This is our second trip to the Sibley Farm property.  The first trip is described in a previous post.

It was a beautiful day to be outdoors yesterday, as far as winter days go.  The cold temperatures didn’t seem too bitter since the skies were clear and the air was calm.  With errands to run we only had a short window to enjoy the outdoors, so we returned to Sibley Farm to explore some of the trails we missed two weeks ago.

This time, we forked left from the parking area instead of right, and followed Sibley Trail (as seen on the map).  The trail is well marked and immediately settles into a light forest marked with occasional stands of mountain laurel.

The snow covering the ground made for pleasant views in all directions, while still being light enough that we could easily walk it in boots without needing better equipment.  A few others had been on these trails recently but the further we went from the parking lot, the more we were breaking ground ourselves instead of following directly in others’ tracks.

The terrain was quite uneven, and we took a steep descent towards the “Otter Pond” marked on the map.  We weren’t too excited about having to make this climb again, but what goes down must come up….  We paused to take some pictures by the pond before deciding to turn around here to avoid any issues with being late to get our daughter from gynmastics.

We returned the way we came,starting back up the hill we had just descended.

Then, we forked off to check out the large open fields marked on the map.  To do this we took first a detour onto the Bobolink Trail and then connected to the Midstate Trail. The Midstate walks along two large fields atop the hill here, making for a much different view.

We walked along these fields for the last part of the hike, and then headed down some hills back to the parking area.

It was nice to revisit the property with snow on the ground and to take a completely different set of trails than our previous visit.  We only covered a bit over two miles, but it was refreshing and invigorating to be out in the woods again in the crisp clear air.