Here's video from the last time they built it in 2014:
Oh, and Eagles Mere is one of the most wonderful little towns in the country. Always has been.
You answered my question. I was going to ask why they used the qualifier ‘Mere’ in the name. Turns out Mere is a part of that “Eagles Mere” name.
Why does that make me think of a Darwin Award?
Thanks for the sled ride, and I didn’t even get my hair messed.
I grew up near this Erie county(Buffalo, NY) park.
It is in the town of Orchard Park(home of the Bills).
The buildings date back to the Great Depression.
I learned how to ski on this hill with a rope tow.
They had two or three tobaggan shoots. Also a sledding hill.
We had our own tobaggan that we would take up there back in the day. It now states maximum four riders allowed. I recalling putting five or six people on an 8’ tobaggan. It was about a 1/2 mile walk back up to the top of the hill.
https://www3.erie.gov/parks/chestnut-ridge-winter-activities
https://www3.erie.gov/parks/chestnut-ridge
That looks so fun. Thanks for posting the video.
Here are a couple YouTube video of the Tobaggan shoots at Chestnut Ridge park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YbxAw4dam0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZiONvQX_1A
The walk back up the hill was really long when you were a little kid.
I had no idea the town was famous for this toboggan slide! What fun!
Aside...is there a better word in the English language than "toboggan." Just say it slowly and pause on the letter structure. Being raised in upstate NY, I figured it had an Indian etymology and, sure enough:
"long, flat-bottomed sled," made of a single thickness of wood (usually birch), bent back at one end and used originally for transport over snow; 1829, from Canadian French tabagane, from an Algonquian language, such as Maleseet.We got a toboggan from my wife's dad when he passed. She used it with her brother and family on their winter trips to the Sierras. We used it when the kids were little, but somewhere along the line we must have sold it or donated it. Too bad. Those things were a blast!
That sounds like a lot of fun! We used to travel up to Paradise which is 5400 ft AGL on Mount Rainier. My parents owned cabins just outside the park entrance, so we went there frequently.
They typically have very deep snow there in the winter because of Westerly winds carrying moisture laden see air up the mountain. They used to have the most remarkable sled and innertube runs along with a ski lift that was retired when I was a kid in the 60s. But there are still good places to Cross County ski.
We tried to take some of our grandkids up there about 20 years ago. I had tied some big innertubes to the top of our Bronco and one of our friends had more in his pickup. When we got to the park entrance, we were refused entry because of the innertubes. We were told by the gate staff that they and all types of sleds were forbidden. I said that it was alright... we would just go sightseeing and play in the snow without them. But we were told that myself and everyone with me were not going to be allowed in the park that day because of our original intentions to go “tubin”. They didn’t care if we deflated the tubes before entry or not.
We made the best of the day by driving up some logging roads that were no longer being maintained along with about a thousand other people. My friend’s pickup slid off the road in an icy spot when he tried to get off to one side to make room for an oncoming vehicle. I damaged one of his wheels winching it back up to the road. But we still managed to have a good time.
It was sad to see how badly the park was run compared to when I was a kid.
Wow, that is so cool! Just curious, where are the ice fishermen?
With a beautiful state park in the area, too.