CNYHikes

     Over the last month, I've read a couple of interesting articles that described studies showing time outside in the forest can actually lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and provide a person a better sense of their self and their communities.  This was great news to me, and not surprising - because we live in such a frenetic world that is definitely artificial and many times just plain unhealthy.  This is one of the reasons I personally love to be outside in the woods every so often.  These hikes are a natural sort of filter for me and a chance to explore beautiful places that I consider myself lucky to reside near.      With this in mind, I remembered a great little loop hike I had done a couple of years ago down near the Ithaca area which, in addition, happens to be part of the "Emerald Necklace" greenbelt I described in a few recent blogs.  The Bob Cameron Loop , named after the man who, years ago, used to manage th...

     Wellesley Island State Park, located way up north by the US/Canadian border in the Thousand Islands region, has been on my local "bucket list" of places to hike for several years now.  So I was enthralled when I had the chance to visit this unique park tucked away on beautiful Wellesley Island on a weekend with family and friends visiting the area.  The mighty St. Lawrence River cuts through this whole area, not only separating the United States from its neighbor, Canada, but also acts as an important seaway and vital link between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles away.  Whenever I visit the river, it feels to me as though I am on a coast, which is far from reality in other places I've hiked a bit further south in Central New York.  Yet you are not on the coast and still can immerse yourself in an entirely different environment of cliffs, waterways, marinas, private islands of unique "pioneer" plants, bays, and river culture...