Croton Point Park Kayaking

I had an epiphany on the way to the Echo Canoe and Kayak Launch last Saturday. We have two touring kayaks, a red, white and blue Dagger Charleston we call “The Bomb Pop” and a 17-foot red Wilderness Systems Sealution sometimes known as the “Cherry Bomb.”

Echo canoe and kayak launch

In the past, I would let Junior choose which one he wanted to paddle. My usual approach was to say “The Bomb Pop is lighter and more stable but the Cherry Bomb is also very stable and even though it’s heavier, it’s also faster so once it’s in the water, it won’t feel heavier. Which one do you want to paddle?” He would always choose the Bomb Pop, I think because it’s somehow less intimidating.

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Mount Peter: Welcome Back in Time

Last week my eleven year old asked me to take him to Mount Peter. He’s been skiing bigger hills the last few years and has been stepping up his game lately so I was a little surprised that he wanted to return to the 450-foot feeder hill. Still, I think that all skiers remember their home mountain fondly. My son is lucky that his is such a special place, with so much history and charm.

When my older son started skiing, I looked around for a small area where he could learn. It had to be nearby, small, affordable with a good ski school and magic carpet. There are several feeder hills that fit the bill around the metro area and we tried them all out.

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Silvermine: Frozen in Time

The first article I wrote for NYSkiBlog was about taking my kids hiking at the long closed Silvermine Ski Area in Harriman State Park. Silvermine has been one of my go-to spots for a long time, for short walks, hikes around the lake, canoeing, sledding and an occasional ski.

Silvermine pond

It’s a cool spot to get a small dose of nature quickly, easy to get to, has convenient parking and even has bathrooms. Though New York is littered with closed ski areas, most of them have been completely erased from the land. Nearby Ski Stony Point, for instance, is covered in McMansions with big manicured lawns. Silvermine looks like someone shut it down and just walked away twenty years ago.

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