Saturday, October 4
Sessions Hill
Hike report by Steve Schwartz
On a beautiful October 4, eleven hikers and one dog met at the corner of Sessions Hill Rd and Forbes Rd in Homer. The hike is a loop or more accurately a rectangle on very little travelled dirt roads. The hike offers stunning vistas of rural countryside, fields, woods, and streams, and at one point a sweeping view over I-81 and the small town of Preble. The hike around the loop takes one and half hours (about four miles) even with stops to enjoy the scenery, so five of us did an extension of half an hour. The hike is all on public roads and passes only two houses at one corner. During our hike we saw only two vehicles. The day started out chilly and sunny but everyone soon shed outer jackets. By 11:30 the weather was sunny, light wind, and 73 degrees. The main part of the hike is N on Vern King Rd from Sessions Hill Rd, to Maxson Rd. E on Maxson Rd and then S still on Maxson Rd to Sessions Hill Rd and W on Sessions Hill Rd to the intersections of Vern King Rd and Forbes Rd where the cars are parked. Alas the fall colors were not in their full glory yet, but the lovely shades of green and brown and rust of the leaves were still delightful. We even got to see the herd of cattle who viewed us with curious suspicion. Note the photo of Leigh Ann climbing on a fence rail to get a good shot of them.
Sunday, October 5
Spur trail from upper Lick Brook/Townline Road to upper Buttermilk Falls SP/Yaple Road
Hike report by Leigh Ann
Twenty hikers met at the junction of Townline Rd. and Lick Brook for a hike up to Buttermilk Falls S. P. and back. I like to think of this weekend as Week 3 of peak fall. It was another stunningly pretty, clear day with rainbow colors everywhere: purple asters, blue sky, green everywhere, and yellow, orange and red leaves. Shadows were cut-out-of-cardboard sharp. The creek beds were almost dry, and normally sketchy stream crossings were easily walkable. There were fallen leaves where there would normally be little rapids. We crossed Buttermilk Creek just north of the ruins of the old stone bridge at one hour. With the complete lack of mud, the going was easy and almost everyone had arrived back to the cars in just under two hours.
