ithacahikers

Wednesday, September 24

Taughannock Falls SP from Rice Hill lot

Hike report by Casey

On Wednesday, September 24, sixteen hikers and 3 dogs met at the Rice Hill parking lot for an explore of the Taughannock Park trails. After wandering down the Rice Hill trails, the group crossed 89, walked through the cabin area and along the beach. Most of the group had never been through this section of
Taughannock.

We crossed 89 again, walked through the camping area and up the North Rim trail. At the top of the Rim trail we crossed Jacksonville road and looped through the Cataract trail. This trail was also new to most hikers. We were able to cross the final small stream on this occasion due to the dry weather.

We then hiked partway down the north rim trail, crossed the Park road and went back to our cars on the North Taughannock trails. We finished in a little over 2 hours.

Saturday, September 27

Cayuga Trail from Freese Rd.

Report by Jim

Thirteen hikers met at the Cornell Community Gardens on Freese Rd in the Town of Dryden for a trail maintenance day of our adopted section of the Cayuga Trail. The Ithaca Hikers currently maintain the Cayuga Trail between Freese Rd and Route 13 on the north side of the creek.

This was actually the first trail workday we’ve been able to do in 2025, as the first two days I scheduled were both rained out earlier in the year.

Today’s work project was a re-route of a trail section that ran along the creek bank, and which was quickly eroding away into nothingness, creating a severe hike hazard for hikers and trail runners.

A re-route around that section of footpath was previously marked with engineer tape by Ithaca Hiker Steve Eaton and CTC Trails chair David Priester. The re-route takes hikers away from the creek and the associated views of that area into a more forested area, but it could not be helped as the creek shoreline along the eroding section of footpath is lined with thick bramble.

Many hands made for short work today, with the hikers equipped with weed eaters and hand saws and nippers made relatively short work of creating a new footpath. There are a couple of larger blow down trees that still need to be chain sawed to be removed from the new footpath, but the CTC sawyers have been advised of that work.

The re-route is temporarily marked by orange engineer’s tape. We will eventually get another work crew back into the area to properly blaze the new trail section.

As the work crew returned to our cars, some of those with weed eaters who still had working batteries managed to trim back some of the undergrowth along the trail closer to Freese RD.

A post work detail gathering at Hopshire was well-attended.

For those on today’s work crew, I left the sign in sheet for today’s event at home; see me on hikes over the next week or so in order to complete the sign in sheets I need to send to Cornell.

Speaking of Cornell, I’ll cut and paste their recent email to me about the upcoming trail volunteer’s appreciation day in October. Anyone wishing to attend their event will need to RSVP. See the following:

Greetings, Cornell Botanic Gardens Volunteers,

You are invited to our annual Volunteer Appreciation Event on Friday, October 17, from 1 – 3 pm. As in years past, this is our way of saying thank you for your hard work and dedication towards all our endeavors! We’ll gather in the Nevin Welcome Center’s Ten Eyck room for light refreshments, service recognitions, and opportunities to connect with each other and staff. Join us!

Please RSVP by Friday, October 10th at this link:  https://forms.gle/3MhBnG9z1hDm8eu1A

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, September 28

The “Chunks” Hike, Stone House Rd., Enfield

Hike report by Nina F.

25 hikers and two dogs met along Stone House Road in Enfield on a stunning day – sunny with temperatures rising into the 70s during our hike – for the fun and diverse hike that LeighAnn and Jim dubbed “The Chunks” hike due to the variety of terrains and landscapes we traversed.

The initial walk was a 1.2 mile easy, wooded loop trail known as “Margaret’s Woods,” for the late property owner Margaret Bald, who had donated the land to the Finger Lakes Land Trust in 2022.

From there we walked a connector trail leading through meadows full of senescing goldenrods and purple asters at their peak, and then through a lovely hardwood forecast down to catch the FLT. The FLT’s Rim Trail took us along a pretty, winding path that eventually overlooked Robert Treman State Park’s Gorge Trail, giving us glimpses of the river and some of the falls below. 

