Hiking Zoar Valley

Road Trip And Hiking

Only In America

6:47

6:55

It's 8:50 and I paddled for an hour on a cold, 34º degree morning.  Because the lake was so smooth, I kayaked over to Long Point, across to Sandy Bottom, then along Woodlawn and home.  I saw mostly gulls, geese, and mallards, with a quick shot of a bald eagle before he flew away.

Kayak Morning

Yesterday was a good day, as we gathered our gumption and spent most of the day either on the road to Gowanda and the Zoar Valley (120 miles total) or hiking the Zoar Valley.  After kayaking, breakfast, and the blog we decided to take the Amish Trail and go hiking outside of Gowanda.  Evie packed up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, water, and cameras, and off we went.  We stopped at an antique shop we always stop at and bought a couple of glass candlesticks that border on tchotchke. We took photos as we drove because, despite the end of fall colors, the landscape was still scenic.  We also stopped at a cheese shop, bought some Amish butter and horseradish cheese to support the struggling business.

Amish County

We had some difficulty finding the trailhead, stopping first at the end of Forty Road, the trailhead at the bottom of the gorge where the Cattaraugus Creek rushed by.  It was neat to be able to be at the bottom but there was nowhere to walk unless we had boots and went wading.  

Cattaraugus Creek

Evie And The Gorge

We then got confused with directions and stopped a mail lady who told us to avoid Valentine Flats because that's "where people die" and go to Deer Lick Conservation Area where there are various safe trails for hiking.  It's on Point Peter Road which cuts off of Broadway near Gowanda.  We decided to walk the White Trail since we had walked it a couple of years ago but had forgotten that much of it was downhill.  

So after close to forty-five minutes of walking, we decided that was enough and went back the same way we came, having not gotten to the end of the trail where hardwoods are.  By the time we returned to the trailhead, the sun was beginning to drop behind the trees, the air cooled off.  We drove home through Gowanda and took RT 39 past small villages plagued by Trump signs,  to Fredonia where we stopped at the Tuscany Deli and bought a cherry pie for our dessert.

Bemus Point Casino at 4:30PM

We arrived home at 5:00 and were gone for six hours.  We collapsed on our couches with a glass of wine, realizing finally how tired we were after the drive and hike.  Fortunately, dinner was heating up the leftover chicken and rice from Wednesday night and grilling some asparagus.  Dinner, as usual, was better the day after.  We watched a Colbert, some of the ridiculous news on Fox about election fraud then finished the night with two more episodes of The Hour.  We don't love it but are beginning to like it more as it goes along.