{"id":182,"date":"2021-03-14T07:01:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T11:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/?p=182"},"modified":"2021-03-14T07:03:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T11:03:36","slug":"geeking-out-over-18-mile-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/geeking-out-over-18-mile-creek\/","title":{"rendered":"Geeking Out Over 18 Mile Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Water? Check. Rockin\u2019 rocks? Check. Interesting trees? Check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18 Mile Creek has all of my favorite \u201chey, before we continue, we need to stop and appreciate this\u201d elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seriously. I had a hiking buddy who formed a habit of running way ahead of me, finding cool rocks, and leaving those rocks on the middle of the trail for me to find. And I stopped and appreciated them. And usually snuck them in my bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back from the anecdote tangent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located in Hamburg, about 20 minutes from of Buffalo, 18 Mile Creek is recreation area open year-round involving an easy, four-mile trail. The trail is predominantly flat, with a few optional slopes leading closer to the creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw some intriguing pictures of the place on Facebook and figured I\u2019d check it out. Since the trail is popular, I predicted it would be worn-in even in snow. And I was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I like hogging trails to myself, I\u2019ve found I prefer well-walked-on trails when there\u2019s snow on the ground. That way those who are more ambitious than you \u2014 or, in most cases, those who have snowshoes or skis \u2014 can break-in the trail for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crown jewel of the 18 Mile Creek is\u2026 the creek.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A really cool thing about freezing temperatures is what it does to waterfalls. How the water continuously freezes on top of itself is just\u2026 well, look<\/em> at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Then there are cliffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    These cliffs are steep and the surface is all scree. Things fall down them easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I would know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I stupidly threw my water bottle on slanted ground so that I could use both my hands to take a picture. Gravity did it\u2019s job and the water bottle got stuck on a branch several steep feet down. I tried prodding at the bottle with a stick to say that I tried retrieving it, but\u2026 I sent the water bottle to it\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As a supplement, I ate snow for the next few hours. (Probably not recommended but\u2026 *shrugs shoulder emoji*).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Then there are the plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So many kinds of trees. Coniferous. Deciduous. More specific tree names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      I don\u2019t know much about trees, or plants in general, but I\u2019m in awe of how they grow on the edge. Barely hanging on, bracing the wind. I call these plants \u201cmotivational plants,\u201d because if plants can flourish in harsh conditions, so can people. (In flawed theory).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        Get on out there! Happy trails. =)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Water? Check. Rockin’ rocks? Check. Interesting trees? Check. 18 Mile Creek has all of my favorite “hey, before we continue, we need to stop and appreciate this” elements. Seriously. I had a hiking buddy who formed a habit of running way ahead of me, finding cool rocks, and leaving those rocks on the middle of … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41,36,38,40,39,4,15,16,37],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-places","tag-buffalo","tag-creek","tag-gorge","tag-hamburg","tag-new-yok-state","tag-new-york","tag-trail","tag-trails","tag-water"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/159218040_197415778385718_654593059776886833_n.jpg?fit=1716%2C1458&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/dorknewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}