The Real McCoys: More Hikes

We are continuing to enjoy Kevin's abundant time off during his ER rotation, so we have been on several hikes this past week. I know it might be kind-of redundant to read about multiple hikes, but I am going to write about them anyway because it is nice for us to look back and remember what we did and which ones we enjoyed. We were really happy to discover Morgan Hill State Forest, which is about twenty minutes south of us near Tully, NY; the area is very beautiful, it's not too far from us, it's not crowded, the dogs can be off-leash and so far we've loved the hikes. The first time we came to this area we did a loop that took us to Spruce Pond, and included part of the Finger Lakes Trail. The past two times we have parked at Spruce Pond and done quick loops from there.

1. Hang-Glider Overlook and Labrador Pond: This hike started at Spruce Pond and went straight uphill from there ... I got a little beat up by the first hill so I was lagging behind, Emily was the only one that kept checking on me:

After the first hill, the hike was very pleasant and really pretty.

The view at the top was worth the hard work .... according to the trail info. this place is used as a launching point for hang gliders. The pond below is Labrador Pond, we haven't made it down there but that area is another place that we want to go explore.

Kevin was too nervous to go near the edge ...

We turned around at this point because it was getting dark, but approximately 1.5 miles further was a waterfall which would have made our round trip about 6 miles. Maybe some weekend-day we will be able to do the whole thing. When we made it back to Spruce Pond we let the dogs swim some before heading home. I think this pond is one of the prettiest places we have found since moving here, Kevin wants to try fishing some here, so it might be fun to come and just hang out for an evening soon.

Fall Colors are so pretty

My handsome husband

Baxter fishing

Miss Emily

2. Morgan Hill: we did this hike yesterday, and again, it started at Spruce Pond. It was actually not my favorite, and I don't think we'll do it again unless it is part of a larger loop. The paths were a little overgrown, and it was just plain boring. It took us to the top of Morgan Hill, which is supposed to be the second tallest point in Onondaga County, however it was not very impressive and there wasn't a view, which is what I was expecting. Even so, the dogs did enjoy some swimming time at Spruce Pond, and we met another hiker that had graduated from UD in '07 like us. She was even a civil engineering major and knew Adam! Just goes to show you that you can't escape the DE small state-ness no matter where you go.