Let it snow! Long enough for a run, at least.

Posted in Hikes, Piper by Annie T

We experienced some very odd weather in southeastern Pennsylvania yesterday… it snowed! And not just cute little spring flurries. This was real, accumulating, white-out conditions SNOW! The storm started mid-morning and dumped 4-5 inches on my daffodils, budding trees, and sugar snap pea shoots. There was nothing I could do to protect my garden so I decided to take Piper out for a trail run at nearby Okehocking Preserve instead.

We ran a big loop around the preserve, enjoying the muddy trails, slippery hills and snowy grass. This might have been a freak storm, but it sure was pretty!

I brought my Go Pro along and had fun running towards it on the trail. Matt gave me the Go Pro for my birthday last November and I’m still learning how to take advantage of the tiny camera’s super wide-angle lens and various shooting modes. Yesterday I played around with the Go Pro’s continuous photo mode and tried to avoid stepping on it each time Piper and I zoomed by.

Luckily no one else was out in the storm to witness this behavior… Piper thought we looked pretty silly.

The storm ended at 5PM and immediately started melting. Our backyard is still blanketed in snow more than 24 hours later, but the temperature is supposed to rise to 62°F tomorrow so the snow should disappear soon. As much as I enjoyed my winter romp with Piper, I’ll be OK if I don’t see another snow flake until November!!

24Dec2014

Okehocking Preserve

Posted in Hikes, Piper by Annie T

Merry Christmas Eve! Matt and I are hosting dinner tonight… bone-in short ribs over polenta with brussel sprouts braised in cream. YUM!! The food is prepped, the house is clean, I got in a nice 4 mile run in the rain and now I’m just waiting for family to arrive. I thought I’d take advantage of this lull in the day to share some photos from one of our hikes last week.

Matt and I are fortunate to live very close to Okehocking Preserve, a 180-acre conservation area with miles of trails, a scenic section of Ridley Creek and an off-leash, unfenced dog park. We’ve been taking Piper to Okehocking a lot lately, in part to socialize her but also because the preserve’s close proximity to our house allows us to squeeze in the maximum amount of outdoor time before the sun goes down. (Hooray for the shortest day of the year being BEHIND us now!!)

Historic Stone Barn

Looking out over Okehocking

May I please have a treat?

Piper and Matt playing

Piper

Looking like a puppy

Hello!

Hiking with Piper

Drink drink drink

Okehocking Sunset

Piper, queen of the stone wall

Piper looks at home here

So far Piper has really taken to Okehocking. She sniffs and snorts around in the tall grass, has fun climbing on rocks, walls, and fallen trees, wades into (and tries to drink all of) Ridley Creek and, of course, has a blast playing with other dogs in the off-leash area. I’m sure we’ll be spending many, many afternoons at Okehocking over the next several months. If you’re from the area I would definitely recommend visiting Okehocking… maybe we’ll see you there!

Okehocking Preserve
5316 West Chester Pike
Newtown Square, PA 19073
Preserve Map | Web Site
My Okehocking post from 2012

21Sep2013

Kirkwood Preserve

Posted in Hikes by Annie T

Guess what? In 2 hours I will be running in my first distance race since 1999!!! The 5K is hosted by Willistown Conservation Trust, a local non-profit land preservation organization in Willistown Township, Pennsylvania. To prepare for the race I’ve been running like crazy on my treadmill AND, because the real world isn’t as flat and smooth as a treadmill, Matt and I have also been hiking (and sometimes jogging) in lots of local parks and preserves.

This week in honor of the upcoming race we visited Willistown Conservation Trust’s Kirkwood Preserve.

Kirkwood features 83 acres of grasslands along a stretch of the picturesque Crum Creek. The preserve has been classified as an “Important Bird Area,” meaning that you’re likely to see some endangered grassland birds on your hike. More importantly (for me, at least) this also means that dogs are strictly prohibited from all areas of the preserve.

I actually have a very personal connection to the rolling hills of Kirkwood Preserve because I grew up about 2 miles away from here. When my brother and I were kids we would walk here from our house with my mom all the time. This was back before the land was preserved (it was just a cow farm then) and we spent hours and hours of our childhoods here hiking, playing, cross-country skiing, fishing, picnicing… you name it! With all of those memories in mind it was really neat to come here with Matt and see that the land is still here and open to all. (Of course the barbed-wired cow fences are all gone and the fields are full of natural grasses now, but that’s fine with me!) Here are some photos from our walk:

Kirkwood Preserve

Sorry Bailey, no dogs allowed!

Kirkwood Preserve

Kirkwood Preserve is open daily from sunrise to sunset and has well-mowed walking trails. We did the outer loop on our visit and our total walk was just shy of 2 miles. The only access to the preserve is via the gravel parking lot on Grubbs Mill Road.

OK… time for Matt and me to start stretching and getting ready for the race! Here’s my running tally as of yesterday evening:

Miles since last post: 60.2
Days since last post: 11
Average Daily Miles since July 18th: 5.56
TOTAL MILES: 361.2

Wish us luck at 4pm…! 🙂

Kirkwood Jump

Other local hikes, parks, and preserves:

• Ridley Creek State Park (Edgmont Township, PA)
• Okehocking Preserve (Willistown Township, PA)
• Darlington Trail (Middletown Township, PA)
• Linvill Trail (Middletown Township, PA)
• Stroud Preserve, (West Chester, PA)

7Feb2012

Okehocking Preserve

Posted in Hikes by Annie T

I just realized that there’s another topic that I’d like to write about in addition to recipes and Bailey updates — places we like to Hike!

Okehocking Preserve in Willistown Township, PA

Matt, Bailey and I have explored parks and preserves all over Delaware and Chester County, often in pursuit of geocaches. We have several favorite places that we like to hike including Okehocking Preserve in Willistown Township, PA. Okehocking is bounded by West Chester Pike to the south and Delchester and Garrett Mill Roads to the east and west, respectively. It’s full of rolling hills and mowed hiking trails and, best of all, it’s less than a mile from our house. From the top of one of the hills you can actually see our house!

You can see our house from this hill at Okehocking (and no, it's not the stone one...)

In addition to the beautiful landscapes Okehocking also has an off-leash dog park. Unfortunately for Miss Bailey the park is not fenced so she’s not going off-leash there anytime soon, but it is fun to watch the other dogs run around. Last year we saw a female GSP at Okehocking and after a quick chat with her owner realized that she was Bailey’s sister!!! Bailey was born in New Jersey so finding her littermate romping at a park a mile from home was pretty crazy.