February, 2010, New York Environs. Our February hiking trip was a three week long adventure. Around New York City you have to take advantage of the snow whenever you have the chance… and, fortunately, we had the chance for three weekends in a row. On our main trip we went to a little known small park in Long Island called Muttontown Preserve. It used to be the site of an old mansion which is now in ruins (we didn’t find the ruins – perhaps they were under the snow). That morning the conditions were pretty icy. It was a little bit terrifying going down the hills so we often used the most universal method for slowing and stopping - which is sitting down. We laughed a lot at our own incapacities and had a lot of fun. As the sun warmed up the snow it became less treacherous for skiing and, anyway, most of the park was relatively flat so we were on our feet a lot more than not. Once it was time to go back none of us knew exactly which way to go so we started out straight and then relied on one of our comrades innate sense of direction to take us the rest of the way back to the car. It was a beautiful day. We always come back refreshed and recharged from a day in the outdoors.