After crossing the upper parking lot of the Park, we made our way back to the cars along the CCC trail that followed the stream for about a half mile, and finally retraced our steps through the connector trail back to the cars.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, September 17

Lake Road southeast of Dryden

Hike report by Casey

This hike features 2 diametrically opposed options. Six of us and one dog chose the more challenging option of going up and over Havington Hill. Of all of the times I have done this hike, this was the first time ever that the meadow that leads to the hill was not under water, or wet in any way. No flippers or scuba gear needed today.

We went up the hill, down the other side, and across the creek to hike the trail a bit in what is normally quite a muddy area, but again no moisture or mud to be found. This is always a great hike, but I have to say that the current drought conditions really make this hike that much more enjoyable.

We managed to get 4.4 miles within our 2 hour time frame. We even encountered a couple of fellows who were doing an out and back hike from road to road starting from Daisy Hollow Road and heading to Lake Road and back. They were from the Shindaigan Hollow area and were looking for hikes with good climbs because they were training to do a section hike of the Appalachian Trail fairly soon.

As usual, the views on this hike were magnificent due to the perfect hiking weather.

Hike report by Margaret F

9 hikers and 1 dog met at the intersection of Lake Rd. and the Jim Schug Trail in Dryden, NY.  The group included 2 new hikers: Jim and Tina.  Two hikes originate from this point.  A hilly hike along the Finger Lakes Trail and a flatter walk along the Jim Schug Trail.  The group divided according to their preference with Casey leading the hill climbers and Margaret leading along the Jim Schug Trail.  Both groups reported a beautiful walk enjoying early fall scenery.  

Saturday, September 20

Alex & Michele Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary & Preserve, Virgil

Hike report by John D.  

Today, on this penultimate full day of summer,15 hikers and 1 dog gathered for a hike of color blazed trails in the Alex and Michele Gonzalez Hiking Sanctuary & Preserve. This is Ithaca Hikers hike #36. We started out under mostly clear skies with temperatures in the 50s but rising through the course of the hike.  The hike was initially uphill following the Jose, Irvin and Spanish trails, gaining about 500 feet in elevation. We occasionally had to stop to locate the next blaze or backtrack to a missed turn. We continued on the Spanish trail down to Adams Rd.  We did a road walk along Adams Rd. and Owego Hill Rd. until the turn-around time. Then back up the hill and around to Cristina Spring and back down to Daisy Hollow along the more northern trails.  We traversed 4.3 miles in 2 hours. 

Thanks to Leigh Ann and Jim for helping me prepare to lead this hike!  We didn’t get lost and the timing was perfect.

Greeted by the morning sun:

Crossing the power line clear cut:

The view from Adams Rd.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, September 21

Westward on the FLT from South Danby Road

Hike report by Leigh Ann

This was another beginning-of-peak, beautiful, dry fall day for a hike. By my count, there were 21 hikers and two dogs on leash who headed out west from South Danby or Fisher Settlement Road. Between these roads, there’s a short (150-foot) section of trail that could use trimming, and then there’s another short section just west of Fisher Settlement that also could use trimming. Otherwise, this section of trail was lovely. Just over half of the group made it all the way to Hill Rd. before returning to the cars. This was about 4.25 miles and almost 1000 feet of elevation gain. Everyone made it back to the cars by two hours from the start of the hike.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, September 10

Finger Lakes Trail from Comfort Road

Hike report by Jim

Thirteen hikers and one dog met on Comfort Rd for an out and back hike on the Finger Lakes Trail from Comfort Rd towards Bruce Hill Rd. This is hike # 17-2 on our list of regular hikes: https://www.ithacahikers.com/17-2.

This hike took place entirely on FLT map sheet M17. FLT map sheets may be purchased in paper or electronic formats at:  https://fingerlakestrail.org/store/maps-and-gps/purchase-individual-maps/. Sale of the map sheets helps to defray on-going costs related to trail maintenance.

This section of the FLT has been closed to hikers since July 2024 due to storm damage. As soon as I heard recently that the section was re-opened, I scheduled todays hike. This section will be closed to hikers again in a couple of months due to hunting season closures, so I didn’t want to wait long to hike here.

The day was sunny and warm. This section of trail is often quite muddy during the rainy part sof the year. As this summer has been quite dry, we had no mud at all, other than a very small patch of trail that I suspect gets runoff from a spring. All water crossings were bone dry.

