News from the Finger Lakes, NY region

Reba and I are here at the Gathering, with sister Finger Lakes members Pat, Wanda, Kathy, and Donna.

We had an outstanding turn-out for our winter planning meeting, with an enthusiastic group of members, some brand new, and a few non-members checking us out. The group decided to use some of our regional funds offering winter sports workshops. After the meeting we went for an invigorating hike through the snow in the Arboretum at SUNY Geneseo.

Noting that Margaret has had increasing responsibilities outside of Women Outdoors, Reba volunteered to take on the role of Co-Regional Contact. We thank Margaret for her time in this role and welcome Reba.

I asked Reba to share her bio with us:

I was born in NYC, near Alley Pond Park Queens. The day camp I attended was the Samuel Field Y with campgrounds on Huntington Long Island. We built campsites in the woods, swam and had fun playing tether ball. I loved to hike on the dirt trail to the campsite. I enjoyed bike riding to my piano lesson through a few tree canopied streets.
Cornell University with its beautiful grounds, lakes and waterfalls drew me upstate. Marriage, 3 children and work as a registered dietitian kept me busy during the 80’s and 90’s. There was a memorable family trip to St John where we stayed in a tree house with its own gecko Now the marriage is completed, the children have finished college and are on their own.
My first girlfriend and I hiked in the parks to many waterfalls of the fingerlakes region. I had my 50th birthday party in a lodge at Ellison Park, Monroe County and we went cross country skiing through the park.

I am active in my reform Jewish congregation Temple Sinai, which is set in the woods near Corbetts Glen.

Women Outdoors is a good fit for me, it has women and it has the outdoors. I have been a member of Women Outdoors Inc for three years. I was elected to the Board of Directors of Women Outdoors as Treasurer .I’ve attended the Gathering twice in New Hampshire. I have attended and led hiking and cross country skiing day trips for FLNY region I see learning outdoor skills as an ongoing process and getting lost is an adventure. In the next Women Outdoors magazine you will read about one of my adventures on a women outdoors kayaking trip.

It is an honor to assist Sandy in coordinating our Finger Lakes Region of Women Outdoors.

Reba G Silterra

Check out the article written about us in today's Post-Standard.

Outdoors group helps women become leaders

And don't forget to attend:

Saturday, June 6^th, 10:00 A.M. HIKE the Trails @ HIGHLAND FOREST PARK, Fabius

Help us celebrate American Hiking Society's National Trails Day and learn about Women Outdoors!

Join Women Outdoors Finger Lakes Region for a hike on the Crossover trail at Highland Forest Park. Total distance will be 5.2 miles, some of which will be rugged terrain. We will be out for about 2 hours. Wear clothing appropriate for the weather. Bring hats and water. Snacks optional. Meet at the Skyline Lodge to pick up trail maps. Park admission is $2.

Directions: 1254 Highland Forest Rd., Fabius, NY 13063 Take I81 to Tully (exit 14) 11 miles east on Route 80 to entry road. For more information and links to the trail map: http://onondagacountyparks.com/parks/highland/.

On Saturday, April 25, Women Outdoors members Sandy, Margaret, Janice, and Reba celebrated Earth Day at Women In Nature 2009, held at the Elbrige Rod and Gun Club. We attended workshops on birding, back country survival skills, nature journaling, rifle shooting, and wild game cooking. Women Outdoors Finger Lakes co-sponsored this semi-annual event for women and their daughters, put on by the Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and others.

This event offered us a great opportunity to meet women in the Syracuse area with outdoor interests and to tell them about our organization. At our display table and during the wild game lunch and demonstrations, we chatted about what Women Outdoors is all about, and how much fun we have joining with other women to go hiking, biking, kayaking, and whatever else our members want to do. We highlighted our accomplishments and previous outings, as well as our goal of increasing our membership in the Syracuse area.

Many young women attended, some as volunteers. I was able to arrange a birding workshop for Women Outdoors at the Montezuma/Audubon Center. Look for this in our upcoming Summer Calendar. Other workshops offered at the event included aquatic ecology, beginning archery, camping skills, fishing, fly tying, and outdoor cooking. Mid-afternoon we got to see some demonstrations. Here is a bird-dog going through his exercises.

A brisk November afternoon found a group of Women Outdoors’ members Nordic walking in Mendon Ponds.  Louise, our Fiddlehead Fitness instructor from Trumansburg, first modeled the correct form and techniques, which we parodied to varying degrees, our arms not always coordinating with our feet, our hips sashaying rather than swaying.  Within an hour, our initial shivers with both the weather and apprehensions were allayed and we were ready for the rolling hills.

Spartan flakes of snow fell as we glided up the trail. Well, that is supposed to be the movement.  Nordic walking involves all the muscle groups of cross-country skiing without the actual skis, and of course no snow on the ground.  We huffed along, but the day was as much about women enjoying their time together in nature as experiencing a new activity.  Little color remained in the woods and the puff balls of two weeks previous, when some of us had made an extended hike on these paths, were now grey, desiccated globules, looking to the entire world more like skulls than fungi. The chill of the day, the leaves splaying across the paths and a fox whisking through the underbrush just as the late raking sun managed to reach her fingers through the branches created a storybook idyll, punctuated by laughter and the scrunch of fall’s last leaves. We had conjured up a few moments of perfection. What awaits us in the new season?

Dolly Parker