Hiking in Oswego, NY | Lake Ontario | Rice Creek
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Join me on a hike in and around the beautiful city of Oswego, NY. While entirely unplanned at the time, I managed to find some true nature gems in the area. From the fascinating lakeshore of Lake Ontario to the lush forest trails of Rice Creek.
This is such a beautiful place in Upstate New York. This was the first time I saw Lake Ontario and its magnificent shoreline up close and my very first hike through a North American forest.
I lived in Oswego from 1963 until my high school graduation in 1973, so it brings back many childhood memories. My mom taught German at the high school and she organized student exchange programs leading us to have German students stay with us occasionally. I was happy to leave Oswego at the time as the excitement and opportunities of college and big cities elsewhere pulled me away. Seeing the town here, still looking much as it did back then, makes me forget the downsides of living there as it does have certain advantages. Now, retired, the idea of facing the long, gray, brutal winters at my age isn't something I would want to do. You definitely visited it at the right time of year!
I am actually curious about the winters... ;) I love winters, so I would love it to go back there in a harsh winter some day. In northern Germany, where I live, there are only mild winters and I really like snow...
@@OfftoMarvelousPlaces If you Google the text, "Oswego NY snow" , you will see links to various articles and videos of Oswego in the winter. As a kid, it was great as we would go sledding down big hills and make cool snow forts. I live in a Philadelphia suburb now, and we only get a few inches of snow. A mere six inches shuts this area down. It takes a few feet in Oswego before there is a real impact as they have a huge number of snow trucks to keep things clear, but as kids we would be happy when they had to shut down the schools. A couple hundred miles south to where I am now and it is a totally different climate. In Oswego, I remember when the snow drifted up so high that they had to shovel out a tunnel to get through the front door of the local newspaper office. I think that was back in '66, but they have had similar winters since. I would spend hours shoveling the driveway and sidewalk. The typical winds from the Canadian northwest travel across the lake and dump the moisture as it hits the land. They call it the "lake effect". That effect extends south to Syracuse where there are some hills for skiing, but the skiing is nothing like in Vermont or the Adirondacks where the higher mountains are although the snowfall a bit less. But that lake effect snowfall makes all of Central NY pretty intense with snowfall, although the cities along the shore, such as Buffalo, Rochester and Oswego are particularly bad. The lakeshore can be awesome in the winter with huge mounds of ice/snow and it looks like the Arctic. It is impressive, and those mounds can be six feet or more high and look like you can walk on them, but are actually unstable and you can break right through to the lake underneath so keep on the high ground if you go back there. Your video here shows you going on walks through a few trails around Oswego. If you really want to experience the wilderness or skiing in NY, though, you really want to go to the High Peaks region in the Adirondacks, such as Lake Placid. The Adirondacks is the largest state park in the USA. Not the Alps, but it is still magical. Don't go backpacking there in the winter unless you are with someone as it is very dangerous. Other times, you need to check when the bugs won't eat you. And anywhere in the Northeast, you now need to have lots of protection from ticks as Lyme Disease is no joke -- and don't forget bear spray in wilderness areas.
Loved sharing your adventure- you handled the mosquitos like a champ!
haha, thanks! :D
Rudy's ❤
Oh yes, that was great! :)
very nice
Glad you enjoyed it :)