The roads less traveled are often more plentiful as the weather turns frigid, and people tend to stay indoors as much as possible, yet winter is one of the best times to go hiking. Seriously. The trees are bare, and the transparent forest gives a much grander view of your surroundings. The water freezes on the lakes and around the waterfalls making spectacular views even more fascinating, and I know we can all appreciate this last one, no bugs.
Today when we I decided where to venture off to, my goal was to see a frozen waterfall. As the weather was just below freezing and it had recently been much warmer, not much of the waterfall was frozen, but nature made up fo it by blowing leaves across the more frozen lake. So we got our view and some fun as we picked up sticks to toss and watched them glide gracefully across the icy surface.
Today’s hike was great, but I did mention how spectacular the views would be in the fall, leaves changing and making puzzle worthy views that pictures just don’t actually seem to do justice to. If it was summer or spring, I would love to sit at the picnic table by the waterfall with a packed lunch, maybe having the kids kick a soccer ball around for while after the hike. Pretty much the only bad time to hike would be rain, if you are afraid to get wet or heavy wind. The fallen trees make the woods a more interesting backdrop, but I want to be far away as they fall.
There really haven’t been many places I haven’t enjoyed the experience, from the ones with towers at the top, covered bridges, and waterfalls, to even the eerie one with the remains of a charred car in the middle of a forest with no roads, and trees spaced out in all directions as to not allow space for an actual car to pass. This freaked my children out before we saw a long abandoned campfire with the evidence of participants, such as blankets, flannel button downs and sweaters spread out as to suggest where each person was sitting when they suddenly left, leaving their things.
Maybe you’re looking for elevation, landmarks, lakes or a strange mystery, and you don’t know where to start. If you live in the New York and Connecticut area, I can help you out. I have been so many places, it’s hard to recall each so I am going to keep a record, and I decided why not do that on a public forum so other people can benefit. If you do visit any of the places that I do add to my list, please let me know whether you liked them. If you have suggestions on where to hike, let me know that too.
Since I haven’t left many suggestions, you can find some places to start here.
Kristen Feit Writes 