Woodland Adventure

Sunday:

Time: 50:07 - Distance: 4.03 miles - Avg Pace: 12:25/mi.

Calories: 470
Soundtrack: Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink

I knew that it was supposed to snow yesterday. Ordinarily, my long walk for the week would be on Saturday, which was forecast to be clear and dry, but I had to wait for the Time Warner Cable guy to arrive sometime between 10 and 2, and that put a crimp in my plans. The charms of the sidewalks of Park Slope have worn somewhat thin, and so I decided to take this week's long walk farther afield. In addition to a 50-minute workout, I needed sweaters, both of which sent me in the direction of Westchester County. There is a nice, upscale mall there (known simply as "The Westchester"), as well as, I discovered, quite a few walkable trails. When I set off yesterday morning, decked out in layers of walking gear, the destination was the Bronx River Pathway, specifically, what this site calls "the loveliest part of the path," which runs from the Kensico Dam to the County Center. I had info on where there was parking, but when I got there, the road was closed off. Hmm. So I kept driving, and a little bit down the road was a sign for Cranberry Lake Preserve. Sounded promising. Indeed, when I got there, there appeared to be trails, but they were covered in a couple inches of snow. Had I expected that they would be plowed? The road was, though, and so I headed down to where I came in. But no dice--no shoulder. Had I come all this way for no walk? Would it have to wait until I got back to Brooklyn, at which point it would probably be dark? No way, man. What's a little snow? So, with my three layers of pants and two layers of tops, ear-warming headband and gloves, I set off into the woods.

It was lovely! Got plenty of snow on my shoes, but my feet didn't get too wet. Trees, a lake, bright sky...also uneven ground, which is often underfoot on wooded trails and is difficult to see when they are blanketed with snow. In fact, there was one other woman I saw out there, and both times I passed her, I tripped on a tree root. I followed a predecessor's footprints along the path for a while, before realizing that there were colored blazes marking the way, which helped me to worry less about getting lost.

So glad I did this! Adventures are fun. Now if it only weren't so cold out...