Winter is Fast Upon Us...

Here you have a "Before and After" shot, all within the span of 15-20 min! This morning we experienced a little bit of sleet, a little bit of sunshine, a little bit of flurries and a full-on blizzard! We hiked up hill about 2 miles to end up at the Nature Center again, where we had a car waiting. It was a little bit of a taxing hike for me, personally, but it seemed effortless for Ron, who was toting Sammy on his back, christening the new "Pookie's Find" - a backpack carrier. Sam looks like a Little Babushka, doesn't he? Trying to keep him as warm as possible. He looked quite fascinated and puzzled with the snowflakes landing on his cheeks and nose!

Brisk Fall Morning

Howdy. Christine here. Today marked week 2 of the CHC. Again, is was the three of us, but we're cool with that. We want to redo the fliers around town to show

off the website and maybe generate a little more enthusiasm. I'm SURE there are folks out there that would love to walk around for an hour on a Sunday morning. My
first instinct is to moan and groan about it, but once I'm out and about, I'm really psyched I got up to enjoy the outdoors and all the fall colors. I think we're a little past PEAK FOLIAGE now, but its still nice to see your breath while scuffling
your feet thru fallen leaves.

This morning, we seemed to stumble across "deceased animals" in a few different forms. Of course we had to take a couple PICTURES! ;-) Today we trotted around Erwin State Forest, which translates to walking along Erwin Hollow Road. Ron and I are going to do some research this week into established TRAILS.
And with hunting season coming up (it's already bow season), i want to make sure we pick SAFE areas to walk, especially if we are going to bring Samson with us (and we have been so far).

Our First Outing

Hello everyone! Today marks the Corning Hiking Club's "maiden voyage." Ron hung out at the McDonald's, hoping to catch some enthusiastic hikers this morning, but alas, maybe the chilly temps kept them warm in bed. So Ron came back, grabbed me, his wife Christine, and our 11 mo. old son Sam, and the hike commenced anyhow!

The three of us drove up to Spencer Crest Nature Center, where we met a very kind older gentleman named Andy and his dog Belle. Andy showed us the trails for a good 50% of the way (he hikes them daily with Belle!) and then we parted and the three of us took in the sites on our own. We are somewhat familiar with these trails, as Ron has brought our dog Beegsley up to splash around in the lake and run amok, getting much needed energy out of his system!

Below are some photos from this morning's journey. We hope that more people will show some interest. We've got an email account going as well: corninghikingclub@hotmail.com.

COME ONE COME ALL!!! Invite your friends. The walk this morning was very refreshing and really nice. It's just about peak foliage here in Corning. Beautiful!!!