So today Abby girl and I attempted a hike in 27 degree weather to Bald Mountain via
Bear Mountain State Park. We did not summit today but pushed our bodies almost three miles in the cold.
The preparing to go was an adventure unto itself. We parked in the upper lot or lot #2 at Bear Mountain State Park after paying the ten dollar parking fee. We sat in my friend's car because he has heated seats and waited for rest of group. When they arrived, I then grabbed the large bag of gear from my car after making sure mommy got her potty break. FYI the bathroom was heated! The gear was massive as you don't want to layer up on drive there because then the layers won't work and you will be cold and miserable. For me, I had my base layer of a long underwear shirt and fleece lined leggings. Then my sweater. I then added my husband's cold weather hunting pants. I had thick hiking socks and my trusty hiking boots that need to retire because they give me toe cramps. Then I added my double layer winter jacket, scarf, hat and gloves. Abby had on Cuddle Duds long underwear, a pair of sweat pants, athletic socks, a pink unicorn footsie jammies. I added a sweater and winter jacket, boots, scarf, hat, gloves.
I brought along another pair of my thick boot socks for her hands if they got cold, hand warmers, a ski mask, waters, snack, my camera, cell for GPS, and a fleece blanket. My camera died instantly and I'm not sure if it was from the cold air or Doodle Town Ghosts. I will go with ghosts, sounds better. I also didn't pack enough snacks and that would be our ultimate downfall.
I got Abby girl in her pack and she was so puffy with clothes, I couldn't get her chest strap on. Then we began the hike with my friend Mike and two of his friends. We crossed under the tunnel that was like an ice skating rink and started walking at a pretty good clip. Not too far from parking lot, I discovered Abby had dropped her blanket and one of the hikers in group volunteered to jog back for it. After that, there was nothing stopping us. Well, besides my out of shape body and the crisp, cold air. It was really hard to breathe. But, air is much thinner this time of year and therefore, much harder to breathe though unless you are a mountain goat. I'm partially trying to make myself feel better.
We went up and down and through the woods. Over a fallen tree and through water that was frozen in several spots. I missed my hiking pole that for some reason has disappeared from my trunk. We started going past different locations in Doodletown before turning to the left at the fork just before the Murder House. Yes, the Murder House. Legend or Mike reports that if a hiker goes in, they don't come out. I'm really curious but I will leave that for another day. I will send my husband in to check it out for me and then write about my findings.
At the left in fork, there was more over rushing water and passed a dam on the right. At this point, we were about 1.5 miles in and my daughter was miserable. I tried the ski mask and had Mike put it on her. She didn't like the ski mask. Though I found it kind of funny. She wasn't cold. She was hungry. Our downfall was about to be food. She was sobbing for chicken nuggets and french fries. We flagged down Mike and said our goodbyes. I was really sad as I really hate when I don't summit and I was having fun. After that, we started the trek back to the car.
About a half mile from car, I insisted Abby walk to get her blood flowing. She wined, and screeched and complained loudly about not wanting to walk and wanting her darn Chicken Nuggets and Fries. Then she had to pee. That made her extremely happy. Bare buns to the 20 something degree breeze. After panicking because I thought she peed on her unicorn onesie ... But didn't thank God, I got her bundled back up and walked like we usually do, hand in hand back to the car looking at all the birdies along the trail.
When we were back, we stopped at car to unload as much gear as possible. Abby grabbed her purse stuffed with play money and we went for a ride on the carousel. She had a lot of fun and I got very dizzy.
Afterwards, we stopped by the big fireplace before ending our journey.
If anyone is wondering, we did stop at Wendy's and she did indeed get her Chicken Nuggets and fries. All I want is a nap! We will definitely return and tackle this trail again. Next time, we will bring more snacks. My trail rating is Moderate.
Adventures of Abby Girl is all the awesome things my daughter and I experience in the Hudson Valley and beyond completely as it is. You can read more blogs about Adventures of Abby Girl here. Also feel free to follow on Instagram and Facebook or watch videos of all things Abby Girl and Momlife on Youtube. When Erica isn't writing her blog or shooting crazy videos, she owns a local pet photography business in the Hudson Valley-Erica Higgs Photography. Thanks for reading and following our adventures!
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