with just Chapstick and a sketchbook. I do not even usually bring water. I love visiting places that are easily accessible. I can walk endlessly, I mean miles and miles. However I would prefer they are easy miles. I want to relax. Take the air. Look around.

I felt I could do that today. And now this is my eighth hike and I win my badge!

My old hiking partner Barbara also earned her badge for her hike at Eighteen Mile Creek.

As we love to declare...

We are the champions!

A sally to Zoar Valley?

Remember my hiking challenge? My hiking partner, Barbara, and I are reaching the end of our trail.

We have only one hike to go!

You had to complete eight hikes before St. Joseph's Day, March 19. The hiking patriarch did not state it as St. Joseph's Day however that is how I can remember it. It makes sense because St. Joseph is the patron saint of Buffalo.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

We are trying to figure out what hike to do to conclude our saga. The search has narrowed somewhat because, not being dummies, we tend to reject hikes labeled "difficult" or, God forbid, "strenuous." That eliminates Emery Park, no matter how many picnics I have gone on there, and Boutwell Forest, wherever that is.

However we want to end our hiking adventure in a blaze of glory and so we are zeroing in on Zoar Valley.

Zoar like an eagle as we say! Barbara even texted me the icon of an eagle.

That is not Zoar Valley pictured above. That is just Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park, a photo I took yesterday. I needed a picture of God's country, though, and it did the trick. 

The Zoar hike is labeled "difficult" -- however we have it on good authority that the trails are clearly marked. As they darned well should be. A couple of steps in the wrong direction, and you could be in trouble.

Clearly marked trails are rare and wonderful. Deciphering the maps has been the toughest part of this hiking adventure. I will report how it goes. It will certainly be an exalted finish for an adventure that began humbly with Tifft Nature Preserve, which both of us hiked in sneakers.

This will be a good challenge to face tomorrow. However it will not be the greatest challenge of the day! That honor belongs to Orlando Gibbons, the English Renaissance composer. I have to sing Gibbons' "Almighty and Everlasting God" with the St. Louis Choir at the 11 a.m. Mass. The choir has sung it before however I have not and so I have been cramming. 

"Stretch forth Thy right hand -- Thy right hand --" That is me! Over and over.

Two challenges, awaiting me tomorrow.

Challenges accepted!

Hike No. 3: Lost in Lockport

 

Another weekend, another hike! Well, we missed one weekend because of snow. However now we are back in the saddle.

I am talking about the Western New York Winter Hiking Challenge which I have foolishly undertaken with my friend Barbara. This time we attempted the Lockport Nature Trails. Her sister Laura went with us. That is Laura with the sign in the pic up above!

The map on the sign looks simple. It is not. I said to Barbara, every time we do this I sit down beforehand to study the map we are given, and I research the park. I watch videos on it. I read up on it online. And every week, I cannot believe how little use all this preparation is.

We get lost, immediately!

The Lockport Nature Trails looked easy. The hike route went in a loop. I printed it out beforehand, took a yellow highlighter, and went over it. A simple loop. There was a Kiosk on the map and I marked that. Not that I expected the Kiosk to have any facilities, or any hot cider, or anything you would think a Kiosk might have. Parks in the Buffalo area love to leave you helpless. However it was a landmark. Speaking of landmarks, the one we were looking for, the one we were supposed to take a selfie with, was an Oak Tree. I marked that also.

Two other oak trees were marked on the map and I made note of that.

What could possibly go wrong? Easy as pie.

Ha.

As soon as we walked into the snowy park, one trail kind of blurred in with another. 

 

I mean, I ask you. Nothing was marked. Well, Laura noticed there were signs on trees. However the signs were faded and all looked alike. It was like Hansel and Gretel without the bread crumbs.

Luckily Laura kept her cool. She is a photo editor and not only did she notice the signs on the trees, but she noticed the Oak Tree when, after much travail, we reached it.

I had expected the Oak would stand out. However Laura pointed to a tree among many trees and said that could be it.

"That's not an oak tree," I said confidently. The oak trees I know all have big wide trunks and spread-out branches. Like the Mighty Oak in the Meadow in Delaware Park. Or the Sacred Oak that St. Boniface cut down when he converted the German people to the Christian faith.

Shows how much I know. This ended up indeed being the oak. St. Boniface would not have bothered with this oak, I will tell you that right now. Still I had to acknowledge it as the landmark we were looking for. And I ate crow. I also ate more crow a while later when I failed to recognize a view we had just seen 15 minutes before, and almost cost us God knows how many extra steps. I had completely lost my sense of direction!

However I ate crow happily. We had reached the oak tree. I had my selfie! Here I am with the unprepossessing oak tree.

 

We never did find the Kiosk.

The views, I have to say, were beautiful. And I enjoyed the day. Hiking is fun. As was walking with two people I do not know all that well. We talk about this and that. Taking a walk is like doing a jigsaw puzzle in that the conversation just goes this way and that way.

One thing we got onto was poetry. Barbara and I began fitting together Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." Once we figured it all out we recited it .. and those last lines: "And miles to go before I sleep / And miles to go before I sleep" -- never sounded lovelier than in this park, on this trail. God knows where we were, however it must have looked something like what Robert Frost had in mind.

I hope kids still have to read this poem in school, you know? What beautiful writing.

The park even included a half-frozen waterfall. I was trying to take pictures but my hands got too cold. So you will have to settle for this. I think this is another picture of the oak.

The Lockport Nature Trails.

We came, we saw, we conquered!

Adventure at Bond Lake

My friend Barbara and I rose to another hiking challenge today.

We were Bond Girls! We went to Bond Lake Park.

That is it up above. Well, that is not Bond Lake. That is just a big puddle. However it was all new to us! I had never been there before and neither had Barbara. Heck, neither of us had ever heard of it. 

Getting ready was like getting ready for a trip to the moon. The WNY Hiking site has a huge list of things you should bring and it can make me anxious. I mean, I am just going to Niagara County, a half an hour away, and yet suddenly I feel like Ponce de Leon.

My car must have internalized my stress. Half way there, I heard a "ping" and the dashboard flashed at me: "Tire Pressure Low." What to do? I texted Howard. Howard said to look at all the tires and see if one looked flat. I thought one of them sort of did -- 

... however then the others looked flat, too. The power of suggestion is strong!

Howard said it might be the cold. He said I could proceed. I was happy to hear that. I was really excited about this hike. I had new hiking boots. No more sneakers for me, no sirree. And I had packed cheese as a snack that I thought we could eat afterwards at the Warming Center. Yes, Bond Lake Park has a Warming Center! You picture a hut where they say, "Ladies, come in from the cold," and offer you hot cider.

When I arrived at the park, there was no mistaking it. A big sign identified the park. And there, sure enough, was the Warming Center. It was not the bucolic hut we had imagined. But it was there! That is it at the top of this post.

However the Warming Center gave us the cold shoulder. Note the rude sign. No apologies, nothing!

Bossy Bond! That was the name we came up with for this park. It was full of bossy signs!

What worried me about the Warming Center was that now there were no facilities.There were restrooms on the side of the building however they were locked. What if you needed to answer nature's call? That is what I would like to know.

The Buffalo area is hilarious for this. Notices are everywhere telling you to get out and exercise in the snow, enjoy the winter, and above all to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Yet no facilities, anywhere. It is like the old Soviet Union, zut alors and fie.

Still our day was full of fun and laughs.

The hike was only three miles or so but Barbara and I are always getting lost so we must have added another mile or so. We did that at Tifft too. It is our trademark!

This time we set a new record. Map in hand, we crossed Lower Mountain Road in front of the Warming Center, set out on the path, and got lost within two minutes. While we were still in sight of the road!