Once in the forest there it was a patchwork of shadow and light on the forest floor. Some of the hikers commented that they could tell that the trail hadn;t been hiked much due to the weedy overgrowth on the footpath. It doesnt take long for nature to start reclaiming a trail once left alone.

The outbound leg of this hike is generally a gentle downhill walk, with the return leg obviously being a gentle uphill. The footpath leads through many nice stands of pines and along open fields where the round hay bales were in abundence as we passed by

Various hikers walked at their own comfortable pace, so the group soon stretched out through the woods. Everyone turned around at the hour mark and re-traced their route.

For those hikers who are tracking their FLT miles to apply towards an FLT50 or FLT100 patch, I believe that todays FLT miles totaled around 4 miles.

Warm welcome to Savanna who joined the group today for her first hike!

Saturday, September 13

FLT: Schuyler County Veterans Park to Gulf Road and beyond Hike #66

Hike report by John D.

17 hikers and two dogs gathered at the Schuyler County Veterans Park. 

The day began with partly sunny skies which would turn cloudy over the course of the hike.  The temperature was in the 60s.  We hopped onto the FLT off of S. Pine Rd. heading south.

I note that there is a spot about 0.1 miles in where the trail is easily lost.  As you approach the edge of a field the trail becomes overgrown. You enter the field and make an immediate left back into the woods though there is no blaze visible.

We followed the trail until we reached County Rd. 6, followed the road for a tenth of a mile to Gulf Rd., and then rejoined the trail off of Gulf Rd. The trail runs along Cayuta Creek which we followed for about a mile and one half.  We turned around at the one hour mark with Casey and Mary continuing on a little further.

Travelling back along the creek we ran into Zoe and Rogelio and their canine companions who were delayed by being detoured through an alternate dimension. (New total 19 people + 4 dogs)

The creek-side trails hosts various flora. I saw woodland goldenrods, Spikenard, American Cranberry Bush, Cardinal Flower and more.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, September 14

Texas Hollow State Forest, Bennetsburg

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Sixteen hikers and two dogs on leash met where the FLT crosses Texas Hollow Road for an easterly out-and-back hike. Mark Sussman told me he and David Priester had been doing some heavy trail maintenance there over the past week and it showed – trail conditions were excellent, and there was no hint that the portions of the trail had been almost impassable a week before. 

These were the best trail conditions I’ve ever seen on this section of the FLT and on the blue trail that loops out scenicly to the north. Instead to staying entirely on the FLT, we took the blue trail loop both ways because of the views it gives of large and small ponds in the valley floor. These are lovely any time of the year, but on this hike, the ferns that line the shores had turned orange and looked like they were on fire. That is, fire with little white flowers scattered all through it.

Once past the blue trail going east, the FLT heads steeply uphill toward Newtown Road. We didn’t reach Newtown Road because we took the blue trail (which is fine, because Newtown Road is not very interesting in itself). Even so, the maximum elevation gain hikers some hikers got was almost 1000 feet. This was in approximately 4.75 miles, round-trip, which we all finished in two hours.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Wednesday, September 3

Potato Hill State Forest, Caroline

Hike report by John D.  

Eight Hikers gathered of a gorgeous sunny day where the FLT crosses Level Green Rd. In Caroline. 

We travelled northeast on the FLT through Potato Hill SF and then the Summerland Farm Preserve. The muddy spots in the section through the state forest were fortunately on the drier side and easily passable. The understory through there is mostly open. We noticed ferns, wood asters, and Canada Mayflower, some bearing berries. 

After the trail enters Summerland Farm Preserve there is a large field with views extending tens of miles to the east and west. 

After the field the trail reenters the woods where we continued on with hikers turning around at different points for a total distance between 4 and 4.9 miles (the latter being Casey C. special). 

Saturday, September 6

Sessions Hill and Forbes Rd intersection, Town of Homer

Hike report by Jim

Six hikers and one dog met in the Village of Dryden at the Kenny Van Sickle ballfield for an out-a-back hike on the Dryden Rail Trail. This is hike # 49-1 on our list of hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-49.

