A Cold Snowy Sunday Morning and Hiking the The Southern Part Overland Trail

8:05

Dusk on Saturday

Up at 6:40, to a cold house, 55 degrees, so I have lit the fire place, with my remote, and now the room is nice and toasty.  Evie's up as well and we sit comfortably enjoying the dawning morning, the lake white, covered with snow, the shore line just visible off of Long Point, and gentle snow falling, hardly visible.  It's 19 degrees outside, the coldest it has been in a few weeks though it won't stay as it supposedly will warm up into the 30's during the week, alas, as we want it snowy and cold when Hayden and Halle arrive on Thursday.

Yesterday morning, we met with three hikers from the Chautauqua Hikes group in Panama at 10:00 to walk the Westside Overland Trail.  We car pooled to the southern most part of the trail, where it begins on Front Line Road.  We then headed off in snow, through an amazing pine forest, for a five mile hike.  It was fairly easy, actually, and most of it was through forests of pine, various hard woods, even cherry.  The walk took us almost three hours, with a stop for lunch, and it was only difficult towards the end, when we walked through a windy, snowy open field, from one part of the forest to the other.  Though it was in the 20's, we were never really cold, perhaps overdressed at times, though the whipping wind turned Evie's face beet red and my beard was frozen with ice.  It was a great way to spend a morning and we got back home around 2:00, taking our time on slippery snow covered roads.  Two of the guys live near Holly Loft in Jamestown, Jerry(he leads kayak tours in Colorado during the summer) and Tom the leader, from Ohio. Jack, a retired National Grid worker, is from Fredonia.  All three were easy going and fun to get to know.  We all hope to do this again soon, perhaps the next leg of the trial.  Tom has walked the entire 28 miles, camping for two nights.  He also has walked the entire Chautauqua Creek, also camping, from Lyon's Road to Westfield.  They are inspiring.

Beginning our Hike

Amazing Forests of Pines

Tom, our leader, TD,  Jerry and Jack

A Snowy Stop for Lunch

A Break

An Abandoned Cast Iron Maple Sugar Furnace

For dinner, we made a great stir fry/fried rice combo, with pork and lots of veggies.  We devoured it, then sat back and watched three more episodes of Mad Men.  We are on episode 35, have to get to 50 before the series restarts in March.

Today, we hope to make our new favorite, a black bread, then  cross country ski on the lake, as it's been cold enough to freeze the lake and there's a nice layer of snow as well.  I just hope it's not slushy underneath so our skis freeze.