Twelve Months Hiking Project: Darien Lakes State Park (May 2015)

The past few months of hiking have been necessarily devoted to nearby, easy trails – those quick jaunts served us well as we were getting adjusted to life with a new baby.  But now that the weather has warmed up, and now that we’re a little bit better rested (just a little, mind you) I had my sights set on something more ambitious.  I was hoping to hit Allegany State Park, which is about an hour south of us, but hubby ended up needing to work in the afternoon of the day we were planning to hike, so we scrapped that plan in favor of Darien Lakes, which is closer to home but still boasted a more interesting trail than what we’ve been doing.  The park actually has a few trails to choose from.  Hubby researched them and chose the Conservation Trail.

Much of the Conservation Trail is through the woods; there are a few views of a ravine and stream, but other than that, it’s a heavily wooded hike.

The trail alternated between a wider dirt path and some narrow single track.  We walked single file so I could set the pace at a speed I was comfortable with, given that I had Nugget strapped to me in the Ergo.  (This is where I would normally insert a selfie so you could see Nugget’s cute little head poking out of the carrier, and also the killer headwrap I was wearing, but alas, when I looked at the pictures later I discovered that I had something – a strawberry seed, I think – in my teeth.  No selfies for you.)

But here are my hiking buddies!  Peanut is still tolerating the Deuter child carrier fairly well – especially when hubby fills the water bladder with hydration.  She takes hydration very seriously:

Ha.  Anyway, we hiked for about an hour, which given that the hike took place on actual terrain (easy terrain, but terrain nonetheless) was probably our biggest effort since February or so.  I was pleased that we were able to spend that much time on the trail while toting two little ones – gives me confidence for more hikes this spring and summer.

Toward the end of the hike, we even forded a stream!

When we reached our car, we let Peanut out to do some running around of her own.  She’s very into gathering little dandelion bouquets these days – too sweet.

We’ve been tentatively discussing the possibility of trying some tent camping this summer.  If we do – and that’s a big “if” – we’re going to start small in our backyard.  But if we decided to take the tent on the road, we were considering Darien Lakes as a good candidate for a tent camping initiation.  After seeing the campsites set up there, though, I’m not sure…

People were straight-up glamping with big RVs and all kinds of technology!  Even the one family we spotted with a tent had pitched it on a platform on top of their car.  We laughed that the other campers would surely look down on us if we brought a tent and pitched it on the ground!  So 2002!

Darien Lakes was a fun hike, although I’m not sure I’d repeat it.  We were hoping for more water views – turns out the “Lakes” part of the park name is a bit of a misnomer.  But it was a good workout and a good way to dip our feet into more challenging hikes for spring and summer.

Gear:

Hubby: million-year-old Merrell hiking boots, Black Diamond poles; Deuter KidComfort III child carrier.

Me: Oboz Luna hiking shoes; Black Diamond poles; Ergobaby carrier with newborn insert.

Where are you hiking these days?