T. Anthony Bland

In this week’s episode; 24, we start a new season of hiking, the Fall and Winter season. Most people wouldn’t consider hiking during the winter months especially those of us in the northeast. Most of us are preparing for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the most coveted of all, New Year’s Eve. After that all outdoor activities in the northeast come to a stop and everyone goes indoors to wait out the winter . Unless you’re one of the brave few that head to New England to Ski…

Hiking during these months seem to solely be for the mid-west, southwest and west coast hikers. But it doesn’t have be, in fact what my daughter and I discovered that the winter season is the most comfortable and our favorite time of the year. All seasons come with their issues and everyone is different and enjoy each season for those reasons. What I love about spring and summer is less clothes, but I absolutely hate the summer because of the crowds and extreme heat. We have been dehydrated and suffered from heat exhaustion before and it is not fun. The summer is our most hated season and in the past few years we have cut summer hiking off mid July, returning in September. Now, these old bones love the heat but the rest of me… not so much.

The Fall season is like the Spring, less clothes and very comfortable to hike in. While the Winter comes with the challenges of more clothes, bitter weather and extra equipment, it also has fewer people on the trails. Believe it or not you won’t be as cold as you think. The air is easier to breathe in and about 10 minutes into your hike you will get warm…sometimes hot and you will sweat. Don’t laugh but you can get dehydrated in the winter too.

So why do it? You ask. Because hiking or any other outdoors activity you love doesn’t have to end, you may have to modify it but it doesn’t necessarily have to end. Join us as we head up to Westchester to kick off the new season by hiking at one of our favorite local trails, The Zofnass Family Preserve. We’d rate this trail easy to moderate as you will see, there are streams, rock crossings, hills and more. While this episode made be long to some, the point of The Whitebeard and TK Experience is to bring you along for the ride. To let the viewer experience the adventure whether it be hiking, camping or taking a road trip through our eyes. Our perspective is a bit different since we travel from the crowded NYC area to the wilderness. Go get some popcorn, turn off the lights and join us outside.

And if you haven’t already, subscribe so that you can keep up with our Friday Adventure series, also stay tuned as we are preparing to release the New Mexico series soon.

See you on the trail…