Away from the noise of everyday life, this lovely forest refreshed our minds and spirits as we hiked along the 4 mile ‘yellow’ trail. We came to see that there are many different trails for a variety of hiking options and xc skiing options in the winter. One of our group members was skilled at recognizing bird songs and with his help we were able to identify and relish the beautiful, harmonic song of the wood thrush and happy happy trilling song of the winter wren, to name just two. This forest is mainly
composed of conifer plantations: rep pines, white pines and spruce trees. In addition we noticed several types of wild flowers, smelled wild leeks, learned about and identified middens, created in this case by red squirrels hoarding their pine cone treasures. For a little fanciful we crossed several hand hewn bridges made, I believe, by county foresters. The bridges boasted their names via hand made signs: A Bridge Too Far; Bridge over the River Kwai; North Grand Island Bridge and, not to be left out, South Grand Island bridge. 
The delightful day was topped off with a stop at Charlap’s in Boston for ice cream cones! There is information available on the Wilderness Weekends in WNY (WWWNY) page of our website. Look under hikes for Erie County Forestry Trails. Submitted by Cheryl Peluso