My sister, Dad and I are doing the WNY Winter Hiking Challenge for 2022-2023 which we’ve completed in previous years. I am 10 years old, a Scout and outdoorsman that loves Pokemon. To complete the challenge, you must complete 8 out of 20 hikes during the winter and take a selfie at a special spot. Join us as I write about my journey this year. If you want to sign up for the challenge head over to the Outside Chronicles Website.
Jan 1: Niagara Gorge, ArtPark
On this day, we took two hikes in the Gorge: The Great Gorge Route and ArtPark.
Today I took a hike with my cub scout pack at the Great Gorge trail. Today was cloudy and muddy. This hike took about two hours to do. We saw a good amount of people out today. We got some great views at the rapids. We also saw a lot of fat squirrels and birds. Seeing the big cliffs was awesome and everyone liked it as they are cool. The trail was pretty even and easy to walk because a train used to go through here. We talked about the emerald ash borer and how it can kill the ash trees. On the way back we saw some sea lions in the exhibit near the aquarium so overall it was a really good hike with the cub scout pack.
After the Cub Scout hike, my Dad, sister and I took a hike at Art park. It was cloudy and muddy like the Great Gorge route. The challenge point was the waterfall. It was pretty muddy out but it was still a quick hike that took us about 30 minutes . We only saw two people out hiking so I guess the weather kept everybody away. We were thinking about doing the full trail but some of the stairs fell out so we decided to make that our turn around point. On the way back it started to rain but luckily we made it out just in time.
Jan 8: Town of Lockport Nature Trail
The ground was frozen and cold but there was no snow on today’s hike of the Lockport Nature Trail. I was surprised that the number of trees that came down since we were there in October – maybe it was the blizzard wind. This is a nice loop that visits all 3 giant red oak trees and the waterfall. The waterfall is the challenge point and a pretty place. It had just started to ice up so be careful if you take a closer look as you could fall.
Jan 16 Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge
We finally got some snow but not enough for snowshoes. Today we hiked the Kanyoo and Feeder Trails in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. We found something bag though. Someone had decorated a hemlock tree for Christmas. Imagine if that plastic got into the forest! Some bulbs were already broken but we packed everything out to leave no trace. Weirdly, there weren’t many birds out. We did spot some squirrels and lots of tracks. Eventually we saw some chickadees on the Feeder Trail. The challenge point is on the boardwalk overlooking Mohawk Pool. It is usually a good place to look for birds.
Jan 22 Genesee County Forest
Today Dad, my sister and I took a hike at the Genesee County Forest. It was damp, cold and cloudy out and hardly anybody was there as the Bills were playing. The hike started out really nice. We came by some bird feeders, fed some chickadees, and got the selfie for the Western New York hiking challenge and kept on moving. Then it started to snow so we found a spot in a spruce forest to take a break. After our break we took the death row trail and found the Genesee county grave site and there were pennies all around the graves . We kept on moving. By now it was snowing really bad out so we had to get to the car soon after we got back we got in the car and hit the road. Overall it was a really good hike because it felt like we had a whole park to ourselves.
