Saturday I did a bunch of local hikes in the hopes of finding some things that can be done for ADK as after work type hikes.  I started off with the Normanskill East pocket park.  This is a tiny, only 0.5 mile loop, but pretty.  Not much for something I'd do for ADK, but nice little place to escape if you only have half an hour.

Next I went to Normanskill West pocket park.  This was a little longer than the east at just around a mile.  Again, it was a lovely hike, and nice pocket park.  There was a slapaphone on one of the bridges and overall, just a pretty little place

Both of the Normanskill parks would be great for winter hikes, especially if we get enough snow to get people used to going up/down hills with snowshoes or skis.

Then I went over to the Normanskill Ravines park.  Unlike all the other parks I hiked which were Mohawk Hudson Land Conservatory lands, this was a town park.  I was surprised at how extensive the trail system was in this park, and I think this fits what I was looking for.  Easy to do only a mile, or if you wind your way around enough, probably could get around 5 miles.  I basically did a perimeter hike and clocked in at 3.8 miles.  It was a rather nice park to hike through, nothing horribly steep.  It is clay based trails though, so they will be slippery when wet.

I then went back to MHLC parks and visited the Swift wetlands.  This is again about a mile, and it's right up against a bunch of houses.  Nice little park, and a lot of planking because it is a wetlands, but I'm not a huge fan of hiking next to houses.

Finally, I went to the Schiffendecker Farm Preserve.  This again was just over a mile in length, but it was really nice and hidden.  Again, this would be a great winter hike area.

So, in the end, I hit 5 parks, hiked 7.4 miles over about 3 hours and climbed about 920 feet.  Not bad for local pocket park hiking.  Year to date, I've gone 215 miles over 144 hours and climbed just over 10 miles of elevation.