"Skunk Ridge lived up to its namesake today. There was an actual skunk near the entrance of Skunk Ridge's trail. That made my morning! My mountain biking experience wasn't ideal to say the least. There were so many roots everywhere! Roots are mildly annoying for hikers and occasionally useful for climbers. For mountain bikers, especially inexperienced ones like me, they pose a real hazard. In a few particularly perilous spots, I got off my bike and walked because I didn't trust my bike to go up and over the roots safely. After putting my bike away, I hiked the same loop for some additional exercise. Hiking was considerably easier than mountain biking, as it was on the Christian Hollow and Coal Knob routes that I rode a few weeks ago. I later went for rides in other parks and had significantly improved experiences there. " — theascent • Jul 30, 2022

"Training hike and jog on a warm mid-summer afternoon. I preferred snowshoeing here in the wintertime, but today's outing was nevertheless worthwhile because I got a little more elevation gain and loss than I do on my workweek runs. With only two weeks until I head out to Colorado, I've got to continue whipping myself into shape everyday! " — theascent • Aug 4, 2019

"This was one of my most memorable outings ever. It was the first time I snowshoed in deep snow and I had a blast the entire time! Temperatures were in the teens, yet my new winter gear kept me warm and dry from head to toe. I was even sweating a little towards the end and probably would have de-layered if it were a longer hike. Skunk Ridge, located in the southwest corner of Sprague Brook County Park, has three "peaks" with elevations of slightly over 1,400 feet. I snowshoed to all three of them on two separate trips. First, I bagged the main peak via a steepish but thoroughly enjoyable offtrail climb between snow-kissed trees. I then descended the ridge and met my family along the creekside trail before deciding to head back up again. In pursuit of more offtrail fun, I made a beeline towards "Skunk Ridge North" and took some photos at the top. The skies couldn't have been more picturesque, especially for wintertime in Western New York when skies are usually grayer than my old-fashioned quill. Finally, I took the official Sprague Brook Trail to "Skunk Ridge South" to complete the trifecta before looping back around to the parking lot. I once posted on Reddit that the view from ..." — theascent • Jan 26, 2019