Hiking Vroman's Nose, Part 1

A week had passed since my last trip up to the farm and it was Sunday morning. The weather was still unseasonably mild and I had a "hankering for hiking." So I loaded the four younger dogs into my car and headed from Albany west on I-88 to the Schoharie Valley:

I then drove a short distance south through the towns of Schoharie and Middleburgh until I reached a hill known as Vroman's Nose. I could find no spot where I could get a good long distance view of Vroman's Nose so I got this photo, obviously taken in summertime, off the Internet. Yes, it does look like a big nose:

We reached the trail head on the banks of Line Creek which clearly showed signs of extreme flooding back when Tropical Storm Irene went through the area. I parked, put the dogs on leashes and began up the hill:

The trail began by traversing a farm field and then entered the forest where it rose slowly uphill. There was no one else around so I took the dogs off their leashes:

The hillside was quite steep although the trail took us up obliquely to make the hiking easier. Just to the right of the trail the hill dropped off sharply to farm houses in the valley below:

It was amazing to find no snow in January, but that's what we found. Daphne was thrilled to be able to play in the oak leaves:

And then we entered into a White Pine forest:

The dogs explored everything, sniffing to their hearts' content:

When we came to a flat section I left the trail to go exploring and the dogs were more than happy to go with me:

And it wasn't long before I could see what looked to be a scenic overlook just ahead on the trail. Fergus posed for a photo near a bench which had been built to accommodate hikers:

"C'mon, Dad. Can't we go any faster?:"

The dogs and I enjoyed the brush-free, snow-free forest as we gained elevation. The views were just ahead, but I'll post more about that tomorrow: