Author Archives: Freedom Hiker

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About Freedom Hiker

I served in the USMC directly out of high school and then taught for two years in the Bronx, NY. I was then a Special Education Coordinator/Special Education teacher at a public high school in the Lower Hudson Valley in Westchester County, New York, for over 20 years. Although I love going to Anthony's Nose, I try to get to different spots in the area. One great thing about living in the Hudson Valley is the abundance of great hikes. You can do the same hike in different seasons, and it will be as if you were hiking that trail for the first time. It doesn't get much better than that!

Another Beautiful Day, Another Great Hike…

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It’s a rare day in late, late November when you can actually hike for a few hours in shorts and a t-shirt and not feel chilly at some point. Today, I decided to hold off starting my hike until around 10:30 am. My original thought was that it would be much warmer than the usual 6:00 am start which would make things a little more comfortable.

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The one thing that I tend to forget when I start my hikes later, especially on days like today, are the number of people who come out to hike. Because I usually get out so early, I rarely see anyone with the exception of some trail runners. On my hike today it seemed like I was running into someone ever couple of minutes. I actually started wondering where they were all coming from…

All in all it was another excellent hike. I got to meet a couple of nice people and as usual they had some incredibly friendly dogs who were eager to make my acquaintance. I really should start taking picture of all of the dogs that I meet when I am hiking.

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Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

11/25/17-7.7-339.12

 

Transformation

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“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful — an endless prospect of magic and wonder.”
— Ansel Adams
“We must go and see for ourselves.”
— Jacques Cousteau

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One of the things that I love most about fall hiking are the trees. No longer covered in leaves, the bare branches stand a lonely guard over the rest of the woods. I don’t know why, but I find that once they have been prepped for winter, they are truly fascinating. At dawn or under a clear blue sky, each branch, large and small, present themselves as the one true guardian of nature as it sinks into its winter slumber.

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The transformation that has taken place in the woods at Ward Pound Ridge over the last month and a half has been incredible. My first exposure to these trails was late July, when summer was already in full swing. Now, as time passes and the leaves have fallen, the view changes almost daily.

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Happy Hiking!!!

2017 Mileage:

11/24/17-4.1-331.42

Transformation

A Thanksgiving Hike

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Have you ever had a day when you were hiking where everything just clicked? Where each stride you took was effortless and you felt like you could hike forever? These days don’t happen very often, but when they do, watch out!

Luckily for me, today was one of those days. From the minute I started, I knew that I was going to be able to add a few miles on to what I had originally intended to do. My legs were loose, the air was a crisp 27 degrees and with no discernible breeze, the woods were silent.

2017 Mileage:

11/23/17-8.2-327.32

Winter Is On Its Way

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“Nature is not mute. It is man who is deaf.”

-Terence McKenna

Even though I don’t know anyone who had pink eye, I managed to get a rather nasty case of it in both of my eyes. After waking up with both of my eyes crusted shut, I made my way into work and after about an hour was banished by the school nurse to seek medical treatment.  A trip to my local urgent care confirmed the obvious…that I had pink eye in both eyes. The remedy? Eye drops every six hours for five days.

Since I couldn’t return to school and didn’t want to sit at home, I decided to…you guessed it, go hiking! The day was clear and the temperature hovered around fifty degrees. Even though a steady breeze made the relatively warm day for November seem just a little cooler, it was still a perfect day to be out in the woods.

Heading out to Ward Pound Ridge, I figured it would be smart to carry a whole bunch of paper towels to wipe my eyes if I needed to. Besides the gritty feeling I had in my eyes every time I blinked, I felt pretty good and was ready to move! Crusty eyes be damned!

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Overall it was a decent hike. I took it a lot slower than I normally would have, but that’s ok, just being able to clear my mind was good enough. As you can see by the pictures, the colors of fall are now gone and the long dark days of winter are almost here.

2017 Mileage:

11/21/17-5.2-319.12

 

 

It’s Hockey Time!

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From October through the end of March every year, my life is practically consumed by the sport of hockey. Either watching it on television or traveling to see my kids play, it has been my life for the better part of the last sixteen years. When my son played, I had to shuttle between he and my daughter teams for practices, games and tournaments. Now that he is in college, I have felt like I have been on “Hockey Parent” vacation for the last several years!

Below you will see two pictures of my daughter playing hockey on her travel team (she is on the left in both pictures). Although checking is not allowed in women’s hockey, don’t let anyone tell you that these hockey players are not as aggressive as the boys. They fight just as hard for the puck, throw elbows and will scrap with their opponents if they have to.

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My daughter against Ridgefield 11/18/17.

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A Pre-Thanksgiving Poem

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Turkey day is less than a week away.

No work, sleep late and eat goodies all day.

Dreams of stuffing, potatoes, cranberries and bread,

Have invaded my brain and are filling my head.

I know I can wait, it’s only six more long days,

Then Tom Turkey and I will have a parting of ways.

My heart is indeed heavy and I feel kind of sad,

What did he do to me, to be treated so bad?

Well, it isn’t my fault that he will look so darn yummy,

Carved up on the plate, on the way to my tummy.

So  what can I do and what can I say,

To make time go faster to get to that day?

  

Temporary

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Every  minute of every day passes most times without us even noticing the beauty that surrounds us. Unfortunately this beauty is just a snapshot, a moment in time that is temporary.

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Temporary

Another Work Sunrise

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“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”

-Jim Rohn

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt

The best thing about coming to work at this time of the morning (6:20 am) are the sunrises that I get to see on a daily basis, especially this time of year. With the clocks falling back just about a couple of weeks ago, the timing is perfect to watch the sun come up as I am getting out of my car in the parking lot. Although I deeply mourn the loss of daylight in the afternoon, I do cherish the quality sunrises that I get to experience on a daily basis. Every day I hope that it sets the tone for the rest of the day…

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Have a great day!!!!

Finally…

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The start…

The wood has sat on my porch now for six months. Through the wet days of spring and into the hot summer, it sat and waited, each piece cut to the exact specifications that I had found after many hours of trolling the internet. As summer morphed into fall, it continued to call out to me and I felt a renewed urgency returned to just get this thing done! But procrastination, as it always seems to do, had firmly entrenched itself in every being of my soul.

But today was the start of a new day. With the help of my daughter, I was able to assemble what you see in the pictures in just a couple of hours. Tomorrow, I’ll put the remaining boards in place and the start the staining process.

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It’s way to cold to work outside so the living room becomes the work area!

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Progress!!!

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Almost finished.

More to come!