It’s our favorite time of year when it begins to feel like winter...and it felt like that today in Harriman State Park, NY! Winter begins next Thursday, December 21st and ends March 19th, 2018. This is a great time of year to head out for a hike!

"While I knew Gavin would love the slide itself, I wasn’t sure how much he would enjoy any necessary off-trail travel to reach the slide. I asked Jan Wellford about the climb, and he said the bushwhacking was not that bad, you just had to get around the near vertical face of the falls, which is a major ice climbing spot in the winter months. I decided that Gav and I would give it a shot..."

There are 35 high peaks in the Catskill Mountains that are above 3,500ft elevation. People that summit all 35, plus 4 of them in winter, can become “Catskill 35ers“. For most people that is enough. I am not one of those people.

Everyone has their bucket list and it's an ever changing list. It changes with age and what’s going on in your life and yet some places or events never change. About five years ago when I really started getting into the outdoors and trail running, I learned of all these amazing places: New Zealand, Patagonia, the dolomites, the PCT, AT, etc. How long would it take for me to travel to all these places while still trying to race, work and spend time with friends or even find friends who would want to go with you!? 

Today, conditions were good for snowshoeing in the Harriman State Park area of New York. Some of us opted for the no snowshoe approach, but had to raise the effort quite a bit just to keep pace. Hiking poles & microspikes definitely helped but still were no match for the efficiency of proper snowshoeing.

We finally made our way back to Schunemunk Mountain State Park in New York! This is a very visible mountain from around the region. Its summit reaches close to 1,700 feet above sea level.  For roughly three miles of the 25+ miles of trails in the park, there are two ridges running parallel to each other, separated by the valley of Baby Brook. It's a great training ground to work on your climbing and technical running.

We had a great hike in Harriman State Park (NY-NJ Trail Map 118) after a little more snow fall hit our area! We covered about 9 miles and broke trail for about 8 of those. Couldn't have asked for better working conditions!  We finished the hike with a little water crossing over Stony Brook where the bridge is out (orange to white trail). 

Thank you to MPF Athlete Julian Vicente for leading today's hike in Norvin Green State Forest! It was great to spend some trail time with a couple of new faces. We started 8am sharp and covered about 11 miles of fun, rocky trail with a lots of up and down. 

Temps started out at about 40º and rose steadily through the morning. Trails were slushy, some had ice and a little snow cover, others were wet but traction was surprisingly fine at times. Looks like some cold weather is in the forecast and more rain on the way tonight, microspikes may be in order. Lets hope for some snow this coming Tuesday!

The team headed out with some friends this past Sunday. We hiked the fun Seven Hills Trail in Southern Harriman State Park. The trail is about 6.5 miles point to point, and has roughly 1,500 feet of elevation gain.

Each year we look forward to November because of the changes that it brings. Cold weather slowly moves in with the winds, trees become barer by the day and the chance of snow increases each week.

After I posted the photos from this hike, Joe asked me to write something about the trip to give an example of what you can do with your kids in terms of hiking.  Both Steph (my wife) and I are obviously big fans of getting outside with the kids as much as possible...