2020-12-28 42 -78

Location

At a residence in Orchard Park, on the corner of Transit Drive and Rt 20A

Participants

Pedalpusher
J

Expedition

The girlfriend participated in a Hiking Challenge over the Summer/Fall and it was so successful, they set up a shorter one for the Winter. I decided to participate (or at least I signed up Simon the Dog) as it supports a good cause. Proceeds from the Summer went to the Western New York Land Conservancy and the Winter Challenge is supporting the Beaver Meadows Audubon Center.

We had the day off and planned to go to Knox Farm for our third hike of the challenge. This hash just happened to be practically on the way to East Aurora from my house, so even though it was on Private Property, I figured we could drive by on the way back and pull off on the wide shoulder of the road and take a quick picture.

Knox Farm is a very popular destination for hiking and other activities so it was a good one to check off during the week when it would be quieter. It was mostly easy walking around, even with all the snow we got on Christmas. There had already been plenty of people walking and snowshoeing around packing down the snow. Plus, today was well above freezing so everything was starting to melt and compress down. We found our landmark after some hiking around the property, and the dogs had a blast.

As planned, we went the slightly longer way home down Rt 20A into Orchard Park to drive by the hash. Getting to Transit road, the wide shoulder gave us plenty of room to pull off and take a couple quick pictures over the brick wall of the property. Looking at the satellite pictures, it's a very wealthy residence with a pool and even a tennis court. But with no access and still about 180 feet away, it was a quick stop and we were on our way back home for some well deserved Hot Chocolate. BTW, the secret to great hot chocolate, according to Alton Brown, is a pinch of Cayenne pepper and he's not wrong.