Cathedral of trees

Yesterday we visited another Onondaga County park - Highland Forest, which is located in the southwestern portion of the county, near the town of Fabius. While not as warm or sunny as Saturday, it was still a nice day to be outside.

We spent most of the time hiking through the forest:



We entered one area of towering trees outlined in snow. It was stunningly beautiful and all I could think was that we were in a cathedral of trees. Here is my poor attempts at capturing the beauty:



We took a spin around the park in what was marketed as a "sleigh" ride, but was really a cart on skis. The two gorgeous Belgians who pulled the cart are named Fred and Blondie, but I can't tell you which was which:


The ride would have been much better had the other people in the cart not talked so much (and so loud) about their work - shut up and enjoy the ride, people - but it was still another fun day outside in central New York.

Snowshoeing

Today was a beautiful day - sunny and about 38 degrees. We went to Beaver Lake Nature Center, just a ten minute drive from our home, to try out snowshoeing. For our first snowshoe outing, we decided to go on a guided hike.

We had a marvelous time! Much to James' surprise, my overall lack of coordination did not hamper me a bit and I adored tramping around the woods on snowshoes.

Here is Aidan getting his snowshoe legs:


We soon got the feel of the snowshoes and started on the hike:


In an open meadow, we took some time to snowshoe off a packed-down trail. Here I am telling Aidan to be careful as he goofed around:


He, of course, did not heed my warning and ended up in a heap at my feet:


James was doing his best Jacques the Trapper impersonation:


After about an hour and about a mile, I still had a smile on my face:


We did a bit more hiking on foot, and saw animal tracks on the surface of Beaver Lake:


Soon we saw one of the creatures who might have made those tracks: