Short Hike at Short Hills 200803-09

Sunday, March 09 – 2008
11:00 – 14:15
Start: 11:10
Roads: snow covered
Visibility: 24km
Temp: -3C
Area: Rockway Falls
Vehicle: Black Sunfire
Weather: Bright & Sunny, no wind
Trail Conditions: Deep Snow Covered with ice
Hikers: Tori, Wolf, Chuck, Merlin, Morgana
Plan: Hike the blue Number 4 trail.
GPS: 49.1053 x -79.2809

We were supposed to get together with a friend we met on facebook called Sadie, but sadly the Niva only seats 4 and we didnt have enough room for them 🙁 Hopefully next week, if the weather is better we can take 2 cars and Sadie and her partner can join us.

11:00 We arrived to find the main driveway all covered in snow, and had to park on the street with a couple of other vehicles. The park had few tracks leading to the trailhead.

11:10 We hit the trails to find only one set of tracks which were put in the middle of an old snow mobile track, although snowmobiles are not supposed to be allowed in this park.

11:20 after seemingly forever trodding through the deep snow, we came to a concrete bridge and looked over, the water only partially frozen.

11:45 It took forever to get to the trail head. The snow slowed us down very badly. We decided to head on the blue Number 4 trail up a steep hill to the west. We decided to head up the steep hill to the west. We had to stop several times to rest as the knee-deep snow made it difficult to hike through.

12:09 We reached the top of the hill after a couple of breaks and continued on.

12:15 The area was so beautiful we had to stop and take in this untouched area as there were no human tracks anywhere. The sky was clear and blue. We took a few photos.

12:40 We found the bench the crest of a hill on the trail. This denoted 1/3 of the trail completed. Tori was feeling tired and sore as well as Brian. We sat on the bench for a bit then decided as this was Brian’s 1st winter hike EVER, that we should head back to the Niva.

13:00 We stopped to admire the beauty of this place, Tori’s ankle was bothering her, Brians knee was bothering him and my hip was starting to trouble me. It could have been from having to walk in odd positions through the snow, and our bodies trying to compensate. The snow was almost hip deep in some places.

13:34 We arrived at the top of a big hill just before the trailhead and joked that if we rolled down it, we’d bend our hiking poles, stand up and they’d be S-shaped! We laughed and laughed, sadly Chuck did not have any hiking poles to potentially bend.

13:45 I rolled partially down a hill and so did Tori – much to Brian and Chuck’s delight and amusement. Then we headed back towards the car after brushing ourselves off.

13:56 Tori met up with a rambunctious black dog who barked at her when she met up with him. There was also a man holding a beige colored terrier as well. Chuck commented that if our little ones had been with us it would have been a big four-way brawl!

14:00 Brian and Tori had some difficulties making it up the steep, snow covered, unforgiving hill that led back to the Niva. We had to stop and rest for a few mins.

14:15 Tired, and exhausted we arrived back at the Niva, stripped off our gear and headed for home. Sadly this hike was unfulfilling as it was very short and we couldn’t bring Sadie C and her partner with us.