Renewal

Last Wednesday I did another hike into the northern “wilds” of Cantwell Cliffs. It wasn’t a particularly long hike, only about 2 miles, but it is pure bushwhacking through a trailless area. I also did it (as I do in this area) doing what I call “abo hiking”, that is, not wearing much at all, similar to the Australian aboriginals.

In many ways it is barefooting writ larger.

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Worth the Wait, Part 2

Let me finish up the hike that I took last week, exploring the last hollow in the area of state forest just north of Cantwell Cliffs. Here is part 1.

It just got more spectacular the more I went along.

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Worth the Wait, Part 1

Last week I headed down again to the hollows in the state forest just north of Cantwell Cliffs. Without the leaves on the trees or much undergrowth I had a better chance to get the true lay of the land. I headed back there on Tuesday to make sure I visited the last hollow, the one I’d always gotten turned around for when I’d tried to visit it before.

I succeeded, and it was worth the wait.

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On the Non-Trail Again

Last week was full of nice days, so I finally got out to do a nice barefoot bushwhacking hike at Cantwell Cliffs. I spent some time exploring again in the Henley Hollow area north of the main park area.

That’s a lot easier when the leaves aren’t on the trees yet.

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Labor Day Barefoot Hike

We had a nice barefoot hike on Labor Day. I, along with four others, explored the hidden wonders of Cantwell Cliffs. It gave me a chance to show off some of the locations I’d found previously.

One of our hikers was Lee Parker, the Chautauqua Barefooter.

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Into the Cantwell Cliffs Wilderness

Yesterday I returned to Cantwell Cliffs, partly because I wanted better pictures than the ones I took with a crummy camera in 2000 Miles.

But I also wanted to see if I could avoid getting lost for a change.

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2000 Miles

Since 2006 I’ve kept track of my barefoot hikes (and this keeps track of only those hikes in which I’ve been truly barefoot). During yesterday’s hike at Cantwell Cliffs, that accounting went over 2000 miles.

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Slump Rock Gorge

I finally made it to the other side of the road at Cantwell Cliffs to do some exploring of the gorge over there. The gorge and its cliff faces is pretty obvious from topo maps; there just aren’t any trails through the area.

It turns out that the place has a pretty good selection of slump rocks, with a lot of them tilted at pretty steep angles.

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Rimshot!

What a wonderful barefoot hike yesterday at Cantwell Cliffs. There was still a bit of snow on the ground, but it was patchy, and the air temperature was about 45°. Just about the time my feet thought about getting cold, they warmed right back up again.

And the scenery . . .

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A Visit to Cantwell Cliffs

Last Friday was a rare warmer day sandwiched between continuing winter. I took advantage of it to head to Cantwell Cliffs for a bit of exploring.

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