Winter Hike Series No. 5

I made it to the fifth and final hike in the series – Shawnee Lookout.

The temperatures weren’t too bad but the trails were snow covered and a challenge to hike through.  The snow was not crunchy or slippery, but rather slushy.  It was very difficult to walk on because your foot would sink in a little when you stepped down and then mush in some more when you tried to push off.  It was like walking in loose sand.  

The Hamilton County Parks will be holding a make-up hike for Woodland Mound (hike number four, the one that everybody missed last week).  Apparently, I was not the only one to realize that the roads were too hazardous to drive.  They actually cancelled the event about an hour before the start because they could not get the roads into the park cleared.  This winter has been crazy with the amount of snowfall in the region!  

I won’t make it to the make-up because I’ll be in Costa Rica! That’s right, I’m heading for the tropics and I can’t wait.  Enough pictures of snow; stay tuned for pictures of toucans and parrots and lots and lots of beautiful green foliage. 

Winter Hike Series No. 3

I made it to hike number 3!  This one was held at Miami Whitewater Forest.

Oh boy, doesn’t it look cold.  The lake was frozen and the snow was flying.  I was smart this time, took my crampons along and used them for the entire hike.  I actually bought them three years ago when I first moved the KY but this was the first time strapping them to my boots.  They made a world of difference; I didn’t feel myself sliding around at all.  They are well worth the money (less than $20) if you plan to do any snowy/icy walks.

For my warm weather friends

and family, these are crampons. 

I didn’t know they existed either 

until moving up here.

Here’s another view over the frozen, snow-covered lake on the Timberlake Trail.

Here’s our group nicely strolling through the snow on the Badlands Trail.  I say “nicely strolling” but these hikes are about five miles long and cover some diverse terrain.  Even though it’s cold outside, you can work up a sweat inside of your winter coat.

I’ll try my hardest to get to hike number 4, but, as of today, the temperatures are once again below zero! Whew, I thought KY was far enough south to not have to worry about all of this!!!

Winter Hike Series No. 2

I am surviving the cold and have accomplished another winter hike.  It was a little questionable in light of our past week with an arctic front plunging our temperatures into the negative numbers.  Yep, Monday and Tuesday we had a low of negative 9; I don’t think our high got above 10.   

The second hike for the Winter Hike Series was at Sharon Woods.  The skies were threatening rain but it actually turned out to be a wonderful day; temperatures in the high 40’s and the sun even peaked out a few times.

On a personal note, Tuesday morning I hit a deer on my drive into work.  Scared me to death, one minute all is fine, I’m driving down a dark road (the road was clean and dry so I was relaxed, not white-knuckled as I would have been had there been snow on the ground), and all of a sudden I see a two deer jumping into the road.  I slammed on the brakes but they were too close to avoid.  I’m not sure if I hit one or both.  I think if they had jumped into the street two seconds later, they would have been jumping on my car rather than in front of my car.  They were that close!  What’s the matter with these animals?!!  Anyway, my bumper in now duct-taped down to the hood to keep it from flapping around when I drive.  Class-act, all the way! Okay, back to the hike posting.

Here is the crowd starting to gathering around at the start.  I don’t know how many people were there, but Hamilton County Parks limits these events to 275 participants.  You have to register on line and they say that all five hikes in the series have sold out.  This does not really look like 275 people… maybe a few were scared off by the ominous grey clouds overhead.

Our wildlife sightings consisted or a couple Red Tailed Hawks overhead and these ducks in the lake.   Most of the lake was covered with the thin sheet of ice but these guys didn’t seem to mind the frigid waters.  I think they were Mallards or American Black Ducks, just your basic pond variety. I’m told there are Wood Ducks here as well, but we didn’t spot any. 

Here is the dam that controls the water level for the lake, which is a man-made lake built for flood control in the region.  Overall, a neat park and a great place for a winter hike.