Wednesday, June 18
Robinson Hollow State Forest
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Eleven hikers met at the junction of the FLT and Robinson Hollow Road to head south for an hour on the FLT and back. This hike starts at a large beaver dam and pond, then goes up and down some gentle slopes until it passes an old homestead foundation that is two miles in from the road. This is where we turned around because the trail heads much more steeply down from there. The weather was like a warm, pleasantly drizzly blanket. There had been some big weather action this season that brought down enormous trees with enormous root pads, but these had already been sawn through by the time we passed them. We returned to the cars in 110 minutes, so a few of us headed up the FLT to the north of Robinson Hollow Road and back to add a bit more time and a tiny bit more elevation gain.
Saturday, June 21
Jenksville State Forest, Newark Valley
Hike report by Jim
Thirteen hikers and a single dog met on Allison Hill Rd in Tioga County for a loop hike of the yellow and blue trails in Jenksville State Forest. This is hike # 60-4 on our list of regular hike locations: https://www.ithacahikers.com/hike-60.
The day was sunny and quite warm, but the route today was entirely under the forest canopy. I didn’t realize how hot the middle of the day had become until we arrived back at our cars at the end of the hike. The footpath was mostly clear of mud but there were still a few locations along the way that were the consistency of brownie batter, if not actual mud. Most of the footpath was clear of overgrown weeds, but especially in the lower parts of our route there were some overgrown weeds that crowded the trail. Poison ivy along the trail was a common sight, and some people spoke of stinging nettles along the route.
Elevation changes on this hike were fairly minimal compared to some hikes we go on. The first third or more of the hike is a generally steady downhill direction, which would normally lead hikers to think that the second half of the hike entails a similar uphill segment. That is not the case for this particular hike thanks to the very gradual uphill elevation changes on the return part of our route.
As in the past we stopped along the way to check out the view across the valley as well as some of the old foundations found in the state forest.
There were a few family-sized groups of hikers who arrived as I was pulling in the parking lot, and a few extra cars were in the lot as we wrapped up the hike, but we had our entire route today to ourselves.
Sunday, June 22
FLT east from Logan Rd. toward Burnt Hill Rd., Finger Lakes National Forest, Burdett
Hike report by Casey
Nine hikers met on Logan Road at the FlT trailhead.
We went east on the FLT for a one mile climb to the first crossing of Burnt Hill Road. We then continued east on the FLT with various ups and downs and many obstacles such as blown down trees and overgrown wild rose until reaching the second crossing of Burnt Hill Road at about one hour and ten minutes. From there we took the road uphill and back to the first crossing and reengaged the FLT to head west and back to our cars for a total of 4.9 miles and two hours and five minutes.
It was hot and buggy but just a few raindrops here and there.