However eventually we found our way to the lake, which I assumed was Bond Lake. The lake was on the map, and the trail was marked along side it, so we figured as long as we were walking around that lake, we were OK. Which we were. We kept running into other hikers also on the challenge and they would reassure us.

We found time to admire the scenery!

That last masterful photo is important because if you look closely you can see the sign saying, "Lake Unsafe. KEEP OUT!" I told you Bond was bossy! There were other bossy signs too. Lots of them! However my fingers were too cold to remove from my mittens to take pictures.

Each hike has an item you have to photograph yourself with and in this case it was "Distinctive Tree." According to the map it was right past a Scenic Overlook. 

Sure enough, first came the Overlook...

 

... and then came the Distinctive Tree.

 

Ha, ha! Barbara is privy to the art of taking a good selfie however I am not. 

The tree was naturally photogenic. As Barbara and I agreed, it was a real Brothers Grimm tree. I saw other trees as well with that shape, off to the side and not as impressive, however still picturesque. They must all be the same kind of tree. I will have to come back in the summer when I can move my fingers and use my Seek app.

After taking our selfies with the tree, we got lost again and finally decided just to return to the chilly Warming Center and call it a day. Maybe that was just as well. Other hikers had warned us anyway that the final leg was a mess, that the trails were not labeled properly. Who needs that? Not us, was our conclusion. Besides which we had just gotten in a couple thousand extra steps because of getting lost. 

So, an exciting day, and a successful one.

We did it!

 

Rising to the WNY Hiking Challenge

There is a Western New York hiking challenge afoot in Buffalo -- afoot, get it? And my friend Barbara and I rose to it.

Today we went on our first hike, at Tifft Nature Preserve!

Barbara and I are new friends in the grand scheme of things. However we have certain things in common, one of which was, both of us wore sneakers today on our hike. Sneakers! Her friends are laughing at her right now on her Facebook page.

We are having one of those mild winters we get from time to time, and Tifft's trails are awash in mud.  We were like princesses trying to pick our way around this mud, treading on grasses and these tall cattails which thanks to my Seek app I now know to be the Common Reed.

So illogically wearing sneakers was one thing. Another was our shared preoccupation with the Wyeth art family. The conversation was always turning to Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth and the great, the one and only N.C. Wyeth.

Andrew Wyeth would have loved this landscape!

 

Or better still this one.

 

Slogging through the mud in our sodden sneakers, we paused to contemplate that.

Funny, we thought it would be easy. We went in laughing, la la la la la la. I mentioned the sneakers. Did I also mention I was coming directly from church? And so I was also in a dress and carrying a purse. 

Every hike in this challenge has a landmark, something you have to find and take a selfie with. We found the landmark easily, although it did take some muddy walking to get there. The landmark was called the Peninsula. Here I am at it.

We did not know at that point that our adventure was just beginning! 

We saw trees that reminded us of the Brothers Grimm. N.C. Wyeth would have liked these trees! They would have fit in well with some of his illustrations.

At one point, it began raining. That happened to be at a discouraging point, when we were trying and failing to figure out the map, so neither of us mentioned the raindrops. And after a while they stopped. 

Next came a light hail. Again, we ignored it, and again, it stopped.

Twice, to avoid a river of mud, we had to thrash through a forest of Common Reeds.You would think they could have sent us on an easier trail however they did not. It had to be this trail. Ha ha ... Barbara began singing "It Had To Be You," to the trail. That was a song we would return to several times.

Trail, it had to be you!

And so we just charged into the reeds, going for broke. The reeds were taller than we were and we were afraid for a while we would not come out. 

However we lived to tell the tale. And this is it!

Out in the parking lot, we greeted a big group of ladies heading into the park, and sure enough, they were also on the hiking challenge. Ha, ha! Lots of luck, ladies!

It is funny, something like this, it just takes you out of your life. Mass that morning felt like a different lifetime. Also, I had completely forgotten it was New Year's Eve. It was like going into a time warp.

That is what's called an adventure.

We can't stop laughing about it!