On the last day of winter, we slipped away from household duties to make the most of the snow that remained from the recent big Nor’easter.
Our 13-year-old moaned and groaned about having an outing, refusing to change out of jeans and arguing about putting on boots, but they perked up once we pulled into the parking lot.
“Oh, this trail,” the child said. “This is really short.”
In all, our hike at the Lisha Kill Natural Area in Niskayuna covered just 1.6 miles, but with the mushy snow and up-and-down terrain, we got in a bit of a workout anyway. Once on the trail, the 13-year-old bounded ahead, stopping to wait until we were in sight before running ahead again.
The main entrance to the Lisha Kill Nature Preserve is on Rosendale Road in Niskayuna.
Because some of the Lisha Kill’s trails are steep, they are particularly vulnerable to erosion during mud season. The website for the Nature Conservancy, which owns the land, says the preserve is closed from late March through early May because of erosion concerns. There was no sign at the trailhead when we visited, but use care if walking at the preserve this spring.
Learn more at https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/lisha-kill-natural-area/
If ages are months, 13 is surely March, warm and affectionate one minute and cold and blustery the next. We were fine with the teen’s occasional inattention, as long as we were all outdoors in the fresh air.
We had brought along microspikes in case the trail was slick in spots, but where there was snow, it was more like mashed potatoes under our feet than ice.
Green ferns peeked out from under the snow along the bank of the first stream we crossed — a small tributary to the Lisha Kill — which was flowing enthusiastically, flush with snowmelt. Tree…
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