The morning was overcast with a light rain as the group started the hike. Soon the rain tapered off and we were alone on the trail, passing over several road crossings and along streambeds and open fields as we made our way towards the village of Freeville. Much of our route takes us along or through lands of the William George Agency. Most of the time I prefer to schedule this hike on Sundays when there is much less traffic and associated road noise on state route 38, but for whatever reason there was only light road traffic today

We reached Railroad Street in Freeville where we turned around and re-traced our route. The rain soon started again and persisted through the end of the hike, much stronger than at the start of the hike.

All in all, it was a very good hike despite the weather!

Sunday, September 7

Robinson Hollow State Forest, Richford

Hike report by Nina F.

Fifteen hikers and two dogs met at the tiny parking lot on Robinson Hollow Road to hike in Robinson Hollow State Forest (Hike #64-2). It was a cool but pretty morning and everyone seemed prepared for the hills this hike promised. Though the hike description mentions the initial hill at the start of the trail, we discovered that there were decent hills for much of the hike, making it a good workout in both directions.

Before we set off, we met and chatted with a through-hiker, who we later ran into again as he stopped for his morning snack. He walked with us for a bit until he moved on at a faster pace. We sidetracked off the main trail to make a stop at the Kimmee lean-to, and after a brief rest continued to our turn-around point at the stream, where the water level was much lower than normal despite rain the day before. 

LeighAnn was tracking our elevation throughout the hike, and when we finished she let us know that we had gained 994 feet in elevation throughout the hike. Several hikers then chose to head back up the initial hill to get an extra six feet of elevation and make it an even 1,000 foot gain for the total hike! 

Wednesday, August 27

Finger Lakes National Forest

Hike report by Mark Sussman

Fifteen hikers and one dog met at Picnic Area Road in the Finger Lakes National Forest for the 5 Ponds Loop Hike. Although the weather forecast looked promising, we unfortunately started out in the rain. This certainly did not help on the slippery puncheons on the quarter of a mile stretch before Foster Pond. Some hikers wore spikes (which helped a lot), and some used poles, while some were just extra careful. Luckily no one slipped and fell on these treacherous board walks.

Once we got to Foster Pond, the rain had stopped, and the weather held up for the rest of the hike. The group enjoyed seeing all the ponds, and the walk overall. We finished very close to the 2 hour time window.

Saturday, August 30

Hammond Hill, Dryden

Hike report by John D.

Twenty-four hikers and two dogs met at the parking lot on Hammond Hill Road. Summer was missing-in-action but more than a few hikers were fine with that. It was a mostly sunny day and the trails were dry. This hike was entirely a woods hike with hints of a vista in the portion facing Route 38/Dryden Harford Rd.

The map posted at the trailhead is out of date. It does not include several recently added trails. However, our route was entirely on yellow trails so that map sufficed. We travelled Y1 -> Y3 -> Y8  -> Y4 -> Y5 -> Y6 -> Y1,  a total distance of 4.3 miles in a tad under two hours.

We encountered a few trail runners and one cyclist. I was happy for the latter having warned of that possibility. We also came across a hollow tree which appeared to have burned on the inside.  There was speculation as to whether this was from a lightning strike.

I was pleased to lose no one in my first time as hike leader.  Thanks to Leigh Ann for acting as sweep to make that happen.

After the hike two hikers went back to investigate the dilapidated shack seen from the trail. No word of their fate.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.

Sunday, August 31

Cayuga Trail north side, Varna cliffs, Ithaca

Hike report by Leigh Ann

Thirty-six hikers and three dogs on leash met at the Cornell Agricultural Plots on Freese Road for this out-and-back hike. We followed the North Monkey Run section of the Cayuga Trail over toward the junction of Hanshaw and Lower Creek Roads, where the people in front turned around. The trail conditions were excellent – well-mowed, dry, and easy to navigate – except for a heavily-traveled short stretch that the creek is undercutting. This is well known to be an opportunity for rerouting, and it looks like rerouting would dramatically increase the safety of that stretch once it happens.

The weather was stunning – really, it’s hard to imagine how it could have been better. Spirits were high as the long train of hikers stretched several tenths of a mile through the woods. It was fun to see and hear others across the wooded edges of gullies where the trail doubled back and coming down switchbacks to the creek. Everyone arrived back at the cars within two hours, and many stayed to chat for a while after that.

View Leigh Ann’s photo album.