Shawangunk Ridge, NY

Fall hiking is my favorite. Especially fall hiking with my love.
I have so many adventures to catch up with. I really want to document them here and I will.. eventually. For now, my adventures are perfectly up to date on my instagram account.. @alostfeather

Mount Marcy, NY

Mount Marcy- the tallest Mountain in New York State. We hiked this 15 mile trail in 8 hours and 20 minutes and that's with a 1.5 hour break at the summit (where we inhaled copious amounts of food because we were s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g.) I loved the Adirondaks. It was just as beautiful as I imagined it would be.

Oh and the craziest thing happened. I (quite literally) walked into an old friend from college about 1 hour into the hike! Pretty insane considering we were 6 hours from home and she was 3.5 hours from her home!

mt washington, new hampshire

We climbed Mount Washington on Saturday, the tallest mountain in the northeast. It was a tough hike that was made more challenging thanks to the 70mph winds and dropping temperatures. I was pretty nervous for most of the hike, but I'm so glad we did it. It was amazing.

hiking Bash Bish Falls, MA. / NY.

We hiked 8 miles in Taconic State Park (past Bash Bish Falls) on Saturday morning. Half way through the trail we found a lost dog and named him Wilbur because he sounded like a pig. We found out he was a foster dog that lived 5 miles away and made plans to meet his human companion by our car. Wilbur hiked with us for about 4 miles and shared our lunch and water. He was clearly exhausted and too old to be out on such a long trail, but all we could do was keep him with us. That turned out to be easy because he wouldn't leave our sides. We let other hikers think he was our dog and really enjoyed his company- even though he slobbered all over us and wanted to lead the hike and walk very slowly.

I hope Wilbur loved our attention and friendship, even if it was only for a few hours. He was a good dog.

hiking the Anthony Wayne Loop, NY

first hike of the season.. a 6 mile trek on the Anthony Wayne Loop.
I'm so glad I keep track of my hikes on this blog.. there are a bunch I completely forgot about. Between old facebook photo albums and posts on this blog I was able to make a list of all the trails Matt and I have done together.. we're about to break 100 miles!

woods and rambles

Just a few more photos from our hike last Saturday. It was 60 degrees today.. I hope this weather sticks around so I can get in another hike before snow happens.

That reminds me. I really want to try snow shoeing this year. How does that work? I wonder if there's a place I can go and rent snow shoes. And then, where do you go snow shoeing? Is it like cross country skiing type terrain? Or can I get some elevation in there? I think I need more sleep.

in the woods

We spent Saturday hiking in the woods. The trail was a bit of an obstacle course because of the downed trees either from hurricane Irene or the early snowfall. I even got to put my compass (the iphone app version) to the test when we lost the trail. It worked.

The ground was absolutely covered in leaves, but I'm glad we got to hike with the last of the colors still clinging to the trees.

Standing in 3 Places at once

This weekend was so lovely- the weather, the company, the activities.. I wish every weekend could be as great. On Saturday night Matt and I drove up to visit his parents a couple of hours north into New York. They live in the perfect hiking location, let me tell you. (And of course I got to spend a day and a half with Marissa which is always so much fun.)

On Sunday morning Matt and I woke up bright and early and drove a bit further north into Massachusetts for an 11 mile hike on the South Taconic Trail. It was the longest trail we've ever done together. It started in Massachusetts and wound through Connecticut and New York as well. It had some rock scrambling, closed in forest trails, exposed ridge trails, gorgeous views, and the highlight..

we got to stand in 3 places at once! Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

I was pretty happy about that. I guess I didn't exactly stand in 3 places at once.. you'll see in the picture below that Matt is standing on the tristate marker, but I'm actually sitting. So I sat in 3 places at once.

Fall hiking is my favorite. The tree covered mountains and valleys look so gorgeous and the temperatures are usually more comfortable. This weekend it was 80 degrees- it was so strange to be hiking in that heat while the fall colors came to life around us. Although I guess hiking in 80 degrees should feel like no problem to me considering Marissa, Kate and I hiked in 100+ degrees in Shenandoah National Park. Still, I'd take 80 or 100 degrees over 30 any day.

I hope everyone had a fun weekend. I can't believe it's Tuesday already.. 3 day weekends always throw me off. In a perfectly fine way, of course!

Hiking Mount Taurus, NY

Yesterday morning Matt and I drove up to Cold Spring, NY for a much needed hike. Cold Spring is one of my favorite little towns on the Hudson River and it's a hub for tons of great trails. Yesterday we did a 6 mile roundtrip trail to Mount Taurus in about 3 hours. It would have taken less time, but we lost the trail twice.. ok that, and I was kind of slow yesterday.

The leaves look like they might consider changing colors in the next couple of weeks. As we continued out of the sun and into the forest I noticed some bright colored leaves already resting on the ground. I hope we're able to hike during the peak of the changing leaves.. they're so beautiful- definitely one of my favorite things about fall.

There were so many dogs on the trail yesterday. I wish Boo was a good hiker. I would love to have him on the trail, but he isn't too keen on walking long distances. It's a struggle to get him to walk all the way around the block at home- a mere 1/2 mile. We even saw a tiny Yorkshire Terrier and once Matt and I saw a Pomeranian hiking on a trail that was definitely not easy at all. Maybe Boo just needs to man up.

We've been on a few trails this year hoping to get a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline from some viewpoints, but never managed to hit the points on clear days. We finally caught a break in the clouds yesterday and saw the skyline far off in the distance. We were pretty excited about it.